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Christchurch Vets Ipswich Open 2017
28 Mar - 02 Apr, Ipswich, England,
$5k |
02-Apr, Final:
Courtice makes it two in Ipswich
Alec Livingstone reports
Julianne Courtice is the new Christchurch Vets Ipswich Open
Champion after her 3-1 victory over 2nd seed Hana Moataz. The
final was a quality match that was a fitting end to an excellent
tournament.
The evidence from the semis on Saturday was that Moataz could
dominate play if allowed to play her devastating deep drives,
constantly pinning her opponent down. And from the outset it was
clear that Courtice had the game plan to counteract that with
much of the play being in the front of the court. Both players
started a little nervously and there were a lot of drops
catching the tin, but they soon settled and the greater accuracy
from Courtice saw her take the first 11/7.
The second game was important; Courtice racing to game ball
before some deft volley drops got Moataz back to level the game
and take it 14/12. So, although Moataz had won the 2nd the
Courtice game plan still looked pretty good and she stuck with
it. Some of the confidence seemed to drain from Moataz in the
third. She wasn’t being allowed to play her powerful driving
game and it began to tell with Courtice racing to big leads in
the third and fourth games before closing out the match 3-1.
 So
another victory to a resurgent Courtice after her maiden victory
in the Edinburgh BSPA event at the end of January and she
clearly is enjoying competition.
“This time last year I was working full time and I never thought
I’d be doing this, so to be playing on the circuit and having
some success is a great feeling.”
It is also refreshing for audiences to see a more varied,
entertaining game rather than a ‘slug it out’ big hitting
contest.
Although she lost, Moataz made a lot of friends during her week
in Ipswich. She played some great squash over the week and, at
only 17, she has many years to make her mark on the sport.
Certainly the Ipswich audience would be more than happy to see a
rematch in a year’s time!
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Christchurch Vets Ipswich Open 2017
28 Mar - 02 Apr, Ipswich, England,
$5k |
Round One
30 Mar |
Quarters
31 Mar |
Semis
01 Apr |
Final
02 Apr |
[1] Deon Saffery (Wal)
11/7, 11/8, 6/11, 12/10 (48m)
[wc] Lucy Turmel (Eng) |
[1] Deon Saffery
11/9, 11/9, 11/8 (32m)
[5] Julianne Courtice |
[5] Julianne Courtice 11/4, 11/7, 11/3
(24m)
[4] Alison Thomson |
2nd PSA title for Julianne
[5] Julianne Courtice
11/7, 12/14, 11/5, 11/6 (49m)
[2] Hana Moataz
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[5] Julianne Courtice (Eng)
11/6, 7/11, 11/6, 9/11, 11/4 (54m)
[Q] Elise Lazarus (Eng) |
[8] Marija Shpakova (Sui)
11/8, 11/6, 11/5 (24m)
Elise Romba (Fra) |
Elise Romba
13/11, 9/11, 11/7, 10/12, 11/7 (62m)
[4] Alison Thomson |
[4] Alison Thomson (Sco)
11/7, 11/6, 11/5 (26m)
Eve Fertekova (Cze) |
[Q] Charlotte Jagger (Eng)
11/4, 11/5, 11/4 (20m)
[3] Rachael Chadwick (Eng) |
[3] Rachael Chadwick
11/7, 11/8, 11/7 (32m)
[6] Ineta Mackevica |
[3] Rachael Chadwick
13/11, 11/6, 11/7 (25m)
[2] Hana Moataz |
Elspeth Young (Sco)
11/3, 11/5, 11/9 (20m)
[6] Ineta Mackevica (Lat) |
[Q] Victoria Temple-Murray (Eng)
11/6, 5/10 rtd (12m)
[7] Tessa ter Sluis (Ned) |
[7] Tessa ter Sluis
11/1, 11/5, 11/2 (22m)
[2] Hana Moataz |
[Q] Georgia Adderley (Sco)
10/12, 11/4, 11/8, 11/8 (32m)
[2] Hana Moataz (Egy) |
Qualifying:
Finals:
Victoria Temple-Murray (Eng) 3-0 Kace Bartley (Eng)
11/6, 12/10, 11/6 (26m)
Elise Lazarus (Eng) 3-0 Emily Korhonen (Fin)
11/1, 11/4, 11/4 (18m)
Georgia Adderley (Sco) 3-1 Grace Gear (Eng)
12/10, 11/7, 10/12, 11/9 (41m)
Charlotte Jagger (Eng) 3-0 Yemisi Olatunji (Ngr)
11/8, 11/4, 11/3 (23m)
Round One:
[6] Victoria Temple-Murray (Eng) 3-0 Emily Ison (Eng)
11/4, 11/1, 11/5 (21m)
[8] Emily Korhonen (Fin) 3-2 Margot Prow (Eng) 11/9, 11/5,
8/11, 9/11, 11/7 (37m)
Grace Gear (Eng) 3-0 Ali Hemingway (Wal)
11/3, 11/6, 11/5 (18m)
[5] Georgia Adderley (Sco) 3-0 Katriona Allen (Sco)
11/8, 11/1, 11/2, (20m)
Charlote Jagger (Eng) 3-0 [7] Reka Burmeister (Hun)
11/2, 11/6, 11/9 (18m)
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SEMIS:
Alec Livingstone reports
Hana Moataz of Egypt will play England’s Julianne
Courtice in Sunday’s final of the Ipswich Open.
