|
|
|
TODAY in Edinburgh: Friday 28th,
Day TWO |
Photo Gallery
ready for Super Sunday
Top seed suffers |
Frantic Friday
part two
The biggest BSPA event of the year
hits top gear today, with Women's Qualifying Finals opening
proceedings at 11.15, followed by Men's Round One, Women's Round
One, Graded A/B/C/D round one (last matches scheduled for 10.20
tonight), and finally Men's Round Two.
As ever we'll keep you updated along the way,
with reports quotes and photos bringing up the rear ....
Women's Round One:
[1] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (Eng) bt Faustine Gilles (Fra)
11/5, 11/5, 11/5 (22m)
[Q] Nada Elkalaawy (Egy) bt [7] Laura Pomportes (Fra)
11/5, 11/5, 11/5 (22m)
[4] Lauren Briggs (Eng) bt Salma Hany (Egy)
11/9, 11/4, 11/9 (39m)
Celia Allamargot (Fra) bt [8] Maud Duplomb (Fra)
14/16, 11/6, 11/9, 9/11, 15/13 (63)
Lisa Aitken (Sco) bt [8] Lotte Eriksen (Nor)
11/7, 7/11, 13/11, 11/2 (46m)
[3] Lauren Selby (Eng) bt [Q] Senga Macfie (Sco)
10/12, 11/3, 7/11, 11/5, 11/6 (40m)
[5] Coline Aumard (Fra) bt [Q] Kirsty McPhee (Eng)
11/9, 11/8, 7/11, 4/11, 11/9 (62m)
[2] Orla Noom (Ned) bt [Q] Tesni Evans (Wal)
11/6, 11/8, 9/11, 11/8 (40m)
Men's Round Two:
[3/4] Andy Whipp bt Chris Tasker-Grindley
3/11, 11/8, 11/8, 11/6 (40m)
[5/8] Ben Coleman bt Steve London
11/5, 11/8, 11/6 (49m)
[5/8] Adil Maqbool bt Darren Lewis
11/9, 1/1 rtd
[2] Chris Simpson bt Alex Phillips
11/7, 11/8, 11/7 (23m)
[1] Daryl Selby bt Reuben Phillips
11/5, 3/11, 11/3, 11/5 (40m)
[5/8] Simon Parke bt James Simpson
12/10, 11/2, 11/8 (38m)
[5/8] Neil Hitchens bt James Jacobsen
11/7, 11/4, 11/6 (24m)
[3/4] Joel Hinds bt Kirby Sinclair
11/9, 11/2, 11/0 (19m) |
|
Women's Round One
The first quartet of matches saw
top seed Dominique Lloyd-Walter and qualifier Nada
Elkalaawy win in identical scorelines and times - no, it's
not a typo.
Lloyd-Walter, returning to WISPA action after an eight-month
layoff continued the cull of the French as she beat Faustine
Gilles, while Elkalaawy outpowered Laura Pomportes, both in
straight games.
 Lauren
Briggs, also only just back after an injury layoff,
initially looked to have too much power for Salma Hany,
but the young Egyptian battled away, as she does, and a match
that was at times a little too physical almost became an "I can
hit it harder than you" contest towards the end. It was a
relieved Englishwoman who prevailed, again in three.
First success for the French came when Celia Allamargot
saved a match ball before beating compatriot Maud Duplomb
15/13 in the fifth in the longest match of the tournament so
far. It was a match full of passion, both girls holding nothing
back and both showing the extent they wanted to win, with
underdog Allamargot collecting the final swing of a busy
pendulum.
 French
interest was soon doubled when Coline Aumard joined Celia
in the quarters, but only afdter letting a two-game lead slip
against Kirsty McPhee, Coline finally winning 11/9 in the fifth
after 62 minutes.
 Mixed
success for the Scots - Lisa Aitken took out eight seed
Lotte Eriksen in four games, but Senga Macfie fell short,
failing to consolidate a 2/1 lead over third seed Lauren
Selby in a highly entertaining match.
Orla Noom put paid to Tesni Evans' run, but the
Welsh girl pushed the Dutch second seed all the way before
losing in four games after 48 minutes.
So that's three English, two French, a Scot a Dutch and an
Egyptian in tomorrow's quarter-finals, and with no 'local
derbies' virtually any combination is possible for the evening
semis. |
 |
 |
Men's Round Two
 Not
too much to report on the men's second round, with all eight
seeds claiming their allotted places in the quarter-finals.
The biggest dramas were saved for court five, and at one point a
headline of "the curse of court five" looked a
possibility ...
