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Friday 12th, Day FOUR - Quarter-Finals
We're down to the last
eight in the Men's and Women's draws, all matches on the Arena
Glass Court from now on. Most of the Masters events are also
down to the quarter-finals too, and they have the seven 'inside'
courts at their disposal.
Quarter-Finals:
[1] Nick Matthew 3-0 [5]
Adrian Waller
11/6, 11/6, 11/4 (31m)
[3] Daryl Selby (Eng) 3-2 [6] Greg Lobban 9/11, 11/7, 11/13,
11/4, 11/8 (82m)
[4] Chris Simpson 3-1 [Q] Joel Makin )
11/7, 7/11, 11/5, 11/5 (61m)
[2] James Willstrop 3-1 [Q] George Parker
7/11, 11/6, 11/9, 11/7 (59m)
[1] Laura Massaro 3-0 [6] Victoria Lust
11/5, 11/4, 11/3 (30m)
[7] Tesni Evans 3-2 Fiona Moverley
11/8, 9/11, 11/6, 5/11, 12/10 (58m)
[4] Jenny Duncalf 3-1 [8] Sarah Campion
9/11, 11/4, 11/4, 11/7 (37m)
[2] Alison Waters 3-0 [5] Emily Whitlock
11/4, 11/6, 11/4 (33m)
Tesni wins a thriller as
top seeds secure semi-final places
The afternoon quarter-final session saw three former champions
book their places in the semi-finals.
 First
up was Jenny Duncalf against Sarah Campion (formerly
Kippax), both playing their 16th Nationals and meeting for the
fifth time. Campion started the better, but once Duncalf found
her stride she recovered to win in four games, making it five
wins over Campion and reaching the semi-finals for a 10th time.
"We seem to play each other every year," said Duncalf, "but
when I first saw the draw I did think 'who is that'! She came
out really well and made it hard work for me. It's great to see
her back on court but I'm happy to make it through to another
semi."
 Her
opponent in the semis will be another familiar face after second
seed Alison Waters saw off the challenge of Emily
Whitlock in straight games, dominating the second half of each
game to reach an 11th semi-final.
"I wasn't taking anything lightly, we have different styles
of play which always makes it interesting," said Waters., "we
could both maybe do with taking some of each other's game! I
felt I played well and I'm happy to get off in three."
Duncalf and Waters have met seven times in the Nationals, Waters
winning five with Duncalf's two both coming in the only finals
they've contested.
 The
fourth and fourth seeds also made it through in the men's
matches, Chris Simpson and James Willstrop both
winning in four games in just on the hour mark. Simpson ended
the run of Welsh qualifier Joel Makin while Willstrop recovered
from a game down to beat U21 finalist George Parker.
 "Joel's
had some great wins and when I saw his results I knew it would
be tough," said Simpson, "he was reading my shots better than I
was reading his for the first two games, it took me a while to
get into it."
Willstrop, and the large crowd, were impressed by Parker's skill
and determination. "He made me work really hard for that,"
admitted the two time champion. "The atmosphere is building here
already, it's going to be buzzing at the weekend," predicted
Willstrop.
In the evening quarter-final session top seeds Nick Matthew
and Laura Massaro eased through to the semis with
straight game wins over Adrian Waller and Victoria Lust, both
matches taking half an hour.
 Matthew,
looking to extend his record haul of titles to eight, is taking
it a step at a time: "There's two matches to go and I'm not
thinking past tomorrow - ten years ago I wouldn't have believed
I could win seven times, and I'm not as quick as I was but I do
have more of a brain in me to make up for that!"
 Massaro
was happy with her match: "I thought I played well, getting
stronger as the match went on. Vicky's improved a lot so to win
in three is never easy. I was disappointed not to win last year
as top seed, SJ played so well, but having done so well on the
PSA tour I'd really like to get my name on the trophy again," said
Massaro, champion in 2011 and 2012.
 Massaro
will meet Wales' Tesni Evans, who saved a match ball in
the final game of a tremendous five-setter against Fiona
Moverley to reach the semis for the first time.
"I'd never played her before and I never want to play her
again!" joked Tesni. "It was a really good match, but I was so
nervous in the fourth and fifth I don't know how I won it,"
added Evans, "I just stuck in and thankfully it came off in the
end."
 Matthew
will face Daryl Selby, who survived a long, but
thoroughly entertaining encounter with Scotland's Greg Lobban,
twice coming back from a game behind to finally secure the win
with Lobban running on fumes at the end of the decider.
"Matches like that are the reason I started to play squash,"
said Selby. "It was great fun, there was some really good
quality headless stuff in there, it makes for a good match. The
battle was good, it was fair and Greg did himself and Scotland
proud.
"Playing Nick again will be tough, he's obviously playing well,
but I played pretty well there so hopefully it will be another
good battle."
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