No more split rounds in the main events, today is quite simply
quarter-finals day, eight matches from noon on the glass court.
The Masters continues, with some age groups playing twice today
as there too the semi-finalists will be determined.
Men's Quarter-Finals
Daryl Selby 3-0 Tom Richards
11-7, 11-9, 11-8 (48m) Nick Matthew 3-0 Joe Lee
11-2, 11-7, 11-7 (39m)
Adrian Grant 3-0 Chris Simpson
14-12, 11-9, 11-8 (70m) James Willstrop 3-0 Adrian Waller
11-7, 11-4, 11-5 (38m)
Women's Quarter-Finals:
Jenny Duncalf 3-0 Sarah Kippax
11-4, 11-6, 11-6 (34m) Alison Waters 3-1 Emma Beddoes
11-3, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6 (44m)
Madeline Perry 3-0 Emily Whitlock
11-9, 11-6, 11-6 (36m) Laura Massaro 3-0 Sarah-Jane Perry
11-6, 12-10, 11-2 (37m)
All eight seeds and five champions
through to semis ... Two
time champion Jenny Duncalf was the first player to reach
the semifinals as she maintained her unbeaten record (apart from
PSL matches) against Sarah Kippax with a straight-games win.
Duncalf started strongly in each game, taking leads of 6-1, 5-1
and 5-2 and kept Kippax, who was appearing in her seventh
straight quarter-final, at bay.
“It was good to get those starts, so I needed to make sure I
kept the momentum and I managed to do that,” said a
satisfied winner.
Daryl
Selby avenged his defeat at this stage by Tom Richards with
a striaght-games win over his former St George’s teammate (Selby
now plays for Chapel Allerton in the PSL.
There was never much in it, but Selby managed to eke out leads
in the middle of each game and Richards, to his own frustration
and Selby’s relief, couldn’t close those gaps.
“We’ve played a few times and that may be the first or maybe
second time it’s finished 3-0, so I’m happy to take that,”
said the 2011 champion.
Defending champion Alison Waters made it through to her
seventh successive semi-final (she was out injured in 2011) with
a battling win against Emma Beddoes, who was appearing in her
fifth straight quarter-final.
Beddoes
took a while to get adjusted as Waters took the first
comfortable, but Beddoes always led the second as she levelled.
It was Waters though who had the leads in the next two games,
closing out the third from 9-7, and surging ahead to 10-3 in the
fourth before Beddoes’ comeback attempt was scuppered by two
unforced errors.
“She played well,” admitted Waters, “you think you’ve won the
rally but she keeps getting it back. It was a bit of a scrap but
it’s always nice to win matches like that and I’m looking
forward to another semi-final!”
Nick
Matthew made it four Nationals Champions through to the
semis as the men’s defending champion beat Joe Lee in straight
games - the world champion's 13th Nationals win in a row. Lee
struggled to get to grips with the match at the outset, but made
Mattew work hard to maintain leads in the next two games.
After the match Matthew was presented with his Team England Best
Male Athlete award from the 2010 Commonwealth Games (video
below).
The
evening session started with Madeline Perry reaching the
semi-final for the eighth time as she beat Emily Whitlock in
straight games.
Just turned 37, The Irish champion was facing an English
teenager - although Emily does turn 20 tomorrow - and it was
experience that held the day as Perry led early in all three
games and kept the pressure on her young opponent.
Whitlock won’t be satisfied with her performance - serving out
twice in the second game and a number of uncharacteristic errors
in the third - but her time will come.
“When
you’re almost 20 years older than your opponent there’s
definitely some pressure on you,” admitted Perry. “I knew she’d
be hungry to make a breakthrough and come out firing, so I was
definitely ready for that.
“I keep coming here and losing in the semis,” she added, “like I
said last year it must be my turn soon! I felt good ion there
tonight so hopefully I can finally make the final.”
Adrian
Grant reached the semi-finals for the seventh time with a
hard-fought three-game win over Chris Simpson that took a full
70 minutes to complete. There was never much between them, and
the Guernsey man had his chances at 10-9 and 13-12 in the first,
and also led 9-7 in the second only to see Grant close out both
games.
Grant edged ahead from 3-all in the third and although Simpson
got a close as 7-6, Grant pulled away to reach 10-6 and a
Simpson error ended the match 11-8 for Grant.
“He’s
improved a lot over the last couple of years and I class him as
a huge threat,” said Grant. “There wasn’t much between us, I
just tried to relax at the crucial points at the end of the
games and it paid off.
“There was only a couple of point in it, the scoreline doesn't
really reflect how tough the match was, but I’ll take it,” he
added.
Top seed Laura Massaro wants the title back. “I want to
win this prestigious title as many times as I can before I
retire,” said the two-time champion after beating Sarah-Jane
Perry in straight games.
Perry, in good form after an extended injury layoff, didn’t get
started in the first as Massaro dictated the play to take the
lead 11-5, but started doing her own dictating in the second as
she opened uo an 8-3 lead.
Massaro
steadied, and with Perry pressing a little too hard as she
tinned several times, Massaro came back to 9-all before taking
the game 12-10, and the third was all Massaro.
“She’s had some good wins recently so that takes a bit of
pressure off as losing to her wouldn’t be a bad loss,” explained
Massaro, “but I really want to win this title so that puts
pressure on yourself.
"It’s such a prestigious event, the history and the depth of the
game here, we all want to win this one."
James
Willstrop completed the day’s proceedings with a three-nil
win over Adrian Waller in which the two-time champion was always
ahead, but always had to work hard to stay there.
“That
scoreline was ridiculous for the intensity of the match,”
admitted Willstrop, “especially at the start of each game when I
really had to dig in and work hard to get in front.
“There’s a great bunch of players coming through, men and women,
and players like Adrian and Joe are going through a huge
improvement cycle, they’ll be getting there very quickly.”
So tomorrow’s semi-finals, which will be streamed live on
PSAsquashTV, will feature all the top seeds, five players who
have already won the National title at least once.