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Seeds safely through in Amsterdam
All the seeds progressed to the quarter-finals of the Forexx
Dutch Open on day one of main draw action at the Frans Otten
Stadion.
It wasn't plain sailing for all of them though, with England's
Laura Lengthorn-Massaro needing the full five games to
quell Rebecca Chiu, and Jesse Engelbrect taking it into
extra points in his decider against Robin Clarke.
There's been success for the hosts though, with LJ Anjema,
Vanessa Atkinson and Natalie Grinham winning
comfortably enough, and Dylan Bennett put the Amsterdam
faithful through the usual agoniser before winning through.
The finals matches of the day saw women's top seed Nicol
David start the defence of her title with a four-game win
over Isabelle Stoehr, and former Amsterdam favourite John
White living up to his reputation as an entertaining
hard-hitter as he and wildcard Piedro Schweertman gave the
packed crowd an entertaining nightcap.
Women's Round
One:
[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt Isabelle
Stoehr (Fra)
11/9, 9/11, 11/6, 11/5 (38m)
[6] Laura
Lengthorn-Massaro$(Eng) bt Rebecca Chiu (Hkg)
11/8, 7/11, 11/8, 14/16, 11/7 (67m)
[4] Natalie Grainger (Usa) bt Madeline Perry (Irl)
11/6, 11/5, 4/11, 11/8 (32m)
[5] Jenny Duncalf (Eng) bt [Q] Aisling Blake (Irl)
9/11, 11/6, 11/6, 11/7 (33m)
[8] Alison Waters (Eng) bt Kasey Brown (Aus)
12/10, 9/11, 11/6, 11/8 (50m)
[3] Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt
[Q] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (Eng)
11/6, 11/8, 11/8 (30m)
[7] Vanessa Atkinson (Ned) bt [Q] Line Hansen (Den)
11/7, 11/2, 11/8 (28m)
[2] Natalie Grinham (Ned) bt
[Q] Lauren Briggs (Eng)
11/2, 11/3, 11/4 (22m)
Men's Round
One:
[1] Nick Matthew
(Eng) bt [Q] Shaun Le Roux (Eng)
11/3, 11/3, 11/4 (31m)
[8] Jesse Engelbrecht
(Rsa) bt [Q] Robin Clarke (Can)
11/7, 11/7, 9/11, 3/11, 13/11 (63m)
[4] John White
(Sco) bt Piedro Schweertman (Ned)
12/10, 11/5, 13/11 (32m)
[5] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Col) bt [Q] Bradley Hindle
(Aus)
11/8, 4/11, 11/7, 11/9 (78m)
[7] Dylan Bennett (Ned) bt Simon
Rosner (Ger)
10/12, 15/13, 11/7, 12/10 (73m)
[3] Cameron Pilley (Aus) bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind)
11/3, 11/5, 11/7 (31m)
[6] Davide Bianchetti (Ita) bt [Q] Steve Coppinger (Rsa)
11/9, 12/10, 11/7 (55m)
[2] Laurens Jan Anjema
(Ned) bt Jon Harford (Eng)
11/5, 11/6, 11/1 (36m) |
Forexx
Extras #1
Photo Galleries
& video highlights
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[1]
Nick Matthew (Eng) bt [Q] Shaun
Le Roux (Eng)
11/3, 11/3, 11/4 (31m)
Matthew's Back
It's been a long wait for the world number seven - since last
December's English Open final to be precise. But after months of
injury and recuperation and a couple of false starts, Nick
Matthew is back.
He has a lot of time to make up, and a lot of points to earn to
maintain his ranking which has held up well in his time off, and
he showed good enough form today in beating English qualifier
Shaun Le Roux to suggest he's more than capable of doing just
that.
There will be harder tests to come, but for now it's just good
to see Nick back in action ...
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 "I
was actually a bit nervous before going on, trying to remember
the process I go through before the match. Once I got the first
couple of points out of the way though I started to feel more
comfortable again. You can play all the training matches in the
world, it's just not the same as playing in a tournament.
"Physically I've worked hard for three months, but now I'm back
the more matches I play the better I'll get and let's hope that
takes me somewhere.
"At least I'm back, I missed it - it's what I do and if you
can't do what you do best it doesn't feel right. All the people
who have worked with me over the last eight months will be
pleased to see me back in action I'm sure, if only to get rid of
me for a while!
"Now I can smile and relax a little and enjoy the rest of the
tournament …"
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[2]
Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) bt
Jon Harford (Eng)
11/5, 11/6, 11/1 (36m)
 "I was
quite nervous at the start of the match, especially the first, I
was a bit tense and played quite loose, but in the third I
relaxed and everything came into place.
"I can't just go for shots like some players, only when my basic
game is in place can I start to play shots. My goal is to
achieve that level of consistency in each match I play.
