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Friday 4th Day One

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Sports Park Snippets
from Steve Cubbins

The first session of play saw top half action in the B15, G15 and B19 events with most of the seeds progressing safely.

In the Boys U19 Hertfordshire's Nathan Derrick produced the only upset with a tense 5/11, 11/9, 11/9, 13/11 win over 9/16 seed Ross Brown. Top seed Nathan Lake was in commanding form while his prospective semi-final opponent James Earles also won in straight games, but was pushed all the way by Sam Ellis.

There were a couple of upsets in the Girls U15 though. Top seed Lucy Beecroft and 3/4 seed Rhianne O'Donnell won comfortably enough, but on the casualty list were 9/16 seeds Florie Smith and Aisling Guerzoni, beaten by Kace Bartley and Alison Thomson to male it a brace of upsets for Surrey.

Last Sixteen

The second round of the U15 competitions saw seven of the top eight seeds go through in each draw. In the Boys 9/16 seed Bradley Masters got the better of Charlie Gamble, seeded 5/8, while in the Girls unseeded Alison Thomson took out 5/8 seed Isabel Maloney in a tough four games. Her reward is a meeting with top seed Lucy Beecroft.

The Girls U19 kicked off late in the day - it's only a 16 draw - and seven of the top eight seeds came through as expected, in straight games. 5/8 seed Sophie Lemom posted the shortest and longest scores of the day, beating Helen Dawson 11/0, 11/4, 19/17!

It was Jemma Ockwell who gatecrashed the quarter-finals with an 11/5, 8/11, 11/4, 11/2 win over 5/8 seed Emily Heyes.

The Boys U19 matches all went to seeding, with no real crises for the seeds to overcome. The day was rounded off by Joker/Exhibitionist Robert Downer, playing in his last junior event, who kept the remaining crowd entertained even if his opponent/victim Charlie Johnson wasn't overly amused with some of Downer's antics.

So tomorrow we're down to the quarters and semis and it should all start making a bit more sense ...

Colets Corner
from Chris Nutley

Play got underway on time at the fantastic facilities at Colets Health Club.

First up were the Boys Under 13's and the early start did little to deter the seeds in the top half. The only upset being a fantastic comeback from Joshua Atwell (Sussex) in his match with 9/16 seed Daniel Cochrane (Warwickshire).

Cochrane looked in complete control at 2 up but Atwell dug deep and somehow managed to turn things round and take it 5/11 9/11 11/5 11/8 11/4 in 35 minutes.

British Champion and No1 seed Harry Falconer (Lincolnshire) got his weekend to a flier with a comfortable 3-0 defeat of Jack Dukes (Worcestershire) and moves on to play Yorkshire's Daniel Bray later on today in R2.

Falconer is seeded to meet Charlie Lee (Surrey) in the semi's and Lee also eased into R2 with a solid win over Tom Walsh (Sussex).

The top half of the Girls Under 13 R! is now complete. As in the Boys U13 only 1 upset to report. Paige Key (Warks) beat 9/16 seed Ellen Cooper (Yorkshire) 3-0 to make the last 16 and enter the monrad where players play out for positions 1 to 16. No1 seed and hot favourite Elise Lazarus (Essex) got a bye in R1 and kicks of her tournament at 4.30pm with a match against 9/16 seed Maddison Payne (Glocs).

Round 1’s at Colets are all complete. The only surprise in the bottom half of the Boy’s U13’s was Yusef Forster (Yorkshire) who fought back after losing the first to complete a 5/11 11/5 11/7 11/5 victory over 9/16 seed Oliver Walls of Durham + Cleveland.

Two further 9/16 seeds fell in the Girls U13 – Anoushka Wooler (Middlesex) took out Carys Jones (Gloucs) in three, as did Sussex’s Jasmine Hutton who dispatched Millie Soulby (Yorkshire).

Following the same pattern another two Girls U17 9/16 seeds fell by the wayside. The improving Elivia Cowie (Lancashire) defeated Hannah Shipley (Yorkshire) 13/11 11/7 11/4 while Hannah Williams (Cheshire) overcame Jessica Dixon (Yorkshire) in a tough 11/8 11/6 7/11 14/12 match.

The Boy’s U17 had a fairly event free R1. However 5/8 seed Ashley Davies (Derbyshire) surrendered 1-0 and 2-1 leads before finally overcoming Jeremy Carter (Hampshire) 11/4 9/11 11/6 10/12 11/5 in 42 minutes. Alex Finch got his chance to take part in the championships after Harry Taylor (Norfolk) had withdrawn with a hamstring problem, but lost out to Brian Harvey (Warwickshire). Top 2 seeds Matthew Sidaway (Lancashire) and Oliver Holland (Nottinghamshire) progressed with comfortable wins over Joseph Green (Hertfordshire) and Kyran Young (Gloucestershire) respectively.

Round Two

Boys Under 13 Round 2 all went to seed except for 5/8 seed Nathan Woodhead (Somerset) who lost out to Aidan O’Brien (Surrey) 3-0. It was great result for O’Brien who is currently ranked 17th on the English National Rankings – 9 places below Woodhead.

The top 8 seeds in the Girls Under 13’s will contest the quarters after they all won their R2 matches without dropping a game – 5/8 seed Libby Corke having the toughest contest with a hard fought 11/8 12/10 11/8 win over Paige Key (Warwickshire) in 27 minutes. Corke’s reward – a quarter final against No1 seed Elize Lazarus (Essex).

The Boys Under 17 Quarter Finals are as expected with all top seeds safely through R2. Match of the round was unquestionably Jack McElvenny (Warwickshire) against Hamish Falconer (Lincolnshire) - McElvenny, the 5/8 seed lost the first before taking control and the following two games. However Falconer, in his first year at the U17's was not done and levelled things at 2-2. However it was McElvenny who had the legs to go and eventually win it in the fifth: 7/11 11/7 11/4 6/11 11/5 (69).

In the Girls Under 17 Martha Possegger (Sussex) became the highest seed to crash out of the English Junior Championships at Colets today – a 1-3 casualty to Lucy Pallett (Warwickshire). Pallett – the English No9 had a great tussle with Possegger who is ranked at No4, edged to a tense 11/8 11/9 8/11 13/11 victory and now faces 5/8 seed Eleanor Lake (Glocs).

No2 seed Victoria Temple-Murray (Devon) was cruising at 2up and 8-3 and then 10-5 up in the 3rd in her match with former British Champion Millie Pughe (Yorkshire) but Pughe mounted an unlikely comeback. Pughe took it to straight back to 11-10 before finally clinching the game 14-12. However her resistance waned in the 4th and Temple-Murray took it 11/8 11/1 12/14 11/6 in 28 minutes.

Georgina Ingham, a 5/8 seed was last off court today after a five setter with Hannah Williams (Cheshire). It was a tight affair and swung both ways but it was Ingham who came out on top in the 5th after 35 minutes of entertaining squash.

Good night!
  

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