Sunday 12th May, Day THREE:
After a drawn out first round yesterday we're back to two
courts for this afternoon's quarter-finals, then it's
semi-finals tonight back on the showcourt.
Semi-Finals
LIVE STREAMING
[1] Chris Simpson (Ggy)
3-0 [4] Steve Finitsis (Aus)
11/4, 11/7, 11/6 (50m)
[3] Charles Sharpes (Eng) 3-0 [2] Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy)
11/9, 11/7, 11/7 (49m)
Simpson and Sharpes set up
all-English final
The final of the inaugural
Jersey Squash Classic will be won by an Englishman after top
seed Chris Simpson and third seed Charles Sharpes
both came through tough semi-finals in straight games at the
Jersey Squash and Racketball Club in St Clement.
Simpson,
from neighbouring Guernsey, faced third seeded Steve
Finitsis, who had blasted his way through his opening two
matches, dominating both with ferocious attacking squash.
The big Aussie made his intentions clear as he hammered away
a winning nick on the first rally of the semi-final, but
Simpson was so effective at neutralising the game that had
destroyed Finitsis' previous opponents that it wasn't until
midway through the third that he managed to hit another.
Not
that it was ever easy, Simpson had to work very hard to keep
his opponent in check, but he did so very effectively,
maintaining a lead throughout the three games.
A
6-1 advantage in the first was converted 11-4. he was always
a point or two ahead during the second which he took 11-7,
and he pulled clear from midway through the third as
Finitsis started finding the tin more frequently.
Fittingly
perhaps the final point was an attempted kill by Finitsis
which found the tin to give Simpson the game 11-6 and a
place in the final after 50 minutes of intense action which
the crowd thoroughly enjoyed.
"Steve is very talented, and he can find the nick from
anywhere, especially on his forehand," said Simpson, "so I
knew I needed to keep the ball out of the middle and keep
him deep as much as I could. When I took it short I tried to
play it softly to take away the pace he likes, and I'm
pleased with the way I managed to execute that.
"I'm pleased to bi in the final of course," he concluded,
"but I'll be more pleased if I can win it!"
In
the second semi-final second seed Omar Abdel Aziz, who had
won his afternoon quarter-final in about half the time it
took Sharpes to progress, was, like Finitsis, unable to
dominate his opponent this time around.
Sharpes played steady, solid squash, going for shots when he
could but never as often as the Egyptian, and it was very
effective as he took advantage of some Aziz errors in rthe
first game to establish an 8-5 lead. Aziz won a huge rally
to level at 9-all, fistpumping away with a determined look
on his face, but it was Sharpes who took the next two points
to take the lead.
The
Englishman was always ahead during the next two games,
Aziz's best efforts, punctuated with some crisp winners but
more errors, falling short as Sharped delightedly clinched a
place in the final, winning the last two games 11-7, 11-7
aster 49 minutes.
"As a top 30 player he's very experienced and has some great
shots," said Sharpes, "but I was really happy with how I
managed to contain him and I'm so pleased to get through to
the final, especially in three games.
"Tournaments like this are great for giving us the chance to
play people like Omar and Chris so thanks to everyone
involved for putting it on!"
Quarter-Finals
[1] Chris Simpson (Ggy)
3-0 [Q] Rory Pennell (Eng)
11/7, 11/5, 11/4 (25m)
[4] Steve Finitsis (Aus)
3-0 Johan Bouquet (Fra)
11/4, 11/3, 11/6 (22m)
[3] Charles Sharpes (Eng)
3-0 Aqeel Rehman (Aut) 11/6,
11/6, 13/11 (53m)
[2] Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy) 3-0 Arthur Gaskin (Irl)
11/7, 11/2, 11/7 (34m)
Seeds safely through to St Clement
semis
Two quickfire
quarter-finals to start off the third day of play ion the
inaugural PSA $10k Jersey Classic at Jersery Squash and
Racketball Club in St Clements.
Big
Aussie Steve Finitsis continued his impressive form
of yesterday as he powered past Frenchman Johan Bouquet,
firing in hard hit winners from all over the court.
Finitsis powered to leads of 7-0 in the first and 8-0 in the
second and although the Frenchman managed to stay with the
pace in the early part of the third, there was ultimately no
stopping Finitsis as he won in just over 20 minutes.
"Johan wasn't moving as well as he can," admitted Finitsis,
"he's just back from injury so I wanted to make sure I
started out fast and kept the pressure on, not letting him
get a look in if I could help it.
"I'm happy to get off pretty quickly and get ready to play
Chris tonight, it should be a tough one."
It
didn't take top seed Chris Simpson much longer than
that to end the run of qualifier Rory Pennell, who after a
tough opening game started to feel the effects of his three
previous matches. From 6-all in the first Simpson pulled
away and took the second and third games with some ease.
"I knew that Rory has had a tough tournament so far," said
Simpson, "so I wanted to try to make him work as hard as
possible for the first 10 or 15 minutes and that paid
dividends."
For Rory that may well have been his last match as a
professional: "I'm actually playing as well as I ever have
at the moment, and I've had two good tournament sin a row,"
he said, "but it's just too much of a struggle, I need to
earn some money now!"
The seeded players in the bottom half of the draw also made
it through to the semi-finals, also in straight games, but
Charles Sharpes and Omar Abdel Aziz were both
made to work harder, Sharpes especially so.
The
Englishman took the first two games against Aqeel Rehman
11/6, 11/6 but that scoreline didn't do justice to the
toiughness of the match or the effort that the Austrian was
putting in. The third kept up the same pattern of play but
Rehman held his own on the scoreboard too, earning a game
ball at 10-9.
Sharpes continued to press though, and eventually claimed
his three-nil win on a second match ball after 53 minutes of
tough action.
"We'd
played before so I knew what to expect," said the fourth
seed, "but that third game was like three games in one, I
was very happy to win that one!"
Second seed Aziz enjoyed spells of dominance against Irish
number one Arthur Gaskin, who managed to stem the flow of
Egyptian attacks coming his way for spells in the first and
third games, but Aziz had too many shots and too much speed
to be denied.
"I had a good sleep and felt much fresher today," said the
Egyptian. "I'm getting used to the court, it's very nice,
and I wanted to get off as quickly as I could, two matches
in a day is tough."
Day TWO - a long first round