First Darren Lewis stretched for an Adil Maqbool
dropshot, pulled something in his leg and was forced to concede
after one game and a handful of minutes. "That was a killer
drop," joked Maqbool, who had been suitably concerned for the
well-being of his opponent. "It's been a nice easy day for me,"
added the Pakistani 5/8 seed, "18 minutes then 8 minutes, so I
don't have an excuse not to be fresh for tomorrow!".
 Next
on were Daryl Selby and Reuben Phillips. Early
into the first Reuben hit the ball into the middle, tried to
back out of the way, and the resulting clash of heads - "I heard
a crack", said roving reporter Simon Ho - left Daryl in no doubt
that his nose had been broken.
"He's done it before playing football," said an unconcerned Dad
Paul Selby on SquashSite LIVE. To be fair, Daryl was equally
unconcerned, declining offers of ice and visits to the hospital,
merely requesting that the next match went on while he had a
chance to recover.
Neil Hitchens and James Jacobsen, nervous before
venturing onto the court of death, survived the encounter with
Hitchens beating the Farmer in straight games to end Scottish
interest in the main men's event.
On the resumption Selby, sporting a "Scotland" branded faceguard
that went nicely with his England Commonwealth Games top and did
him no harm with the home crowd, finished off the first games,
but a fired up Reubens stormed into a good lead in the second
and levelled the match, with a loud "let's go!". "That's it,"
world number ten let the crowd know as he exited the court, and
he duly took the next two games with some ease.
 Elsewhere,
Simon Parke - "his lungs must be three times bigger than
anyone else's," joked the farmer - Andy Whipp, Ben
Coleman and Chris Simpson all won easily enough.
Joel Hinds found unexpectedly stiff opposition from Kirby
Sinclair in a tough first game, but as Joel said, "it got easier
after that," as demonstrated by the 11/9, 11/2, 11/9 scoreline.
"Happy to be in the quarters," said Joel, having won the battle
of the hairstyles too, one which Sinclair was never going to
win.
The quarter-finals are all English apart from a rested Maqbool,
and we should see some spectacular matches tomorrow, as long as
the curse of court five doesn't strike again ...
|
|
Frantic Friday part one
The biggest BSPA event of the year
hits top gear today, with Women's Qualifying Finals opening
proceedings at 11.15, followed by Men's Round One, Women's Round
One, Graded A/B/C/D round one (last matches scheduled for 10.20
tonight), and finally Men's Round Two.
As ever we'll keep you updated along the way,
with reports quotes and photos bringing up the rear ....
Women's Qualifying Finals:
Kirsty McPhee (Eng) bt Lauren Gray (Sco)
11/5, 11/5, 10/12, 11/5
Tesni Evans (Wal) bt Julianne Courtice (Eng)
5/11,11/6,4/11,11/8,11/7 (41m)
Senga
Macfie (Sco) bt Brogan Lane (Eng)
11/4, 11/1, 11/8 (18m)
Nada Elkalaawy (Egy) bt Melissa Alves (Fra)
9/11,11/8,11/9,10/12 11/7 (42m)
Men's Round One:
[3/4] Andy Whipp (Eng) bt Liam Gutcher (Eng)
11/7, 12/10, 11/4 (20m)
Chris Tasker-Grindley (Eng) bt Dean Russell
11/7, 11/7, 11/3 (24m)
Steve London (Eng) bt Jacques Kruger (Rsa)
11/9, 7/11, 11/5, 11/5 (40m)
[5/8] Ben Coleman (Eng) bt Dominic Hamilton (Eng)
11/6, 11/8, 11/4 (37m)
[5/8] Adil Maqbool (Pak) bt Simon White
11/8, 11/9, 11/4 (18m)
Darren Lewis (Eng) bt Jason Pike
11/3, 11/7, 11/9 (28m)
Alex Phillips bt Theo Woodward
11/8, 8/11, 8/11, 12/10, 12/10 (50m)
[2] Chris Simpson (Eng) bt Greg Lobban (Sco)
11/8, 11/6, 11/6 (21m)
[1] Daryl Selby (Eng) bt Simon Boughton (Sco) 11/9,
13/11, 6/11, 11/5 (34m)
Reuben Phillips bt Matt Pearson
9/11, 11/1, 13/11, 11/7 (49m)
James Simpson bt Iain Tennant (Sco)
11/5, 11/6, 4/11, 8/11, 11/6 (41m)
[5/8] Simon Parke (Eng) bt Stuart Crawford (Sco)
11/4, 11/8, 11/6 (48m)
[5/8] Neil Hitchens (Eng) bt Sean Hunter
11/3, 9/11, 11/6, 11/9 (51m)
James Jacobsen (Sco) bt Mick Biggs (Eng) 11/5, 6/11,
11/4, 11/13, 12/10 (50m)
Kirby Sinclair bt Paul Cresswell
11/4, 11/6, 11/7 (17m)
[3/4] Joel Hinds (Eng) bt Will John
11/4, 11/1, 15/13 (36m) |
Photo Gallery
|
|
 |
|
 |
Women's
Qualifying Finals
Kirsty McPhee (Eng) bt Lauren Gray (Sco)
plays Aumard
11/5, 11/5, 10/12, 11/5
Tesni Evans (Wal) bt Julianne Courtice (Eng)
plays Noom
5/11, 11/6, 4/11, 11/8, 11/7 (41m)
Tough start as McPhee and Evans make
main draw
Two very competitive matches to start the day, with Kirsty
McPhee disappointing the home audience and Tesni Evans
gaining a measure ofd revenge.
