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TODAY in Amsterdam - Wed 30th, Day ONE

It's "Queens Day" in Holland, everyone has to be in Orange ...

Men's D:
[4] Wales 2-1 [13] Italy  
 
      Alex Gough 1-3 Jose Facchini                   9/1, 3/9, 6/9, 3/9
      Jethro Binns 3-1 Marko Pareccini             6/9, 10/8, 9/1, 9/1
      David Evans 3-1 Andre Torricini              9/2, 8/10, 9/5, 9/4
      ERob Sutherland 3-0 Domenico Cerabana        9/2, 9/1, 9/1

[5] Germany 3-1 [12] Finland

       Simon Rosner 0-3 Olli Tuominen                     1/9, 2/9, 7/9
       Stefan Leifels 3-0 Mathias Tuomi                     9/1, 9/0, 9/6
       Patrick Gaessler 3-0 Henrik Mustonen              9/0, 9/0, 9/1
       Moritz Dahmen 3-2 Hameed Ahmed   9/4, 7/9, 9/4, 5/9, 9/3
 

Wales & Germany
set up Showdown

Two tight battles in Group D, with Wales and Germany both securing their second wins of the day to set up a winner-takes-all clash tomorrow.

Both matches went down to the wire though, thanks to Jose Facchini's (world ranking 365) surprise win over Alex Gough and Olli Tuominen's victory over Simon Rosner in the top strings.

Leading 2-1, it was left to Moritz Dahmen and David Evans to secure the wins.

"I played well this morning to beat Alex, and I'm glad it was 3/0 because I knew Simon was a strong player, I've had trouble with him before.

 

Day One GALLERY

"Jose played very well, he was very disciplined, which is unusual for him. Alex may be suffering after Kuwait, but Jose certainly played well.

"We were resting out two and three for tomorrow, Finland is our big match, so it's good experience for Andre to play David, but I don't expect a win.

"I'll hopefully be eligible to play for Italy myself next year, but I'm not sure I should be playing at number one at my age ..."

Men's H:
Luxembourg 3-1 Ukraine

"We're the bottom seeds, so it's going to be an upset whenever we win!

"This is our first time in the European Teams, in previous year's we've played in the Nations Cup so it's great to get a chance to be with all the best players."

Daniel came from 2-1 to win 10-8 in the fifth
to seal the win for Luxembourg.

Men's A:   England 4-0 Denmark 
Men's C:   France 4-0 Spain

Favourites England and France (yes, France are seeded three but we all know who the top two are) wasted no time in their opening matches, against Denmark and Spain respectively, both winning 4/0 without dropping a game, Joey Barrington winning on his England debut.

Peter Barker was delighted to be playing alongside new boy Joey Barrington: "I didn't get to see any of Joey's game, but it's really great to be in the same team as him, he deserves it. We've got a great team spirit - off for a team shower now!"

Joey himself was "Very happy. I was a bit nervous and was concentrating too much to really enjoy my debut. But it was a good start, and I'm really looking forward to the next match now."

French coach Andre Delhoste was guarded on his team's prospects: "Are you going to win this year is what everyone's asking," he said. "We're not thinking about that at all, it would just bring bad luck, so we're taking it one match at a time and we've made a good start."

Men's B: [2] Netherlands 4-0 [10] Switzerland
  LJ Anjema 3-0 Nicolas Mueller 9/3, 9/3, 9/1

LJ starts play

Hosts Netherlands officially kicked off the championships, with Dutch number one LJ Anjema hitting the first ball on the showcourt against Nicolas Mueller.

LJ led the way with a 3/0 win, and and the Dutch went on to wrap it up 4/0

Men's D: [4] Wales 3 -1 [12] Finland

Olli Tuominen got the Finns off to a good start in this match, beating PSA President Alex Gough in straight games, but the Welsh proved too strong down the order as they went on top win 3/1.

Alex was unfazed by the loss - "that's what they're there for ..."
   

Women's B:
Denmark 2-1 Switzerland
   Line Hansen 3-0 Olivia Hauser                                   9/2 rtd
   Ellen Petersen 2-3 Gaby Schmol                   9/4, 9/4, 7/9 rtd
   MarieLouise Peddern 3-0 Gabi Hegi                     9/5, 9/5, 9/5
Netherlands 2-1 France
    Vanessa Atkinson 2-3 Isabelle Stoehr 9/3, 8/10, 9/1, 0/9, 9/5
    Annelize Naude 3-0 Camille Serme                    9/7, 9/2, 9/7
    Karen Kronemeyer 3-1 Maud Duplomb        7/9, 9/5, 9/0, 9/0

Denmark bounce back as
Isabelle shocks Vanessa

Denmark recovered from their morning setback to beat the Swiss in a match marred by injury. Line Hansen took the first game against Olivia Hauser, who then withdrew injured. The Swiss levelled when Ellen Petersen, leading 2-0 against Gaby Schmol, tripped over her opponent and twisted her ankle. After some treatment Ellen continued, but upon losing the third decided enough was enough.

