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Down to the last sixteen
The fourth day in Manchester saw the quarter-finalists
decided in both men's and women's events, plus a host of masters
matches on another busy day at the National Squash Centre.
[1] Laura Massaro bt [Q] Leonie Holt
11/4, 11/4, 11/6 (22m)
[5/8] Emma Beddoes bt Lauren Selby
11/6, 11/1, 11/5 (28m)
Deon Saffery bt [5/8] Emily Whitlock
11/8, 6/11, 11/5, 11/6 (43m)
[3/4] Madeline Perry bt Lisa Aitken
11/5, 11/3, 11/1 (24m)
[5/8] Sarah Kippax bt Tesni Evans
11/7, 3/0 rtd (17m)
[3/4] Jenny Duncalf bt [Q] Dom Lloyd-Walter 11/7,
11/8, 11/6 (28m)
[5/8] Sarah-Jane Perry bt [Q] Carrie Ramsey 5/11,
11/4, 11/5, 11/5 (34m)
[2] Alison Waters bt [Q] Nada Elkalaawy
11/3, 11/5, 11/1 (17m)
[1] Nick Matthew bt Jaymie Haycocks
11/8, 11/6, 11/9 (37m)
[5/8] Alan Clyne bt Robbie
Temple 11/7, 6/11, 5/11,
11/2, 11/6 (68m)
5/8] Adrian Grant
bt
Adrian Waller
11/5, 11/5, 11/4 (42m)
[3/4] Peter Barker bt
Charles Sharpes
11/8, 11/5, 11/7 (46m)
[5/8] Chris Simpson bt
Olivier Pett 8/11, 11/5, 11/7,11/13,
11/4 (73m)
[2] James Willstrop bt Joe
Lee
11/3, 11/7, 11/2 (36m)
[5/8] Tom Richards bt
Eddie Charlton
12/10, 11/6, 11/5 (36m)
[3/4] Daryl Selby bt Greg Lobban
11/4, 11/6, 11/7 (35m) |
Saffery sails into Quarters
Day Four at the 2013 Nationals started as yesterday finished,
with an upset. This was a bigger one though as Wales’ Deon
Saffery recorded a first win over 5/8 seed Emily Whitlock
for one of her best victories. Saffery, 25, played well
throughout, controlling the rallies and dictating play, forcing
the world’s top-ranked junior into a number of untypical errors,
particularly on the volley.
 “I’m
very happy with that,” declared Deon, “I’ve been playing well
and I’m fitter now, but my confidence hasn’t been there to
produce the results. Today though I believed in what I was doing
and whereas when I’ve played Emily in the past I was doing the
chasing, today I managed to get on top and dictate play myself.”
Deon will meet Ireland’s Madeline Perry for a place in
the semi-final after the 3/4 seed eased past Scotland’s Lisa
Aitken in straight games.
“I’ve been playing well recently, and I felt much sharper today
than I usually do on these courts,” said Perry. “I’ve been
playing this for a long time now, it would be nice to at least
make the final for once, I’ve played and lost so many times in
the semis, so maybe this is my year, we’ll see ...”
Kippax through on Evans injury
 The
evening session started with another English winner in the
women’s draw, but an unfortunate injury for Wales’ Tesni Evans.
Trailing Sarah Kippax 7/11, 0/3, Evans lunged for a
dropshot at the front of the court and turned her ankle badly.
After some brief oncourt treatment it was sensibly decided that
she couldn’t continue and Kippax was through.
“It’s never nice to win like that,” said Kippax, “it was shaping
up be a good match, but it looked like a nasty one, I hope she
recovers quickly.”
Kippax will meet two-time champion Jenny Duncalf in the
quarters. Duncalf had a match with the now-retired qualifier
Dominique Lloyd-Walter, a repeat of their semi-final of two
years ago.
“I got battered then,” recalled Dom earlier today. It wasn’t as
severe this time, but it was still three-nil to Duncalf in just
under half an hour.
"It was Nice to see Dom again let alone play her! She seems to
be hitting the ball better than ever, catching me out with a few
flicks. I just had to keep plugging away and stick in, it’s
never easy on these courts so I’m looking forward to getting
onto the glass court tomorrow.”
Beddoes into fourth quarter
 It
wasn’t until the third women’s match that an English winner
emerges, Emma Beddoes winning her all-English matchup
with Lauren Selby in three games. After a tight first game
Beddoes raced through the second then pulled away from 5-all in
the third to reach the quarters for the fourth time.
“Lauren’s so good if you put it on her racket, so I had to work
on keeping her out of the middle,” revealed Beddoes. “I can’t
complain, I felt confident going into the match andit’s the
first time I’ve felt I played well in the first round here.
“It’s good to get through to another quarter-final - I’ve played
Jenny, Madeline and Alison so it looks like I may get Laura this
time!
She will indeed play Laura Massaro, the defending
champion who looked comfortable enough in her straight-games
dismissal of qualifier Leonie Holt.
“It’s always good to get the first one out of the way
three-nil,” said Massaro. “I’ve been looking forward to this
event after having to miss Cleveland through illness, but I’ll
just be taking it one match at a time and hopefully I can get a
third title.”
Perry and Waters to meet
 Sarah-Jane
Perry and Carrie Ramsey, two of England’s most successful
juniors of recent years, surprisingly didn’t play each other
much as juniors.
Today it was Ramsey who got the better start, taking the first
game, but from the outset of the second it was 5/8 Perry who
took control, running out the 3/1 winner to reach the quarters
for a second time.