 Pontefract's
McPhee looked reasonable comfortable as she took the first two
games against Lauren Gray both for five points, but the Scot
battled her way back, took the third on extra points and faded
only at the end of a tough fourth game.
"That was tough, but I thought I played ok," said McPhee. "I had
a blip in the third when I forgot you had to use the back of the
court, but managed to get it back."
McPhee then dashed along to court one to watch the end of Evans
against Julianne Courtice. This was a repeat of their
British U19 Championships final, which Courtice won 3/1,
and a prelude to their meeting in next week's British Nationals,
with the winner set to face McPhee.
 In
Manchester Evans faded, mentally and physically but today she
kept her head and kept going as she came from 2/1 down to secure
the win in a see-saw match, with both of them looking to be
playing better than last October.
"I thought it was going to happen again when I was 2/1 down,"
admitted the newly-crowned Welsh senior champion, "I was
starting to lose my head. But I told myself I just needed to
claw it back, and thankfully I managed to do it.
"It's a terrible draw in the Nationals though, I suppose it will
be the decider!"
Senga
Macfie (Sco) bt Brogan Lane (Eng)
plays Selby
11/4, 11/1, 11/8 (18m)
Nada Elkalaawy (Egy) bt Melissa Alves (Fra)
plays Ppmportes
9/11, 11/8, 11/9, 10/12, 11/7 (42m)
Scotland 1 France 0
Senga Macfie made sure
there was Scottish interest in the main draw with a quickfire
win over Brogan Lana - missed it completely, sorry - and Nada
Elkalaawy completed the qualifying lineup with a tough 3/2
win over Melissa Alves, making it none out of three for the
French in qualifying, but they still have five players in the
main draw! |
Men's Round One
To be honest, men's first round, sixteen matches on four courts,
tends to be a bit of a blur - by the time you find out who's
won, they're getting ready to go back on court for their next
match!
Suffice it to say that all the seeds made a safe passage to this
evening's last sixteen, two of them downing local favourites in
the process.
 Former
Artemis champion Simon Parke - was it only in 2007,
blimey - took on the also-retired Stewart Crawford on
court five. Crawford made a rapid start but Parke's guile soon
brought him level as he went on to complete a straight-games
victory, although it has to be said the Yorkshireman was
breathing heavily towards the end of the 48-minute encounter.
Meanwhile on court one, club coach and Tournament Director
Simon Boughton was giving top seed Daryl Selby - the
2008 champion - a good runaround.
 Boughton
held his own for three games, almost taking the second before
pulling a game back in the third, but in the fourth his "shot"
and "too good" remarks became more and more frequent as Selby
turned the screw.
Daryl's win in 2008 was marked by some tough early-round
matches, so maybe it's a good sign for the Essex-based world
number ten.
Second seed Chris Simpson and 3/4 Andy Whipp, an
Edinburgh regular, weren't wasting any time though as they
completed 20-minute wins, saving energy for later exertions.
 The
final match of the round saw a popular home winner as James
"Farmer" Jacobsen won a gruelling five-setter against
Mick Biggs.
Jacobsen missed out on two match balls in the fourth as Biggs
levelled it 13/11, and the although the Englishman led 9/7 in
the decider a determined Jacobsen - "come on, it's only a bit of
pain" was his war cry - wasn't to be denied as he won the match
12/10 on a nick at the back wall.
There were a fair few decisions apparently, a view confirmed by
the referee who departed the scene asking loudly "anyone want to
be a referee, any volunteers ???".
 |
 |
|
 |
|
