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| Artemis TODAY
- Fri 29th, Day TWO
Steve Cubbins in Scotland |
Seeds
through in
contrasting fashion ...
Two rounds of men's action and one of women's started at noon
and concluded shortly after 10pm (Simon was still busy with the
last few graded matches of course) with the seeds in both events
progressing to the quarter-finals.
It wasn't quite as simple as that though, with the men's top
seed having to come from two down, and the second seed from 2/1
down, while three Scots are through to the women's quarters to
keep home interest alive.
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Photo Galleries
Draws & Results |
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Lyall had to
change one shoe
Playing with a slow shutter
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All to
plan so far ...
The first set of men's matches went according to the seedings,
with Saurav Ghosal, playing his first ever BSPA event,
seeing off Lyall Paterson 3/0, fellow Indian Siddarth Suchde
doing the same to Gary Mckay, and Simon Parke easing
past 'Farmer' James Jacobsen for the loss of just four points.
Jabobsen's verdict on his opponent was short and sweet: "Gifted,
Legend." Parke was equally impressed: "I've know him for a few
years now and we've had a few hits, he's been working on his
game and improved a lot, I really enjoyed it."
 Scottish
number two Stuart Crawford finished the quartet of
matches, beating the tall Phil Nightingale in four games. "I
made it hard for myself," admitted Stuart. "I was 2/0 and 9/6
up, let him get five points in a row and it was a bit of a
battle from there until the end."
"It will be my first match against Saurav tonight, I expect it
to be tough and can't see us having many short rallies unless he
wins them!"
To finish off the bottom half of the draw, John Rooney and
Jethro Binns kept the Irish and Welsh flags flying with 3/0
wins, and Shaun Le Roux weighed in with a 3/0 for England.
 Jamie
Macauley took on second seed Daryl Selby and really took
it to the Englishman, racing to an early lead and taking the
first game 11/9. The Scot had put everything into the first - "I
always put everything in," he said - but Selby dominated
thereafter, taking the next three game 0, 4 and 6.
"He played well in the first," said Selby, "took the game to me
and got something like 7/0 up, he was really fast out of the
blocks.
"It's always tough when you're that far down, but I managed to
put a few points together and that helped me out for the rest of
the match.
"You always come up against good players, even in the first
round in this event, so you have to try to find the right
balance, attacking enough but not being suicidal!"
Starting off the top half of the draw, Andy Whipp put
paid to any hopes of yesterday's five-game winner Chris Gray,
top seed Adrian Grant was given a good four-game workout
by Andrew Birks, and Lewis Walters beat Andrew Widdison
in one of the stranger scorelines, 14/12, 11/0, 11/13, 11/5. I
must ask Lewis to explain that one ...
The match between James Snell and Darren Lewis looked one
of the most open of the round, and although Lewis, urged on by a
packed gallery of Leicester supporters, won 3/0 it was anything
but easy.
 "We
always bring a few along to this event," said Darren. "The
majority are from the Chase Hotel & Club in Leicester, and
there's about 20 of us this year. It always helps to have the
crowd behind you!"
"I hadn't played him before and going into the match I really
didn't know who was favourite. He likes to play at a fast pace,
which is pretty similar to the way I play so it was a good,
close match.
 Bringing
up the rear, the Leicester crowd weren't able to stop Chris
Truswell seeing off qualifier Dominic Hamilton in straight
games, and Tournament Director Simon Boughton fell to Joel
Hinds, who started off like the whirlwind that seems to have
re-attacked his hair.
"There was nothing I could do in the first," said Simon, "his
length was just perfect. He was off the pace a bit in the second
and I managed to take that one, but he stepped it up again in
the last two games.
"You're caught between a rock and a hard place really - I was
never going to beat him on fitness, but if I went short too soon
he'd just pounce on it and put it away."
 Last
ones through to tonight's last sixteen were Jaymie Haycocks,
3/1 winner over Steve Siviter, and Ong Beng Hee, who had
to work hard to overcome young Scot Chris Ferguson, who took the
first game and competed well in the other three too in front of
a packed gallery.
""I felt my length in the first was fantastic," said Chris, who
turned 19 on 9th January. "Because I dropped it from that level
in the second I was always under pressure from then on.
"But I achieved some of my goals in the third and fourth games
and I'm happy with how I played. Being on court with a world top
twenty player, you can't beat it for experience and I'm
delighted to have had the opportunity."
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| Women's Round One |
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Scottish
trio through to quarters
 More
Scottish success as the ladies' event got under way as Alex
Clark, Frania Gillen-Buchert and Lisa Aitken
booked their spots in the quarter-finals.
