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BOSTON
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Boston Open 2007 - 07-09 December
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Finals:
[1] Bradley Ball bt [2] Daryl Selby
11/9, 7/11, 11/8, 2/11, 11/6 (68m)
[1] Vicky Botwright bt [2] Becky Botwright
9/3, 9/4, 9/4 (34m)
Vicky wins sisterly battle
Adam Hildred reports
Becky played well here, and there were a lot of good shots in a
competitive match. However, in the most part, the best of the shots were
coming off Vicky’s racket, and she was a little bit tighter. The match was
played in good spirits as you might expect with no hassle for the referee.
After 34 minutes Vicky Botwright has won the event at the first time of
asking.
Bradders comes through
Five-game men’s finals here are nearly becoming as common as a semi-finals
appearance from Steve Meads! Nearly. For the third year in a row, the
crowd were presented with a fantastic spectacle of squash.
A late surge from Selby in the first fell just short of forcing a
tie-breaker, and in the second game, where he came strong again towards
the end, it was enough to give him the game. In the third, ‘Bradders’
looked to be clear again at 8-4 after a series of errors from Daryl, but
again Daryl fought back, getting it to 8-7 before the pendulum again swing
towards Ball as he took the game 11/8.
After a couple of the aforementioned errors, Daryl uttered the wise words
– “Life’s all about inches…” He was right. In the fourth, the shots that
just clipped the tin in the third were honing in and just a bit too good
for Bradley to reach. A phenomenal run of 11 straight points gave him the
game 11-2 and ensured the match went to its full length. In the end,
Bradley just held out. He managed to get an early lead, and while in
previous games Daryl had dragged it back, Bradley always maintained a two
point lead and then finished strongly to take the match.
Throughout the match, there had been good-mannered banter between the
players and officials… “Ah Daryl you could have played that mate!” “I
would have taken your head off Bradders!” John Massarella then intervened…
“Let’s agree to disagree and play a let.” Both players then looked up in
horror. However, as John said after the match, they were good friends and
both knew where the line was and avoided crossing it, and I think in the
end the players knew the decisions had been consistent. The last time we
saw such humour in a final of the Open would have been all of one year ago
when Simon Parke tried his wit on the officials.
“I think it’s fantastic that the club has kept this going for eleven
years,” said Ball in the presentation, “I came here seven or eight years
ago and really enjoyed it, and I think all the players who aren’t here now
did this year as well and I’d like to thank the club, organisers and
helpers on their behalf.” “The bacon rolls here are good,” said Vicky.
Finally, at the end, we all breathed a big sigh of relief when Daryl was
asked if the courts were any better today… “Yeah they were fine today, not
at all slippy. They’ve improved by the day…”
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Semi-Finals
After the afternoon of junior squash, the seniors returned in the evening
for the semi-finals. It resulted in a men’s final of Bradley Ball vs.
Daryl Selby – with both players having attractive games it could be a
crowd pleaser. However, I do think that the tins on the courts seem to
have “crumpled” a lot during this tournament and that Brad may be one of
the main culprits with the pace he generates off the racket. In the
women’s event, an all-Botwright final never really looked in doubt as the
sisters avoided being involved in some of the closer women’s matches that
took place.Bradley
Ball (1) beat Scott Handley (3/4)
Details to follow
Daryl Selby beat Steve
Meads: 11/8, 11/6, 11/7 (35m)
Not ideal conditions, but both players put
up a terrific show as a slightly slippery floor reared its ugly head
again, probably because of Steve running all over the place like a terrier
retrieving Daryl’s shots. Speaking of Daryl’s shots, he played two
outstanding ones tonight. The first was where he looked like he’d be
forced to boast, but then did something ludicrous which resulted in him
hitting a straight drive. For most, it would probably have resulted in
jarring our arms. The second was simply putting his racket in the ball’s
trajectory and it rolling into the nick. However, Meads was also
impressive tonight and could have won the first or third. Earlier I
mentioned his phenomenal record of reaching semi-finals here. He then
asked the question “why do I never get past the semis here though? See you
next year.”
Vicky Botwright (1) beat
Deon Saffery (3/4)
Details to follow
Becky Botwright (2) beat
Lauren Selby 9/4, 9/2, 9/6 (24m)
From 4-4 in the first, Becky Botwright
then stepped up her game to take the first 9/4. Two major hands won the
second for here, and she again pulled away at the right time to take the
third…although Lauren did stage a mini-comeback in that game. However, an
all-Botwright final has never looked in doubt, and it shall commence at
3pm tomorrow.
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Men's
Quarters Bradley Ball
(1) beat Peter Marshall (5/8)
11/6, 11/8, 11/3 (31m)
“I’m sitting down, watching this, and not
moving,” said one spectator as these two went on, obviously attracted to
the top seed vs. an ex world #2. However, it almost seemed unfair that the
36 year old Marshall had endured 90 minutes and seven hard games
yesterday, while the relatively junior 31 year old Ball had simply had a
23 minute 3/0 victory. Ball won convincingly, although certainly not in
the same way he blew away Alistair Gorrie yesterday. Marshall was playing
well, but today seemed simply not able to retrieve that one more ball or
play an extra winner as he often might.