Both of Saturday’s semis were straightforward for the winners
but entertaining nevertheless. Courtice was first up against
Alison Thomson who had the hardest of the previous night’s
quarters.
Thomson covers a lot of ground on the court and is an adept
retriever but she met her match against Courtice who worked her
opponent very intelligently, rallying where necessary and then
choosing just the right moment to provide the winning shot.
The second semi was similar in some ways. The difference was the
demeanour of Moataz on court. Even in the first game when
Rachael Chadwick pulled back to 10/10, Moataz seemed totally
cool and unfazed. In fact throughout the game Moataz seemed to
be in a bubble unaffected by her opponent or the crowd, just
playing her own game.
Her victory left one wondering just how good she is because all
through the tournament she has played well enough to win without
ever seeming to be extending herself.
Perhaps we will find out in Sunday’s final.
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QUARTERS:
Alec Livingstone reports
The Quarter Finals of the Ipswich Open only provided one real
upset, the defeat of top seed Deon Saffery by Julianne Courtice.
Saffery’s mobility seemed a bit curtailed, possibly the after
effects of her recent injury, but that should take nothing away
from an excellent performance by Courtice.
She will meet Alison Thomson in the first of Saturday’s semis.
Thomson had a real tussle with Elise Romba, the last unseeded
player in the event. Thomson twice was a game up and twice she
was pegged back, the second time failing to convert match
points, eventually taking the fifth in a match that ran just
over the hour.
By comparison the other half of the draw was fairly
straightforward; Rachael Chadwick and Hana Moataz having
comfortable 3-0 wins and they will contest Saturday’s 2nd semi
which looks even more important now that the event has lost the
top seed.
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Round One:
Alec Livingstone reports
The first round of matches in the Main draw of the Ipswich
Ladies’ Open proved rather more eventful than anyone expected.
The evening started off fairly predictably with most of the
seeds progressing fairly comfortably at the expense of the
qualifiers. The main exception was 5th seed Julianne Courtice
who had an epic struggle against Elise Lazarus before taking the
fifth 11/4.
The only seed to fall was Marija Shpakova, beaten 3-0 by Elise
Romba. Match of the night for the home crowd was young Ipswich
star Lucy Turmel taking the wild card slot against top seed Deon
Saffery.
It initially looked as if Turmel would struggle to get into the
match but with a big home crowd behind her she clawed her way
back, winning the 3rd game 11/8.
Despite taking an early lead in the 4th, the class of Saffrey
started to take its toll with her playing the big points better
than her younger opponent, managing to close out the 4th on a
tie-break 12/10.After that excitement the evening
ended on a sad note with Victoria Temple-Murray suffering a
suspected serious achilles tendon injury in the last match of
the night against Tessa ter Sluis. We wish her well.
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29-Mar, Qualifying
Finals:
Alec Livingstone reports
We now know the makeup of the main
draw of the Ipswich Ladies’ Open after the final night of
Qualifying matches.
Victoria Temple-Murray overturned top seed, Kace Bartley, in
straight games. The match was played in great spirit, Kace
generously replaying a point she felt she had been incorrectly
awarded, only to find herself stranded mid court two rallies
later and conceding the match on a penalty point.
Finn Emelia Korhonen had a narrow escape in the first round
against PSA newbie Margot Prow, and in the final round had no
answer to the more experirnced Elise Lazarus. And it was an easy
win too for Charlotte Jagger over Yemisi Olatunji.
The match of the night was between Grace Gear and Georgia
Adderley, the 16 year old Scot who has just won her country’s
senior championship. Georgia plays a very physical game for a
junior but Grace almost matched her all the way.
Almost, because at 2-0 down and 10-4 down it all seemed lost
until an astonishing run of 8 unanswered points gave her the
3rd. In the 4th it wasn’t Georgia’s power that took her to
victory, it was the tightness of those shots that forced the
errors that saw her through in four.
28-Mar, Qualy R1:
Alec Livingstone reports
The Christchurch Vets Ipswich Open is a Ladies event this year
after a few years on the Men’s PSA tour and first indications
are that this has been a popular move for both players and
spectators. The first night of qualifying was a night for
experience to show through.
There were impressive wins for Victoria Temple-Murray and Scot
Georgia Adderley. Temple-Murray had a dominant win over the host
Club’s Head Pro Emily Ison and Adderley was equally impressive
against fellow Scot Katriona Allen.
But performance of the night was from Margot Prow who had one of
the Local spots in her first ever PSA event. Having gone two
down to Finn Emily Korhonen she stood up to the pressure well
and squared the match with some dogged rallying.
In the end, maybe it was Korhonen’s experience, or maybe it was
Prow’s inexperience, either way the Finn took the fifth 11/7 to
secure a Qualifying final match against Elise Lazarus.
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