Fri
30th, Day TWO:
The Busiest Day
Friday at BSPA events is always
hectic, and today is no exception - we started at 11.15 with the
four Women's qualifying finals, then the men joined in at 12.45
with sixteen first round matches. Then this evening, starting at
17.00, it was the women's first round and men's round two,
sixteen more matches to enjoy with plenty of Scottish interest
too.
Check the DRAW page and
TWITTER for results and a few
notes
Evening Report: WSA Round One
The women's first round provided a mix of quick wins and tough
battles, and some upsets thrown in too.
 Top
seeds Lucia Fialova and Birgit Coufal had
contrasting three-nil wins, Fialova easing past local qualifier
Lauren Gray while Coufal needed extra points in the first two
games before seeing off France's Enora Villard.
"That was hard fro a three-nil," admitted Coufal, "but a
win's a win!"
It was a similar story for the 3/4 seeds as Nele Gilis
beat qualifier Ineta Mackevica - a training partner back in
Belgium - with something top spare while Edinburgh-based
Tamika Saxby had her work cut out to see off another
qualifier Alison Thomson, who took the first and pushed the
Aussie all the way.
All four top seeds will face English opponents in the
quarter-finals after Lucy Beecroft, playing in her first
WSA event, upset Sina Wall, Fiona Moverley took out sixth
seed Chloe Mesic, Georgina Kennedy won her all-English
tussle with Jessica Davis, and a 'not at my best" Leonie Holt
came from a game down to beat Anna Klimundova.
Men's seeds all through
 The
second round of the BSPA event saw all eight seeds - including
three Scotsmen - through to the quarter-finals, although as ever
is wae easier for some than others.
Defending champ Daryl Selby won in straight games for the
second time today, beating Darren Lewis in an entertaining match
where the top seed once again had to sdave three game balls.
"I'm probably a bit lucky to have won 3-0, 3-0 today," said
Selby, "but I'll take it!"
For the home players, all seeded 5/8, Greg Lobban beat
fellow-Scot Rory Stewart comfortably enough, but Kevin Moran
and Dougie Kempsell had to work hard for their wins over
Danny Hockburn and Phil Nightingale, both winning in four games
in just under and just over the hour mark.
 The
longest and toughest match of the day was between two recent
European Junior Champions, Richie Fallows and Angus
Gillams. It went the full distance and both had match ball
opportunities before 5/8 seed Fallows finally clinched the
decider 13/11 after 74 minutes.
"We play each other a lot and it's always close," admitted
Gillams, "but that was a tough one."
Rounding out the quarter-finals, Shaun Le Roux, Jaymie
Haycocks and Eddie Charlton all won in straight
games.
Afternoon roundup
 There
was home success in the WSA qualifying finals as last-minute
entrant Lauren Gray's hitting power proved too much for
Roxy Keshavarz.
"I didn't enter, but then told Simon at the last minute I could
play if anyone dropped out, so I'm pretty pleased to qualify,"
said the ESC member, who faces top seed Lucie Fialova tonight.
No joy for Senga Macfie though, as she succumbed to English
Junior Alison Thomson in three games.
 Among
Senga's many now-traditional comments, our favourite came after
she clean missed an attempted volley: "There's old, and
there's blind ... you're both!"
Ineta Mackevica powered past Taylor Flavell in straight
games. "We hadn't played before but we're close in the
rankings so I'm pleased to win that in straight games," said
the Latvian, although shortly later she didn't look quite so
pleased after drawing Belgian Nele Gilis in the main draw.
Completing the main draw lineup is another English junior in
Jessica Thomson, who meets yet another English junior,
Georgina Kennedy, tonight.
Men's seeds - and five Scots -
through
No upsets to report in men's round one, although some of the
seeds had to work harder than they might have liked to reach
tonight's second round fresh.
Top seed and defending champion Daryl Selby had to save
three game balls before taking his third game against Chris
Leiper, while second seed Sean Le Roux found James
'Farmer' Jameson's boasts too hot to handle in the third which
the Edinburgh man took 12/10.
 On
the home front 5/8 seeds Greg Lobban and Kevin Moran
were both taken to four games, while Rory Stewart became
the only qualifier to reach the last sixteen as he beat Lucky
Loser David Beaumont, and Dougie Kempsell and Jamie
Henderson made it five Scots in the last sizteen.
Taminder Gata-Aura came close to upsetting Angus Gillams,
but Gillams pulled back from 1-2 and 0-4 down to take his place
in tonight's second round.
Quote of the afternoon was from Daryl Selby:
"I disagreed with the last decision you made about 50% ... I
disagree with this one 99% !!"
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