Scott Handley (3/4) beat
David Barnett (5/8)
11/2, 11/2, 11/1 (22m)
Not a lot to be said here. Handley booked
his place to return to the club later in the evening and face Bradley Ball
in the semis, and gave himself as good a chance of victory as anyone with
a quick victory over David Barnett.
Steve Meads (5/8) beat Andy
Whipp (3/4)
11/7, 11/6, 11/7 (33m)
When I was watching, Andy Whipp seemed to
be retrieving a lot and smashing in a lot of nicks. When I wasn’t, it
looks like Meadsy was effectively and efficiently winning points. The
first two games resulted in each other cancelling themselves out until
Meads broke clear to get to 11 first, while the final game saw long
strings of points for both players. Unfortunately for Whipp, Meads got the
best of those as well. “I think that’s my fourth consecutive semi-final
here,” said Meads.
Daryl Selby (2) beat Richard
Birks
11/7, 11/0, 11/3 (20m)
I didn’t see any of this match, but by the
looks of the scoresheet, God only knows what happened to Birks once he got
to six in the first game – he only won one more point out of the next 18!
Anyway, Daryl would have been pleased to get off court in 20 minutes and
get some rest ahead of the semis.
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Women's Quarters Vicky
Botwright (1) beat Sarah Bowles
9/2, 9/1 9/0 (18m)
The first match of the day was Vicky
Botwright against Sarah Bowles, and the top seed again secured a
relatively comfortable passage through to the next round. Convincing
drives and all-round neat and accurate player from the Lancastrian were
enough to restrict Sarah Bowles to just three points in a quick match.
Deon Saffery (3/4) beat
Kimberley Hay
5/9, 9/2, 9/4, 9/4 (34m)
While on one court a European Team Club
Champion succumbed to a relatively straightforward defeat, one of her team
mates, Deon Saffery, won a very hard-fought match against Kimberley Hay
from Newcastle. With a series of brilliant winners from Hay giving her the
first game, Saffery had to really herself. However, the seed eventually
won through, playing enough of Hay’s winners herself to claim the second,
third and fourth games with comfortable scorelines, despite plenty of
hands in and out.
Lauren Selby beat Fiona
Moverley (3/4)
8/10, 9/6, 9/3, 9/7 (44m)
Despite a close scoreline, the story of
this match was Moverley having to take an hour out to recover after being
hit by Selby’s racket. Obviously it was a complete accident on both
players’ behalf and was classed as contributed. In the mean time, Scott
Handley played his quarter-final on that court. In the first game,
Moverley had to fight back, after Selby had game ball at 8/6. However, by
winning six of the next seven rallies, she took the frist game 10/8. In
the second game though, it was Selby’s turn to take control from a close
situation and come from behind. Powered by runs from 1/3 and 5/6, she
levelled the games by taking the second. She then went on to dominate the
third and take it 9/3. The injury occurred at 4/3 to Selby in the fourth.
An hour or so later, the players resumed play and the game retained its
tight shape, with Selby eventually getting through 9/7 in the fourth.
Becky Botwright (2) beat
Victoria Lust
9/5, 9/7, 9/3 (34m)
Despite the close games and some extended
rallies, you could tell here that the second seed and sister of the top
seed had slightly more experience at this level than the 18 year old Lust.
Her winners were slightly more effective and retrieving a tad better.
Despite it being 3/0 though, Lust put up a very good fight, as shown by
the match taking 34 minutes for three games.
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The
BSPA Boston Open
2007 – Day One
Adam Hildred reports
Day One of the 2007 BSPA Boston Open began with the usual: some player
dropouts, some complaining and a lot of terrific squash!
Nick Douglas and Andy Whipp gained the benefit of a workless
progression to the second round due to Dean Newberry, Greg MacArthur
having to pull out on the eve of the event. In the women’s, Ana Kardar
avoided having to play a qualifier as Lisa Aitken withdrew and a few days
ago it was confirmed Kimberley Hay would have an effortless
progression to the quarters. In the men’s, Bradley Ball, Scott
Handley and Daryl Selby already had byes.
This year’s event kicked off with a 3/0 victory for Oli Pett over
Alex Cutts in 25 minutes. In a closely contested match, 5/8 seed David
Barnett took a 3/1 victory over Neil Cordell in three quarters of an
hour. Next up was a 20 minute 3/0 victory for Keith Timms over Sam
Hodgkins, while on the other court, 5/8 seed and former world #2 Peter
Marshall would have been relieved to beat Jamie Jacobsen in 30 minutes
after being forced to a tie-breaker in both the first two games. Local
sixteen year old Sammy Chambers went out in three games to a solid
Alistair Gorrie, while the seeded Mick Biggs put up a similar
performance against Sam Wileman. In a match late to start, Mark Fuller
defeated Clive Ewins in a long three games, as did last year’s
semi-finalist Steve Meads to Jamie Goodrich. In between all that,
Adrian Waller also defeated Andrew Widdison to move into the round
of 16.
