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TODAY in Edinburgh: Saturday 29th,
Day THREE |
Finalists to be decided
The trees are beginning to emerge from the wood as today sees
the quarter and semi-finals in the main events, starting at
11.15. There's a host of Graded matches tt of course ...
Women's Quarter-Finals:
[1] Dominique Lloyd-Walter bt [Q] Nada Elkalaawy
11/9, 11/6, 11/6 (28m)
[4] Lauren Briggs bt Celia Allamargot
11/7, 11/3, 11/4 (22m)
[3] Lauren Selby bt Lisa Aitken
8/11, 11/7, 7/11, 11/8, 11/5 (55m)
[2] Orla Noom bt [5] Coline Aumard
11/4, 8/11, 11/4, 11/5 (33m)
Semi-Finals:
[1] Dominique Lloyd-Walter bt [4] Lauren Briggs
11/6,
6/11, 11/4, 12/10 (50m)
[2] Orla Noom bt [3] Lauren Selby
11/3,
11/5, 11/6 (28m)
Men's Quarter-Finals:
[3/4] Andy Whipp bt [5/8] Ben Coleman
11/5, 11/7,
11/6 (30m)
[2] Chris Simpson bt [5/8] Adil Maqbool
11/9,
11/3, 11/6 (25m)
[1] Daryl Selby bt [5/8] Simon Parke
5/11,
11/2, 11/7, 11/8 (48m)
[3/4] Joel Hinds bt [5/8] Neil Hitchens
11/8, 11/4, 7/11, 8/11, 11/3 (50m)
Semi-Finals:
[3/4] Andy Whipp bt [2] Chris Simpson
11/9, 5/11, 11/8, 5/11, 11/3 (44m)
[1] Daryl Selby bt [3/4] Joel Hinds
13/15, 6/11, 12/10, 11/6, 11/2 (89m) |
Photo Galleries
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Women's Quarters - top four
through
 Double
success for two English girls returning to action after injury
and Dominique Lloyd-Walter and Lauren Briggs
recorded straight-game wins in the opening pair of matches.
Top seed Lloyd-Walter took on young Egyptian qualifier Nada
Elkalaawy, who was able to match the top seed in the early
part of each game. But Lloyd-Walter pulled clear in each, almost
squandering a 10/5 lead in the first but making no such mistake
in the next two games.
Over on court one Briggs got the better of a competitive first
game against Celia Allamargot, who proceeded to get
frustrated with her own level of play for the next two games.
She wasn't playing that badly, but Briggs was a nimble and
accurate as ever and once she got on top she showed no
inclination the let up.
Second seed Orla Noom was given a stern test by Coline
Aumard. The Dutchwoman ran away with the first but Aumard
came back, taking a good lead in the second which she almost
blew, and a 3/0 lead in the third.
Orla reasserted though to take the third and fourth with
something to spare to reach the semis.
Third seed Lauren Selby was given an even sterner test by
home hopeful Lisa Aitken. Playing with her usual grit and
determination and not a little skill too, especially on those
high volleys she loves to crack down, Lisa opened up a 6/1 lead
in the first.
From that point on there was nothing to choose between them -
Lauren made a valiant effort to come back in the first, took the
second and then the fourth to set up the decider.
After a tight opening to the fifth Lauren took control, slowing
down the pace as Lisa's belief faltered. Four even games, two
half games where one dominated, but in the end it's the
Englishwoman who goes through to make sure the top four seeds
reach the semis. |
Men's Quarters - same story
Take a bow the seeding committee - the men's quarter-finals also
saw the top seeds through to tonight's semis, but in contrasting
fashion, as you'd expect.
Andy Whipp had too much guile and experience for young
Ben Coleman, winning in straight games in half an hour.
He'll meet second seed Chris Simpson, who withstood an
early onslaught from Adil Maqbool. The Pakistani led
throughout the first before Simpson snatched it at the death,
and after that it was pretty much one way traffic.
In the top half both the victors faced stiffer challenges.
Joel Hinds looked good as he went into a two-game lead
against Neil Hitchens, then looked ordinary as Hitchens
came back to level, but Hinds went back up the gearbox to take
the fifth with some ease.
 Declaring
the nose he broke yesterday "not fixed, but ok," top seed
Daryl Selby took to the court against Simon Parke,
who won the event in 2007, a year before Selby did the trick.
Since then Parke has curtailed his tournament play, but he's as
determined and as entertaining as ever, even if some of that
trademark fitness has gone missing. A brutal rally at 3-all in
the first left Parke bent over in the back corner and the crowd
applauding but wondering how much he had left in the tank.
The answer was, quite a lot. Some precise winners and a few
unforced errors from Daryl gave Parky the first game 11/5. Daryl
raced away with the second 11/2, but Parky wasn't finished, he
kept hanging in there and, from Daryl's point of view, just
wouldn't go away. At 7/0 love in the fourth he was finishes,
surely? Nope, back he came to 7-all, just for the fun of it, it
seemed. The last few points didn't look too much fun though as
Daryl finally put him to rest.
The video below shows the last few rallies of the match. Daryl
is in control, his victory is not in doubt, but Parky just
doesn't know how to stop ...
