Day ONE at the EICC

The 2013 edition of the European Individual Closed Championships got under way today at the Flemish Squash Centre in Herentals, with a handful of men's and women's first round matches, followed by a full set of evening matches in the men's draw.

There are no major upsets top report with all the seeds going safely through to tomorrow where they face two rounds of play, last sixteen and quarter-finals in both draws.

The longest matches of the day came at the end of play, with hour-long five-game wins for Poland's Przemyslaw Atras - who takes up the last sixteen spot expected to be occupied by the injured Daryl Selby - and  Slovakia's Miroslav Celler, who edged out Portuguese junior Claudio Pinto.

There will be significant French interest, led by six-time champion and top seed Gregory Gaultier and former champion Camille Serme, while the home fans will be able to cheer on 17-time national champion Stefan Casteleyn, plus their up-and-coming youngsters Jan Van Den Herreweggen and Nele Gillis.

You'll find reports and quotes on the BLOG, photos in the GALLERY, and you can watch the glass court matches LIVE or on REPLAY.         

Men's Round Two:                       full and interactive draws

[1] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 3-0 Gregory Lecerf (Bel)
            11/7, 11/4, 11/5 (22m)
Jan van den Herreweggen (Bel) 3-0 Peter Kviecinsky (Svk)
            11/4, 11/5, 11/2 (31m)
Jan Koukal (Cze) 3-0 Rene Mijs (Ned)
            12/10, 11/4, 11/4 (31m)
[6] Nicolas Mueller (Sui) 3-0 Joeri Hapers (Bel)
            11/5, 11/3, 11/7 (21m)

Selected  reports from Fram  (lots more on the blog)

[8] Olli Tuominen (Fin) 3-0 Mark Burke (Bel)
            11/4, 11/5, 11/3 (26m)
Gregoire Marche (Fra) 3-0 Kim Are Killingberg (Nor)
            11/2, 11/4, 11/7 (31m)
Piedro Schweertman (Ned) 3-0 Petr Martin (Cze)
            11/5, 11/5, 11/7 (29m)
Przemyslaw Atras (Pol) 3-2 Tiago Gorielly (Bel)
            10/12, 11/8, 11/13, 11/6, 14/12 (59m)

[4] Simon Rosner (Ger) 3-0 Marcin Karwowski (Pol)
            11/9, 11/1, 11/5 (21m)
Stefan Casteleyn (Bel) 3-1 Ondrej Uherka (Cze)
             11/9, 11/8, 9/11, 11/8 (49m)
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) 3-0 Marc ter Sluis (Ned)
             11/5, 11/8, 11/9 (27m)
[7] Chris Simpson (Eng) 3-0 Jan de Smet (Bel)
             11/4, 11/4, 11/6 (24m)

Selected  reports from Fram  (lots more on the blog)

[5] Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) 3-0 Sindre Roaldsoy (Nor)
             11/2, 11/7, 11/3 (26m)
Lucas Serme (Fra) 3-0 Jakub Solnicky (Cze)
             11/3, 11/2, 11/5 (21m)
Miroslav Celler (Svk) 3-2 Claudio Pinto (Por)
             3/11, 12/10, 11/8, 10/12, 11/6 (62m)
[2] Borja Golan (Esp) 3-0 Jonas Snoeck (Bel)
             11/3, 11/7, 11/5 (24m)

Men's Round One:                       full and interactive draws

Joeri Hapers (Bel) 3-0 Lukas Gnaur (Aut)
                 11/2, 11/2, 11/8 (29m)
Mark Burke (Bel) 3-0 Karlis Pestkins (Lat)
                 11/5, 11/4, 11/3 (19m)
Marcin Karwowski (Pol) 3-0 Ayk Avetisyan (Arm)
                  11/3, 11/1, 11/3 (14m)
Sindre Roaldsoy (Nor) 3-1 Alexander Schilov (Rus)
                 11/7, 11/3, 10/12, 11/2 (53m)
Jonas Snoeck (Bel) 3-1 Valerii Fedoruk (Ukr)
                 1/11, 11/9, 11/5, 11/7 (39m)



Women's Round One

Ineta Mackevica (Lat) 3-2 Dominika Witowska (Pol)
                 12/10, 11/3, 9/11, 7/11, 7/4 rtd (38m)
Xisela Aranda (Esp) 3-0 Tinne Gillis (Bel)
                  11/9, 11/8, 11/4 (38m)
Franziska Hennes (Ger) 3-1 Tessa Ter Sluis (Ned)
                  11/8, 11/8, 1/11, 11/7 (39m)
Judith Diepeveen (Ned) 3-0 Anna Jurkin (Pol)
                  14/12, 11/8, 11/8 (28m)
Nele Gillis (Bel) 3-0 Mariia Nickolainko (Rus)
                  11/1, 11/2, 11/0 (12m)
Nikki van der Heijden (Ned) 3-1 Tereza Svobodova (Cze)
                  11/7, 11/8, 10/12, 11/9  (26m)

Miroslav Celler (Svk) 3-2 Claudio Pinto (Por)
        3/11, 12/10, 11/8, 10/12, 11/6 (62m)

Nice battle to finish the day...