The aforementioned complaining cropped up in this round in particular, the
problem being the newly sanded floors still having some dust left on them
as each game players on the court brings up more dust from below the
floorboards. However, according to John Massarella, the floors were
definitely more trustworthy than the glass floor in Bermuda, and they were
good enough for the likes of Shabana! In truth however, the sanding was
done a week or two too late.
On to the women’s first round, and first on were top seed Vicky
Botwright and Katherine Quarterman. With some strong drives, the
favourite was through within 24 minutes, conceding just three points.
Another story was being played out on the opposite court however as
Sarah Bowles ground out a win other Argentinean Luz Etchechoury, 3/1
in games and lasting 40 minutes. Deon Saffery, 3/4 seed had a
similar match with Scotland’s Claire Kidd, although lost the third game
instead of the third. While that was on going, fellow 3/4 seed Fiona
Moverley beat Luz’s twin Belen in 17 minutes. For highly rated 14 year
old Olivia Blatchford, nothing really seemed to go her way. Hers was the
only match which had to be played on one of the end courts and after
winning the under 19’s at the Irish Open, she struggled with shots I’m
sure she would have otherwise made with routine. After the men’s second
round, the final two matches on show were a quickfire win for Becky
Botwright over Ana Kardar and a less so, 40 minute, 3/0 victory for
Victoria Lust over Sarah-Jane Perry.
Men's Second Round
Rewinding time from those last two matches, and we come to the men’s
second round. The first matches on were David Barnett vs. Nick Douglas and
Scott Handley vs. Oliver Pett. The former match was very closely
contested, with either game looking like it could go either way until one
player broke away. In the end, the seeded Barnett won through 3/1 in 40
minutes. The latter, Handley, had a fairly routine 28 minute victory.
The next set of matches were arguable the two most entertaining – how
unfortunate you could only watch one! On court 4, Bradley Ball suffered a
minor injury to his thumb/finger in the second game. Obviously, there was
only one way to deal with this – blast the ball past Alistair Gorrie and
cream nicks all over the place to try and get off court as quickly as
possible. He did just that despite a neat performance from the Scotsman.
On the other court, 5/8 seed Peter Marshall was using all two of his hands
to earn a victory over Keith Timms. In a match that lasted just two
minutes short of an hour, Marshall showed some great skills of deception
at the front of the court and ran out a 3/1 winner.
In the bottom half of the draw, Daryl Selby progressed to the next round
with a 3/0 victory over Adrian Waller while Richard Birks had a good
result to upset the seedings and put 5/8 seed Mick Biggs out of the
competition.
Finally, we had Andy Whipp have an incredibly close last game (17-15!)
before eliminating Mark Fuller 3/0 in 33 minutes, and a straightforward
victory for Steve Meads by beating Andrew Birks 3/0 in 26 minutes.
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Botwright and Ball top seeds
Preview from Adam Hildred
The Boston Open returns again this year to the BSPA tour, and is again the
longest running event on the tour this being our 11th year. With the court
walls cleaned, floors sanded, lines relayed, new carpet tiles put down,
new lights inserted and a best ever return for sponsorship for the event,
the club looks in better shape than ever for hosting the tournament.
Although the draw this year is down in quantity, the quality of players
remains as impressive as ever for a small club in Lincolnshire! In fact,
the absence of a round of 64 is quite a relief to the organisers after
last year’s 5 ½ hour marathon over all 5 courts which resulted in 96 games
over 27 matches on a Thursday night.
In the women’s event, world #7 Vicky Botwright heads the draw, having
replaced Tania Bailey who withdrew on Thursday. The loss of the
Lincolnshire world #5 may have been slightly disappointing to members, but
they could be consolidated by another top drawer player as a substitute.
On the other hand I already knew we were having two A1 posters featuring
Tania at a cost of £18 each! Her sister Becky Botwright, world #36 is the
second seed, and is a European Club Team Champion with Pontefract, along
with Sarah Bowles and ¾ seed Deon Saffery. The 2005 quarter-finalist Fiona
Moverley completes the seeds in the women’s draw.
On to the men’s draw, and as previously mentioned, although quantity of
entries is down from last year’s record breaking totals, quality is as
high as ever. If the event goes to seeding, which it very rarely seems to
do, then we will have a very tight final between world #30 Bradley Ball
from Ipswich and world #31 Daryl Selby from Essex. Scott Handley, who last
year beat Selby in the semi-finals is a ¾ seed again and after missing the
event last year, 2005 semi-finalist Andy Whipp returns as a ¾ seed. Peter
Marshall, the 36 year old former world #2 from Nottingham is a notable 5/8
seed, as is Steve Meads, entering for the fourth year in succession, a
semi-finalist last year and a former world #11. Mick Biggs from Surrey and
David Barnett from Newcastle are the other 5/8 seeds.
Roll on 7th December!
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