Clark won a rumbustious five-setter with Zephanie Curgenven - it
was one of those matches where their styles of play didn't seem
to match very well, resulting in a lot of traffic problems and a
lot of work for the referee.
 "I
couldn't work out whether it was me or her," said Alex. "I'd be
in the way for a few rallies, then she'd be in my way, then we'd
have some clean points.
"I played well in the first though, lost my way in the next two
by not sticking to my game plan, but I refocused on the plan for
the last two and thankfully it worked.
"I haven't hit a ball in anger for ages so it's good to get back
into competition with a win. It should be a good experience
playing Vanessa tomorrow!"
The bad news for Alex is that Vanessa has arrived from New York,
and has a night's rest before their match tomorrow.
Zephanie was disappointed to lose her first BSPA match but not
downhearted. "It's a pity to come up here from London to lose my
first match," she said, "but I need to get more matches like
that. I'm pleased that I fought my corner, a few months ago I
might have backed off in a match like that."
Zephanie's old schoolfriend Frania wasted no time in beating
Vicky Hynes while Lisa kept her focus as she beat ESC's own
Senga - "I haven't played this badly since I can't remember" -
Macfie in straight games.
Elsewhere there were wins for England's Leonie Holt,
Lauren Selby and Victoria Lust, and second seed
Nicolette Fernandes, all in straight games. |
Top
eight through to the Quarters
The men's second round started off with both Indian players on
court, but Saurav Ghosal wasn't on there long as he
despatched an out of sorts Stuart Crawford in 22 minutes,
although Ghosal's performance was much appreciated by the
knowledgeable Edinburgh crowd.
Simon Parke took almost three times as long to subdue
Siddarth Suchde. Parke, the champion here in 2007, covered the
court as only he can - "watch his feet," said one seasoned
observer, "no-one moves like him, his feet just never stop
moving even when he's on the T."
Parke tended to score his points in runs, the last of which took
him to victory in the fourth game. "I expected that," he said
afterwards, "we've played a few times in practice, although not
recently, and it's always been close.
"I'm quite pleased with my fitness at the moment, I'm playing
leagues and BSPAs, and I've already won two five-setters this
week, I was 2-0 up up both so it's been a bit harder than it
should have been!"
 Next
up were two gruelling encounters. John Rooney and Shaun
Le Roux locked horns in the bearpit, court five. Le Roux took
the first, Rooney the second, and with both players becoming
frustrated with some of the decisions they were getting, Rooney
sneaked the third 12/10.
The fourth was brutal. Rooney edged ahead 9/8, declared that the
ref "almost became my best friend there," when the score was
erroneously called 10/8, but went on to earn two match balls
anyway.
Le Roux saved them both, they played a series of tough rallies
ending in lets, then Rooney edged ahead again when Le Roux was
denied a let as he stretched for a ball into the back corner.
 It
all became too much for Shaun as first his racket headed for the
back wall at some velocity, followed shortly by the man himself
as he conceded the match after 74 minutes, declaring "I've had
enough."
"That was a tough one for sure," said John. "Not so much
physically but it was very stoppy starty, lots of lets. I'd
never played him in a match before, but we play on the same
league team, so I knew it was going to be tough.
 Second
seed Daryl Selby survived a scare, coming from 2-1 down
to beat Jethro Bins in 64 minutes.
"It felt like at least two hours," declared the victor, seconded
by the vanquished.
"I've got three voices in my head all telling me to do different
things, I need them to go away! I'm either very tired or
delirious to be playing a tournament again!"
If the second seed had to come from 2/1 down, it was even
tougher for top seed Adrian Grant as he fell 2/0 down to
Lewis Walters.
 From
6-all in the first Lewis went on a run of 14 unanswered points
as Adrian seemed to be struggling with his movement.
All looked well from the start of the third though as the world
number ten assumed control to move into the quarters.
Andy Whipp, playing in his eighth Artemis Championship,
made sure that Darren Lewis could join the Leicestershire group
in the bar with a close, but relatively quick, three game
victory.
 Joel
Hinds gave 3/4 seed Ong Beng Hee a good workout on court
five, coming close in the second and sneaking the third before
the Malaysia eased ahead in the fourth to take the match.
Last on were Jaymie Haycocks and Chris Truswell,
Haycocks' straight games win meaning that the top eight seeds
were through to the quarter-finals ...
... but we had some fun getting there .... |
I know, my lob serves hit
this low roof too ...
Last match of the day ... |
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