That left it for Marie-Louise Peddern to wrap up the match for the Danes, with a straight-games win over Gabi Hegi.

Just as England had suffered a setback at number one, so did second seeds Holland when Isabelle Stoehr turned in a typically gritty performance to beat Vanessa Atkinson in five. Annelize Naude put the Dutch level, but when Maud Duplomb stood at 1-0 and 5-all against Karen Kronemeyer a real shock looked possible. Karen took control from then on, and didn't concede another point as she put the hosts back on track for the semi-finals.

"It was a good victory against Denmark this morning. We lost to them last year when Isabelle was missing, but she's back and she played very well to beat Vanessa. Camille played better tonight than in the first match and Maud played well too.

"It will be a good match against Switzerland tomorrow, but we have a good chance of making the semi-finals now ..."

Women's A: England 2-1 Ireland
   Vicky Botwright 2-3 Madeline Perry 9/2, 3/9, 9/3, 2/9, 5/9
   Jenny Duncalf 3-0 Aisling Blake                    9/0, 9/5, 9/2
   Alison Waters 3-0 Laura Mylotte                   9/0, 9/2, 9/4

Madeline's Back

England's women, who have won this championship every time it has been contested, suffered an early setback in their first pool match as Madeline Perry, coming back to full fitness after a long period of illness and injury, came from 2/1 down to beat Vicky Botwright in the top string - the first game England have dropped since the 2005 final here in Amsterdam.

Normal order was restored though, as Jenny Duncalf and Alison Waters wrapped up the opening win for the 30-time champions.

"The old Madeline's back! I've had a few 3/2s with Vicky over the years so it's great to come out on top in that one.

"I've got a lot sharper and I'm volleying more, it's getting better each tournament I play. My squash is back to where it was, I just need to work on my concentration now, that's still a bit up and down like it was today - hopefully I'll get lots of practice with all the matches this week!"

Women's B: [7] France 2-1 [3] Denmark
   Isabelle Stoehr 3-0 Line Hansen                     9/1, 6/9, 9/2, 9/3
   Camille Serme 0-3 Ellen Petersen                        6/9, 1/9, 8/10
   Maud Duplomb 3-1 Marie-Louise Pedersen      3/9, 9/2, 9/0, 9/1

First blood to the French

Third seeds Denmark meet seventh seeds France in what could be a closer tie than the seedings suggest.

Isabelle Stoehr got the French off to a winning start, but Ellen Petersen levelled the match with a straight games win over triple European Junior Champion Camille Serme.

The first upset of the day was completed when Maud Duplomb recovered from a game down to beat Marie-Louise Pedersen in style.

"We were surprised when Ellen won, she's lost to Camille the last two times they played, but Ellen always performs well in the Europeans and Camille looked very nervous.

"Marie was very nervous too in the decider, she won the first but couldn't play at her best after that.

"We were hoping for a big result today, and we had a chance, but now it doesn't look like we'll make the semis like last year - we'd have to beat Holland, you never know, but it's difficult ..."

Women's B: [9] Wales 3-0 [15] Scotland
  Deon Saffery 3-0 Frania Gillen-Buchert          9/4, 10/8, 9/2
  Natalie Pritchard 3-2 Claire Kidd        7/9, 9/5, 6/9, 9/3, 9/6
  Stacey Preece 3-1 Lisa Aitken                  0/9, 9/4, 9/4, 9/3

Winning start for Deon

"I became officially Welsh on WISPA last month," said a delighted Deon Saffery after making a winning debut for her new country (Deon was formerly English). "I signed for Wales last October but this was the first chance to play, so there was a bit of pressure, I'm glad I got through."

"We thought the girls might have won this morning, they've been working hard. They did their best and didn't do anything wrong, but it wasn't to be. It will be tough playing Finland at 14.00 on heavy legs, but I guess that's what you get for being one of the lower seeds.

"The boys played well to beat Belgium 4/0. They have another match tonight which we'd expect to win, then it's England tomorrow.

"The structure makes it feel like a different competition - in the old days you'd have a pool of say 1,4,5 and eight with two going through, but now it's the top 16 playing off, and with only one going through you really don't want to be in a pool with England!"

   Scotland's women  lost 2-1 to Finland

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