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Women's Semis
[1] Dominique Lloyd-Walter
bt [4] Lauren Briggs
11/6,
6/11, 11/4, 12/10 (50m)
[2] Orla Noom bt [3] Lauren Selby
11/3,
11/5, 11/6
Dom wins a thriller
 Two
English girls who have always been evenly matched, both out for
six months injured, both starting the comeback trail - anything
could have happened in this one, but in the event it was another
very evenly-contested match, you wouldn't have known they'd been
away.
It was Briggs who made the brighter start, leading 5/1, but
Lloyd-Walter pegged that back to 5-all, and went on to take the
game for the loss of just one more point. A similar start for
Briggs in the second, 4/1, but this time she kept it going to
equalise.
Lloyd-Walter was back on top in the third, then began a
thrilling fourth, and ultimately final, game, which saw Briggs
leading by a point or two most of the way only to be caught at
8-all.
It was a hard-hitting, hard-running game, after so long out it
seemed both were determined to get their money's worth.
A chopped drive and a glued one at the end of a long rally
brought match balls for Dom, both saved. A service return into
the backwall nick saw Dom with her arms in the air, and after
one final tough rally, ended with a drive that an out of
position Lauren had no chance of reaching, she raised them
again.
 "We've
played each other a lot, but not for the last six months as
we've both been out for the same length of time. We were always
evenly matched, and it looks like it's still the case.
"I felt a bit lazy in the first, it was hard to get myself
going. I thought we both played well, it could have gone either
way - that return of serve into the nick was very helpful!
"I got to the final in my last tournament in France in July.
It's nice to reach another one, but I hope I can go one better
tomorrow ..."
Orla shuts out Selby
Second seed Orla Noom kept a tight grip on the second
semi-final, never letting Lauren Selby get into the type
of game she likes to play.
The Dutch girl was on top from the early exchanges, mixing the
play up, only going short when a good opportunity arose, and
utilising the lob to good effect to keep her opponent at the
back of the court.
 "I
know she likes to lob," explained Orla, "I beat her in five the
last time we played but her lobs were brutal, so I tried to keep
her at the back where she couldn't use the lob.
The first game was tucked away 11/3, a 10/2 lead in the second
was insurmountable, and although the third was closer, Orla was
always ahead despite Lauren's best efforts to close the gap, and
the second seed wrapped it up with a lovely crosscourt nick.
"I felt pretty relaxed on there," she admitted, "I hacked it
around a bit this morning but that was much better. Very happy
with that, especially if f I could play like that all the time!
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Men's
Semis
[3/4] Andy Whipp
bt [2] Chris Simpson
11/9, 5/11, 11/8, 5/11, 11/3 (44m)
[1] Daryl Selby bt [3/4] Joel Hinds
13/15, 6/11, 12/10, 11/6, 11/2 (89m)
Whippy won't be beaten
"BSPA is my turf," declared Andy Whipp after securing a
five-game win over second seed Chris Simpson, "I won't be beaten
in BSPA!"
 He's
certainly made a habit of picking up BSPA titles of late, and
seems to be playing as well as ever, in patches ...
Whipp took a tight first game 11/9 but Simpson levelled with
some ease, 11/5. Whipp surged to 10/5 in the third before taking
it 11/8, then Simpson levelled with some ease 11/5.
"I'm such an idiot," explained Whipp. "I play brilliant for a
game then I play like I'm trying to give away the next game. I'm
not, it's just that I'm such an idiot!
"In the fifth I was willing to run and run and do whatever it
took to win," he said.
And he played like it too, lots of determination, lots of
grunting, and lots of great play too as Simpson folded.
"That fifth was possibly the best single game of squash I've
ever played," Andy said at the end. Well, you and he can be the
judges of that - video of the fifth game coming shortly ...
Daryl back from the brink
To be honest, at two games down and 6/9 down in the third, not
many people at Edinburgh Sports Club would have put money on top
seed Daryl Selby to make the final.
Joel Hinds, after taking the lead in extended extra points in
the first game - Daryl really didn't want to lose that, he
expended some effort there - continued to play out of his skin.
Matching the world number ten at their basic hard-hitting game,
Hinds was the one willing to take the ball to the front, and he
did so to great effect, hitting drops, volley drops and boasts
to make Selby work and work and work, and doing so with
virtually no unforced errors.
It really was impressive stuff, and it was Selby who was, more
often than not, making the error at the end of another brutal
rally, several times cursing the 2" higher than he's used to
tin.
 But
if Selby didn't want to lose the first - "I made it much harder
for myself losing that one," he admitted afterwards - he
really really really didn't want to lost three-nil.
So he dug in, like he does, he got to ten first but Joel really
should have done - a huge rally at 9/7 saw Joel performing
miracles in the retrieving department, only to tin the easy
winning opportunity when it arrived.
Once Daryl had taken the third, 12/10, the rest was predictable
and inevitable.
"I was just hanging on at the end of the third," admitted Joel.
"After that I was broken, legs gone, feet blistered. It's so
annoying to get so close when I really didn't expect to."
Daryl was impressed: "It wasn't pretty, but I didn't want to
lose. Joel played really well, he made probably two errors in
two and a half games, and it hard to break someone down when
they're playing that well. He really made me work for it ..." |
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