You always have one of those, haven't you... Everybody has finished, and you have two lunatics that keep running around and make it as long as they possibly can. And as ever, the last match was the longest of the day, 62m.....

Bless them.



Making a long story short, Claudio is still a junior and plays a bit of a junior squash at times, as in, bit of lack of patience, a bit too many errors, and mind wandering at times. Still, he is a very talented young man who, once he sorts out those little quibble, could be an excellent player.

In the first game, Miroslav didn't see much, and took a little time to get used to the pace, but took the second and third only just. Fourth, well, he was up 8/4, looking very good, but Claudio kept his focus rather well, came back to 8/8, 9/9. The Czech saved a game ball at 9/10, but loses the game 12/10, we were in a decider....

In the fifth, it was close to start with, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, but then experience and control played a crucial role I feel, 7/4 for the Czech. A not too good decision gave him a let, whereas the crowd gasped for a straight forward stroke (I was among those.)

Bless Claudio, didn't argue, came back at 6/9, but one match ball was enough 11/6 for Celler....
 

Przemyslaw Atras (Pol) 3-2 Tiago Gorielly (Bel)
       10/12, 11/8, 11/13, 11/6, 14/12 (59m)

What a match that was!

And to be honest, until the last point, I had no idea who was going to win. Tiago looked pretty solid in the first game, he lost the second, clinch the third, but in the fourth, seemed to lose a bit if focus, was chatting with a refs a bit too much for his own good.

Przemyslaw (surely you've got a nickname I coud use??) kept his head, played a pretty solid all around game, nothing fancy, taking his time to think and breathe between the serves, instead of rushing as too many players do!

The 5th was a seesaw affair, up the Polish went 7/2, relaxed a bit, Tiago came back strongly to 7/8, but Prz set himself with 2 match balls, 10/8. Saved! The Belgium crowd was supporting their man, especially when he got himself a match ball 11/10. A baaaaaad tin, 11/11. Another match ball for Belgium, 12/11. And another tin. Prz finally managed to clinch the match on his third attempt.

Happy he was, but tired too....

I think I was like a car that ran out of petrol, I was about to stop, but somehow, I managed to run and run and run some more!!!!

I don't play on PSA at all, there was that time where there was a PSA in Krakow, but I played against a local player, and I lost very very quickly!!!!!

I think the key to the match today was that I made a few unforced errors to begin with, that I managed to cut down in the 4th while getting more positive, but also that he helped me a lot by making a lot of errors. That make the difference I feel at the end..

Przemyslaw Atras

[8] Olli Tuominen (Fin) 3-0 Mark Burke (Bel)
        11/4, 11/5, 11/3 (26m)

This summer, I went and did the Jarvis Cup in South Africa for the first time, and I had a fantastic time! The tournament is such a great one, the way it's organised, so many players, it's just amazing! You should come and do it one year Fram! [FG: I wish!!!]

My goal this year is to come back to the top 20, definitely, please! I'm 26 now, I've been on the edge of coming back, so this year, I really want to be back there, where I was, and secure the first round of the tournaments.

No, I'm not thinking about what's I'll do after, I still play a good squash, I beat some pretty good player in the Jarvis Cup, I have a few bad tournaments, but that was always the case. I still enjoy my squash tremendously, I like the life on the Tour, and I am still looking forward to the next season.

When the time comes, I will know...

Olli Tuominen
 

[6] Nicolas Mueller (Sui) 3-0 Joeri Hapers (Bel)
       11/5, 11/3, 11/7 (21m)

I had a good preparation this summer, it's the first time I'm able to do three months of solid work.

I have a friend, Jamie, that just finished her sports science studies, she did all my programs, and she killed me basically!

I'm really enjoying being pain free - I had back troubles, I feel physically really good and fit, let's see what the next months bring result wise.

Next it's Mexico (I play Shabana first round), then San Francisco and St Paul in the US, and the US Open! A bit of a busy start...

Nicolas Mueller