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Last Eight - Cull of
the second seeds
It was a bad day
to be second favourite in Nottingham as four of the second
seeds failed to make it past the quarter-finals, although
all the top seeds are still in contention ...
Also:
Martin Pearse reports
# Top
Seed Trio
for starters
The first batch of matches saw three top seeds in action,
and all came through comfortably enough after meeting
resistance in the first game.
Keith Jones progressed to the O60 semis with a 9/7,
9/0, 9/0 win, Peter Alexander to the O55 9/5, 9/1,
9/1 and Mark Woodliffe overcame Simon Rollington 9/5,
9/0, 9/1 in the O40 quarters.
Women's action got under way as Mandy Akin beat Sally
Jee 9/2, 9/4, 9/4.
The first upset of the day
came when James Ockwell recovered from 7/0 down in
the first game to beat former world number four,
Nottingham's own Gawain Briars.
Briars was catching his opponent out at the front at the
star, but Ockwell weathered that particular storm, worked
his way back into the match, and after sneaking the first
10/9 didn't look back as he turned the tables on the former
PSA chief, putting in winning drops time and again.
Einy ousts
Wallis,
Evans' revenge on Thompson
Match of the day so far is the compelling 57-minute battle
between Women's O45 second seed Fran Wallis and unseeded
Rina Einy.
Einy, who has been living in Brussels for the last 18 years,
went two games up but Wallis, as determined ads ever, fought
back to level, then pulled away from 5-all in the decider to
earn match ball.
 Now
it was Einy's turn to fight back, as she took the next five
point to clinch a truly hard=fought victory.
"I've been doing fitness training for the last few weeks,"
said the delighted winner, "and it came in handy today! I
decided that if was was going to come across for this then
they might have better skills than me, but I wasn't going to
lose on fitness."
Another second seed fell when O50 Welshman (from Newcastle)
Jon Evans beat Scotsman Alan Thompson (from Middlesex),
coming from a game down to win convincingly, 5/9, 9/4, 9/3,
9/1 in 33 minutes.
 Evans,
famed more for his retrieving than shotmaking, found a rich
vein of winners from all over the court which left Thompson,
just returned from holiday in Cyprus, struggling to cope.
"Not sharp enough," was Thompson's verdict.
"Jon was too loose in the first game," said erstwhile coach
John Shaw, "but he tightened up and played really well in
the next three."
For Evans it was a case of sweet revenge: "Alan's beaten me
twice in the home internationals recently, 9/1 in the fifth
in Edinburgh and 10/9 in the fifth here, so it's good to get
one back against him.
Evans next faces Ian Bradburn, whose pressure game
and trademark low kills proved too much for yesterday's
giant-killer Alan Griffiths, the Lancastrian winning 3/1.
I've played Ian a couple of times but never beaten him,"
admitted Evans, "once I was injured and in the Nationals he
won 3/2 with all five games being won easily by one or the
other of us." Should be interesting then ...
A third second seed fell by the wayside in the O60 as Dave
Lumsden retired injured when leading Larry Groves
9/5, 10/8, 8/6. |
Friday quick results
full results & sat
schedule
 |
British
Open 
