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Women's Round One:
[1] Lauren Briggs (Eng) bt Nada Elkalaawy (Egy)
11/7, 11/3, 11/5
(34m)
[5] Laura Pomportes (Fra) bt [Q] Melissa Alves (Fra)
11/7, 11/4,
4/11, 8/11, 12/10 (38m)
[3] Birgit Coufal (Aut) bt [Q] Victoria Bell (Eng)
11/9, 11/5,
10/12, 11/7 (31m)
Julia Lecoq (Fra) bt [8] Dominika Witkowska (Pol)
11/2,
11/8, 11/13, 11/2 (34m)
[6] Zephanie Curgenven (Eng) bt Anna Jurkun (Pol)
11/7,
11/5, 11/3 (17m)
[4] Maud Duplomb (Fra) bt [Q]
Cigany Sillevis (Ned)
11/13,
11/5, 11/2, 11/2 (25m)
[Q] Frania Gillen-Buchert (Sco) bt [7] Sally Skaarenborg (Den)
8/11,
5/11, 11/4, 11/6, 11/8 (45m)
[2] Orla Noom (Ned) bt Bine Malund Lind (Den)
11/5,
11/5, 11/3 (24m)
Frania comeback
delights locals at ESC
The first round of the WSA Women's event produced a couple of
upsets, but the one the home fans loved was Frania Gillen-Buchert's
remarkable comeback from 2-0 and 8-3 in the decider to beat
Denmark's seventh seed Sally Skaarenborg.
"That was an emotional rollercoaster," said Frania, "but it was
good, it feels good to be back playing tough matches like that
after so long."
"She's very quick, gets lots back and was catching me offguard
with her counter drops, I just had to dig in again. I scraped
through in the end, but I made it so hard for myself, especially
at 8/3 down in the fifth!"
Frania now meets Orla Noom, last year's finalist who
ended Scandinavian interest with a straight games win over Bine
Malund Lind. "I felt a bit nervey at the start," admitted the
Dutch second seed, "but I'm always like that, a bit tentative,
but it's one down and my aim it to go one better than last year.
 There
will be three French players in Saturday's quarter-finals - Maud
Duplomb came from a game down to beat qualifier Cigaly
Sivellis, Julia Lecoq eventually stopped hitting the tin
- "I found a better length at the end" - to cruise through
her first and fourth games against eighth seed Dominika Witkowsa,
and Laura Pomportes, seeded five, beat fellow-French
qualifier Melissa Alves 12/10 in the fifth after being two games
up but saving a match ball in the decider.
"It's the first time we've played for 4 or 5 years," said Laura,
"I played well at the start but then was hitting too many
crosscourts and I was lucky to get through in the end.
Maud meets Zephanie Curgenven, a convincing enough winner
in her first tournament of the year. "It's been weird watching
all the results," she said, "it feels like I'm the last one to
start playing so it's good to be back in action."
 Julia
faces third seed Birgit Coufal, the Austrian champion who
stopped qualifier Victoria Bell's run in four games. "I was
gutted to lose the third after having two match balls," said
Birgit, "but I came through in the end. She's a good player,
it's always difficult against qualifiers, you get to face some
good up and coming players.
Laura moves on to face top seed Lauren Briggs, who looked
in good form, after going 6/1 down in the first against Nada
Elkalaawy. "She just came out firing, anything I gave her she
put away," said Briggs. "But I got better and better as the
match went on so I'm happy enough with that as a starter for my
first tournament in over two months.
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Morning Session Results & Reports
Quote of the day:
"First game, pffffffffft.
After that, better!"
Maud Duplomb
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Big guns
firing on most cylinders
Well, covering the women, processing the photos, and getting
mentally prepared for my match (not!) took its toll and I
haven't actually been able to see much of the men's second
round.
So far all is going to plan, with the seeds still progressing
nicely, albeit with some weird scorelines, like Eddie
Charlton's 12/10, 11/0, 11/2. Local rules state that if you
suffer a 'bagel' you have to go and immerse yourself in the
river that runs alongside the club which, apparently, Alex
Phillips did.
"Full immersion," mean Eddie beamed. I didn't know that was what
would happen, but I'd happily inflict that on anyone."
 Sunil
Seth was correct in his premise that second seed Andy
Whipp would enjoy the Aussie's fast, hard-hitting game,
although he did manage to surprise the Lancastrian with a couple
of outrageous nicks early in the first game.
Whippy wasn't fazed though, took the first two games 11/6, 11/9
and reeling his tiring opponent in as he took seven points in a
row to win the third 11/9.
We were guaranteed a Scottish quarter-finalist as Greg Lobban
met Ali Gorrie, but would it be Aberdeen's Gorrie, or
Inverness now Edinburgh-based Lobban ... in the event it was the
younger Lobban who prevailed 3/1, and he was quite pleased:
 "It
was a complete contrast to this morning's match [against another
Scot, Stuart Crawford], where I felt so much in control. Tonight
I think I was feeling the pressure of trying to get through to
the quarters.
"I'm really pleased to get through, I certainly didn't expect
that at the start of the event, so the pressure's off now and
hopefully I can have a good game with Andy Whipp tomorrow.
Lobban will be the only Scot in the quarters, Kiwi 3/4 seed
Kashif Shuja continued to enjoy his inaugural BSPA outing,
beating Chris Ferguson in three.