"I can't wait to play Bianchetti on here tomorrow, it should be
a really good match …"
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[7]
Dylan Bennett (Ned) bt Simon
Rosner (Ger)
10/12, 15/13, 11/7, 12/10 (73m)
Dylan doubles Dutch tally
Following Vanessa Atkinson on court, Dylan Bennett made it two
out of two for the Dutch today, but it was far from easy as
Simon Rosner pushed Dylan all the way. His demons nearly got the
better of him as he went for an outrageous winner after the
German had saved a couple of match balls to get back to 10/9 in
the fourth - "if you want them so much they never go in, do
they," said Dylan afterwards - but he held on to take the game
and advance to the quarter-finals.
"Man, that was
close. I had a good start in all of the games, three or four
points ahead. Some of the time he came back with good shots, but
at least 50% of it was my mistakes. It always seems to happen,
when I tell myself to stay focused I somehow let it go.
"Still, that was my first match, you never know what you're
going to be like after a period of training, and I feel fresh
and fit, happy to get a win on my home court and happy to be
coming back tomorrow …"
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[8]
Jesse Engelbrecht (Rsa) bt
[Q] Robin Clarke (Can)
11/7, 11/7, 9/11, 3/11, 13/11 (63m)
 "Well
that's not a bad one to start the season with is it, 13/11 in
the fifth!
"I've only been back for five days after a month's trekking in
the deserts in the USA so I can't really say I'm well prepared
for this tournament. Initially I was playing Nick, so I was very
relaxed about it, but when the draw changed and I got a
qualifier I definitely put more pressure on myself to win.
"I was 2/0 up and felt in control, thinking 'this will be a nice
start', but of course you can't do that. I thought he would stop
but he kept coming back and coming back. I had to let the fourth
go, then it was tight in the fifth, he had a match ball, I
clinched it on my second, I have to be happy with that.
"It's a pity the two South Africans were on at the same time,
but I Steve's 3/0 took almost as long as my five-setter, that
must have been a tough one!"
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[4]
John White (Sco) bt Piedro
Schweertman (Ned)
12/10, 11/5, 13/11 (32m)
"I'm nearly 36
now, but I'm really enjoying it on court, especially on a hot
one like this where you play some good shots. I'll go for one,
if it comes back I'll go for it again, and again …
"He has a good attack, and hits the ball hard - I was warned
that he hits it as hard as me, so I had to prove that theory
wrong!
"I'm really settled in the USA now, I don't travel overseas as
much, but Tommy's a great friend, I thought I had to come over
for one of my last Dutch Opens, then the Worlds in October.
"I only flew in yesterday, I thought I'd get over it quickly,
but the jet lag gets to you more these days …"
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But ref, he couldn't even see the ball!" |
Ref: "That's because it was
in between your legs!" |
It's behind you ... |
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[1]
Nicol David (Mas) bt Isabelle
Stoehr (Fra)
11/9, 9/11, 11/6, 11/5 (38m)
 "Like
any first round match you're trying to feel your way into the
tournament, but Isa doesn't give you any room to do that so I
knew I had to try to get in there from the start. I started ok
but in the second she was at her best, there was nothing I could
do.
"I knew I had to bring my game up, and she gave me a bit more
time to position myself and play my shots in the last two games,
it all came together at the end.
"I hope I can raise it from here for the rest of the tournament
…"
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[2]
Natalie Grinham (Ned) bt [Q]
Lauren Briggs (Eng)
11/2, 11/3, 11/4 (22m)
 "I
train on this court so I know it well, and I've been training
and playing really well lately so I felt good out there tonight.
"I know I can get a lot back so I can afford to play a lot
short, like I was tonight, I enjoy playing that way.
"Vanessa and I have had a few battles over the years, and if she
plays well she's very dangerous, so hopefully I'll play well and
it will be another good battle."
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[6]
Laura Lengthorn-Massaro
(Eng) bt Rebecca Chiu (Hkg)
11/8, 7/11, 11/8, 14/16, 11/7 (67m)
"That was harder
than I expected, I hadn't played her for two years and she was
playing much better than I remembered. I don't feel I stuck to
my game plan very well, but she picked up a lot more than I
expected and it was just determination that got me through in
the end."
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[3]
Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt [Q]
Dominique Lloyd-Walter (Eng)
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11/6, 11/8, 11/8 (30m)
"They were all
close games, it felt like the type of game where under the old
scoring you'd be stuck at two-all for a while, we were going
point for point most of the time. In this scoring you have to
make sure you win tle right rallies!
"I've practiced on it a few times now but the court does take
some getting used to - in practice it can feel quite dead, but
one the crowd gets in and warm it up it can be quite bouncy, and
I still sometimes have trouble picking the ball out on the side
walls.
"Dom's quite a steady player, so when it's bouncier she's hard
to beat … glad to come through that one three-nil …"
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