SEMI-FINALS

SEMI-FINALS the FINALS

Friday: Men's Semi-Finals

[1] ENGLAND bt [3] WALES 4-0
Lee Beachill bt Alex Gough 9-5, 9-1 ret.
Peter Nicol bt David Evans 9-3, 9-0 ret.
James Willstrop bt Ricky Davies 9-3, 9-3, 9-3
Simon Parke bt Jethro Binns 9-0, 9-0, 9-1

[2] FRANCE bt [4] NETHERLANDS 4-0
Thierry Lincou bt Tommy Berden 9-4, 9-1, 9-0
Gregory Gaultier bt Laurens Jan Anjema 9-7, 9-4
Renan Lavigne bt Lucas Buit 9-5, 9-3, 9-6
Jean-Michel Arcucci bt Marc Reus 9-7, 9-3, 9-6

Six Up for Anglo-French Finals
Top seeds England and France completed comfortable semi-final wins to move into Saturday's final - the sixth successive final meeting between the two nations ...

Amsterdam LIVE

Women's Semi-Finals
England 3-0 Ireland
Netherlands 3-0 Scotland

France 4-0 Netherlands

Renan Lavigne bt Lucas Buit
9-5, 9-3, 9-6

"I knew he was not going to let go of anything, especially in front of his home crowd. It’s his 18th or 19th European Championship, the man has got experience. So I knew I had to play him tight…

"I moved well, was comfortable, and I didn’t give him a chance to express himself. I made very few errors, so, very happy with this victory here, in Amsterdam… "

Renan Lavigne

"Thank you for remembering my match last year in Rennes! But contrary to last year, the court is warmer here, and the shots that were winners last year, well, Renan could pick them up. Not to mention that he is much fitter than I am. I stopped the PSA circuit about 5 years ago, I’ve got two kids, I do some coaching, I still play a few leagues, and that keeps me fit, but not as fit as Renan, of course… But I’m happy to be playing in the Europeans, at 37…

"I needed a good start, but I made too many errors. I was up 6/4 in the third, but I hung in there, and couldn’t finish. He deserved to win…"

Lucas Buit

Jean-Michel Arcucci bt Marc Reus
9-7, 9-3, 9-6

"I have a sore throat that has been nagging me for a few days, so I was happy to play a hard match to get rid of the “bad stuff”! But I must have really enjoyed only one rally through the whole match ... the rest of the time, I suffered like hell, thanks Marc…

"He runs well, he’s got a good length, but thank God his short game lacks sometimes in precision, but still, I couldn’t let go with my shots, because I wasn’t sure of myself physically…"

Jean-Michel Arcucci

"I tried to play a bit shorter that I normally do because he is so quick on the court… The first game was very close, but he is a very experienced player, and I maybe got a bit impatient at the end of the game.

"When he came back for the second, he had changed his game, and every time I was playing a short shot, he was just behind me and could redrop or counterattack beautifully.

"Jean Michel doesn’t make many mistakes, he is so quick, you’ve got to win the point so many times… But I still believe that if I could have won a game, things could have turned out differently…

Marc Reus, 22

Thierry Lincou bt Tommy Berden
9-4, 9-1, 9-0

"Renan and Jean-Michel really went beyond the call of duty once more, and showed yet again, that we can count on them. You know, with this format, when you start your match with your team up 2/0 in matches, and 3/0 in games, you have a tremendous psychological advantage…

"Greg and I start so relaxed, it’s Renan and Jean-Mi that have the pressure, they are the ones playing the matches. And we can just stay in shape for the next day…"

Thierry Lincou

Gregory Gaultier bt Laurens Jan Anjema 9-7, 9-4

"I really enjoyed playing against Greg…The first game was good, I played flat out. Then in the second, he was just too quick, too strong, and I got a little tired.

"It’s good for both of us to get into the rhythm for tomorrow’s matches, especially as it was a dead rubber…"

LJ Anjema

England 4-0 Wales

"Against Wales, the matches went as expected. Maybe the Welsh boys didn’t give that a strong challenge to the English…

"But we are very happy to be in the final once again against the French…. Tomorrow will be a very competitive situation, with a lot of passion between both teams…"

David Pearson

Linda Davie watches England beat Wales to reach another final ...

Simon Parke bt Jethro Binns
   9/0 9/0 9/1

Nervous start for Jethro, he spins the racket for serve and walks off court forgetting to check and see! Parke smiles……

Simon, as always, shows his love to be on that court playing for England. As he bobbed about he looked stronger and stronger. Jethro was making unforced errors and the nerves took over. But I have to say he gets full marks from me because he kept trying.

The match lasted 24 minutes and he had to work for that one precious point. He is so young and that means he is in the fortunate position of representing his country for a long time to come. So I look forward to watching him play in another European Championship.

I said to Simon after the match “You looked as if you were enjoying that.” “Yeah,” he says with that impish smile.

Peter Nicol bt David Evans
    9/3 9/0 conceded

These two giants of the game started off just as we hoped for….. Long rallies with exciting play. How Peter can lob with such accuracy is amazing and Evans just kept on returning everything. The first game lasted 14 minutes and only the last two rallies ran away from Evans.

We are in for a treat we though, if these guys keep this up it will be magic. Sadly this was not to be the case, at the start of the second game it was questioned if it now became the best of three as England had already won the tie. Evans lost this game in 5 minutes and then conceded the third…what a shame…

James Willstrop bt Ricky Davies
    9/3 9/3 9/3

I didn’t see this match but by all accounts Davies gave a good account of himself.

Spectators reported he never gave up trying and the Welsh boy had a good match.

Lee Beachill bt Alex Gough
    9/5 9/0 conceded

I arrived in time for Gough to come off court, collect his bag and brush past me…game over…

When I asked Gavin Jones for a few careful words on his Team's performance, he said “It’s hard when you know mathematically that you have lost.”

Nick's Day Off ...

I had a nice relaxing day off today but the other guys did a good professional job on Wales, especially Beach and Peter because we all knew how dangerous Alex Gough and David Evans can be. Looking forward to the Final tremendously tomorrow.

The atmosphere last year in Rennes will be tough to beat but there should be a good crowd as Holland are in the Women’s Final. We know France get tougher to beat every year so we will be ready for it.

Off the court, Parkey and Jimbo seem to be having a competition as to who can eat the most food during the week. Think Parkey is edging it at the moment as last night at the restaurant proved. Having had a soup for starters, he got fed up waiting for his main course so nipped out for a quick Mars bar, then commenced to clean up his burger + chips!

No wonder he was known as ‘Pud’ at one stage of his career.

Nick Matthew

Dutch delight	French support	Style clash	Welsh advice	Best ref?