 His
opponent will be Paul Rawden, the only one to beat a seed
today as he saw of Chris Truswell 10/12, 11/4, 9/11, 11/9.
"Very pleased with that," declared Rawden, who has been playing
BSPA since 2004 - with a six-year university gap - and is
starting to make inroads on th PSA circuit too.
"I'd only played Chris once before, in a University match," said
Paul. "He beat me 27-0 then so I think I must have improved a
bit!"
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Welcome to Edinburgh,
half historic, half building site!
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Busy, Busy, Busy
 There's
no rest days at BSPA events, in fact it's worse than that, you
get to play twice a day for two days before you get a sniff of
the final.
So today sees two rounds for the men, plus the start of the
graded events (I'm playing the #2 seed in the D event at an
ungodly 21.30, what sort of draw is that, Simon?), plus
qualifying finals and round one in the women's WSA event (I like
the logo, and a three-letter acronym is clearly better than
five, but 'WIS-PA' does roll off the tongue better than "W-S-A",
or do we say "WUSSAH"?).
Anyway, you get the idea that it's a trifle busy, so as ever
we'll keep you up to speed with the results and whatever
snippets we can .... what's the Scottish for "stay tuned" ???
BSPA Preliminary Round:
Chris Shinnie
bt Dan Busby 11/4, 11/4,
11/4 (20m)
WSA
Qualifying Finals:
Frania Gillen-Buchert (Sco) bt Rachel Willmott
(Eng)
11/6, 11/6,
4/11, 11/7 (37m)
Melissa Alves (Fra) bt Senga Macfie (Sco)
11/7, 11/9, 11/7 (22m)
Victoria Bell (Eng) bt Catherine Finlayson (Sco)
11/8, 11/3, 11/6 (23m)
Cigany Sillevis (Ned) bt Eva Fertekova (Cze)
11/5, 11/4, 11/4
(19m)
BSPA Round One
check the DRAWS page for results
One out of
three for the Scots
There was mixed success for the hosts in the first two WSA
qualifying finals as Scottish stalwarts Frania Gillen-Buchert
and Senga Macfie took to the court.
Macfie couldn't get the better of French junior Melissa Alves,
but it wasn't for the lack of trying as she led in all three
games. "I haven't been on good for for a while," admitted the
host club's top player, "and nothing would go right today. She's
a good little player but I should have been able to slow in down
and mess her game up."
 Alves,
returning to action after being injured at the BJO earlier in
the month, was pleased to get through, but admitted that her
first meeting with Senga was "a bit different!".
Frania, also back in action but in her case after a somewhat
longer deliberate break, delighted the home fans with a
hard-fought four-game win oiver qualifying top seed Rachel
Willmott.
"She hits the ball really well and was putting me under a lot of
pressure," admitted Frania. "I just had to hang in there, extend
the rallies and wait for the right time.
"I'm really pleased to qualify, I'd better go and look at the
draw to see who I might play next!"
As it happens, Frania gets to play Sally Skaarenborg while
Melissa meets compatriot Laura Pomportes, the fifth seed.
The two remaining qualifying places were taken by England's
Victoria Bell and Dutchwoman Cigany Sillevis, who
also had injury tales to tell ...
"I had surgery on my knee so hadn't played for a bout a year,
then was just about to start playing on the circuit when I hurt
my ankle, which kept me out for another three month," explained
Bell, who beat local Catherine Finlayson in straight games.
"I've been back playing for about three weeks, so it's really
good to qualify here," added Bell, whose next tournament will be
in Finland.
 Sivellis,
21, is one of Liz Irving's proteges in Amsterdam, and she beat
Eva Fertekova, as she had done in London in December.
"It was strange to play Eva again," said Cigeny, "but it was a
good match, fun and very fair, I enjoyed it.
"I was out injured for 18 months and started playing again in
July. I've been working with Liz for almost two years now, it's
amazing being able to train with all those players, I'm very
happy that Liz gave me this opportunity."
Cigeny plays Maud Duplomb while Victoria meets Birgit Coufal.
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Seeds
safely through
We must have written that headline a few times, but as you would
expect there were no real surprises in the men's first round,
although there were a couple of momentous encounters as Sunil
Seth and Ali Gorri both won on extra points in the
fifth.
That was tough, "admitted Seth," the Australian who has been in
the UK for six months now and is looking to play as many events
as he can. "I've got Andy Whipp next though, he's very fast,
very accurate and he'll probably love my fast game!".
 While
Gorrie kept the Aberdeen flag flying - he now meets Greg
Lobban in an all-Scottish encounter - James "Farmer"
Jacobsen found Alex Phillips too hot to handle, but
he did come up with the quote of the day as he put a simple drop
into the tin to go match ball down:
"JUST SPANK IT" was the (loud) advice to himself. "Well,
that's what always does anyway," joked a knowledgeable
spectator.
 As
well as local boy Chris Ferguson, another Scot through is
Lobban, who got the better of his erstwhile coach and
former Scottish champion Stuart Crawford in straight
games.
"We haven't played competitively much at all," shared Crawford,
"but that's twice in two weeks.
"I managed to sneak home 3-2 in a regional event last week but I
knew I'd have to improve on that performance, Greg was certainly
much better today.
"Still, if that gets me in at number four for the Europeans I'll
be happy," added Crawford cheekily.
Round two commences at 18.30 ...
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