“She came out firing and I think I was having a bit of a snooze
to be honest,” admitted Perry.
“I need to play very fast or very slow and I was playing in the
middle and she was taking advantage. I was practicing slowing it
right down at the end, if I play Alison [Waters] I’ll need to do
that to keep it off her volley!”
 Keeping
the ball away from Alison Waters’ deadly volley was
something that young qualifier Nada Elkalaawy couldn’t do enough
of as last year’s finalist raced through her match in just 17
minutes.
“She was playing some good shots and it was close for a while in
the second,” said Waters, “but I really tried to step the pace
up and attack at the end.”
Waters made her comeback from extended injury at this event last
year, and made the final.
“The year’s gone so quickly,” she said, “but I’m feeling sharp
and looking forward to getting on the glass court tomorrow. I
haven’t played Sarah-Jane for a while but she hits the ball well
and has had some good tournament wins recently so I’ll have to
be on my toes.” |
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Seeds through to men's quarters
The men’s second round started with wins for two left-handed
“elder statesmen” against two up and coming youngsters.
Adrian Grant and Peter Barker both had to work hard
to see off Adian Waller and Charles Sharpes respectively, but
see them off they did, both in straight games.
 Both
had plenty of respect and encouraging words for their opponents:
“I’ve trained with Adrian for a year now,” said Grant, “he’s
come on in leaps and bounds so I was really wary going into this
match and I’m glad to have managed to get off in three.”
“These young guys are hungry and they’ve got nothing to lose,”
said Barker, who has missed several recent Nationals through
injury. “It’s good to be back, I’ve missed this event too many
times, and I guess tomorrow I’ll be the young one gunning for
Adrian!”
Sharpes was happy enough with his performance: "The first was
really tight, but he has all the experience and managed to claw
back the lead I'd built.
""I'm happy with how I played, I'm trying to get up to where
these guys are, and every minute on court with them can only
help."
 Tom
Richards was meeting Eddie Charlton for the third year in a
row at this stage, although as Richards pointed out the 1-1
record was due to him not even stepping onto court last year.
Charlton threatened to take a real win as he held a slight
advantage through most of a tight first game but couldn’tr
convert his single game ball as Richards took it 12/10.
The 5/8 seed took the next two with more comfort to reach the
quarter-finals. “Eddie’s very good at putting anything you give
him away, and I was a bit too loose in the first,” said
Richards. “I tightened up after that and managed to get hold of
the match.”
Richards will face 2010 champion Daryl Selby, after the
3/4 seed despatched a second successive Scottish opponent, this
time it was Greg Lobban who succumbed in three games in just
over half an hour.
“Greg’s just started coming through strongly,” said Selby,
“playing on this court is an advantage for us but he’s still
tough to beat. I think four of my last five matches against Tom
have gone to five, so it could be another good battle tomorrow!”
 The
second pair of men’s matches also presented established stars
with up and coming challengers, although in Chris Simpson’s
case it wasn’t too long ago that the 26-year-old was one of the
chasing pack.
He found himself sorely tested by Olli Pett in the longest match
of the tournament so far. In a match featuring many mammoth
rallies, Pett took a long first game before Simpson struck back
to take the lead, and looked to be heading for victory in the
fourth.
A fine comeback from Pett saw him save a match ball and force a
decider, but Simpson was back in charge in the fifth.
“It’s very hot on there today,” admitted Simpson, “it felt like
we were playing at altitude after some of those rallies! It was
a really tough match and he played well. I thought I had him in
the fourth but he fought back and I went a bit defensive. I
managed to play my best game in the fifth.
“When I saw the draw it looked like two tough matches to get
through to a probable quarter-final with James in front of a big
crowd. That was a target to aim for and I’ve done that so I’m
really looking forward to tomorrow’s match.”
 It
will indeed be James Willstrop, the two-time champion and
second seed, who Simpson will meet tomorrow. It was never easy,
but the tall Yorkshireman never looked in any serious danger in
this three-game win over Joe Lee.
“Everyone keeps asking about the final and the title,” said
Willstrop after the match, “but you have to realise that the
standard of these players coming through the ranks now is so
high, there really aren’t any easy matches.
"Joe and some of the others coming through have a great future,
it’s exciting to be part of the game at the moment, with the
fierce competition at the top of the world rankings and so many
youngsters coming through.”
The penultimate men’s match was a gruelling five-setter between
super-fit Scot Alan Clyne and double-handed Englishman
Robbie Temple. Clyne took the lead but then fell 2-1 behind
before levelling the match with an 11/2 win in the fourth.
The decider was looking tight at 5-all, but Temple started to
suffer leg cramps and couldn’t compete as he’d like in the final
few points as Clyne reached the quarters for a second time.
“It was a bit of a battle in the end,” said Clyne, “but it’s
always good to win those ones.”
 Defending
champion Nick Matthew, playing on the late shift again
after the previous 68-minute encounter, met Jaymie Haycocks for
the second time in a row at this stage. Haycocks, who produced
the only upset of the first round, coontinued to perform well as
he stayed with the four-time champion throughout the first game,
only narrowly losing out at the end.
Matthew stepped up the pace thereafter, but at 10-4 in the third
saw five match balls go begging as Haycocks fought back
strongly. An unfortunate nick brought the ball back to the
underdog for a unfortunate stroke to finish the match for a
relieved Matthew.
“It’s unfortunate it finished like that,” said Matthew, “I had
visions of us going on for longer, but it’s getting late! Jaymie
has the perfect game for the glass court, and he was just as
difficult to beat as he was last year, so I was happy to get off
in the end.” |
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