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[1] Ben Coleman (Eng) 3-2 Angus Gillams (Eng)
                      12-14, 12-10, 11-13, 11-8, 11-5 (96m)

NOT AS FLUID AS WE WOULD HAVE LIKED

I would be tempted to agree with Ben’s aftermatch quote “the less is said about the match, the better”. Just the third game, I counted 19 lets.

If yesterday, Angus was chatting faaaaaar too much, bless his strong glutes, today, it was Ben’s time to entertain us with a few – to say the least – discussions with the ref!

OK, to his defence, there were two decisions at the start of the game that made the players doubt a bit of his capacities. But overall, he was not that bad, but George was playing far too much with the ref, included him into the match, maybe Angus was a bit tired too, maybe didn’t move out of the way as much as he would have liked it.

Still, the pace was extremely high, they both played extremely hard and gave their best out there. And as today Angus was not chatting as much, I was able to focus on his game and not on prevented my teeth grinding not to disturb the other spectators.

The lefthander has a great potential, he is physically very strong, his backhand is more accurate than his forehand I feel, but he’s got a wicked wrist, found some lovely trickle boast/redrop. If he finds a bit of discipline in his game, he’ll soon get much higher than his 103 ranking.

As for Ben, he needs to go back to his “I don’t get involved with what the other player/ref is doing, focusing on my game” statement he gave me yesterday. He is clever enough in his squash to move forward. But the head must follow the legs…

"The less is said about the match, the better. It’s frustrating as well as I’ve come away from that, I’m enjoying my squash much more, I’m more relaxed on court. I don’t like that type of squash, I don’t think it’s enjoyable."

Ben Coleman

George Parker (Eng) 3-2 James Earles (Eng) 
                        11-8, 11-9, 13-15, 13-15, 11-9 (88m)

GEORGE, EVENTUALLY

It took none less than 7 match balls for the 19 years old George Parker, who just broke into the top 100 last month (98) to beat his compatriot James Earles 22, and WR85. Needless to say it’s a big deal, and it’s very good result indeed for the youngster.

But did those 88m goes smoothly? Not exactly…

First game, pretty close, 6/6, 7/7, with George depth takes the game, 11/8. Just in case you never saw George play, he is pretty tall and strong for a 19 years old (looks more like 29 to be honest), but he’s got a very fluid movement, he uses his height very well, and finds lovely shots at the back. James is a different type of player. Much shorter, a bit of a scrum half type of boy, very fast too, with like Angus, is left-handed AND with the same wicked wrist! The mix of those two opposite type of players gave us a great match to watch…

A very good start for George in the second, 5/1, 6/2, but DogWithABone Earles just digs in, and slowly covers the gap to come back to 7/7. 8/8. Despite a too many unforced errors, for both, the game is pretty entertaining, 10/8 game ball Georges, 11/9. He is now up 2/0.

Does he relax a bit? Does James decide that now is the time to act? And just goes for more shots at the front? Probably bit of both. 7/3 James, 8/4. Still, this time, it’s George’s turn to dig in and come back to 8/8, 9/9! Make a long story shot, James will save one math ball at 11/10, but will need 4 game balls to close out the game, 15/13.

And in the 4th again a great start for the Hull Boy Earles, 6/2, but again a come back take George back to 7/8. A typical “nerves moment” for James, 10/7 game ball, three unforced errors! Again a long story short, James will save 2 match balls this time, and will forced a decider on his 5th game ball, 15/13!

I’m knackered just looking at them…

Back to the mill. A stupendous start for George, 6/0, 7/2, 8/4, match ball yet again at 10/6. Some lovely squash coming out from James’ racquet, a few heating discussions from the Tall George with Angus the Ref. And it will basically take the young man 7 match balls in total to eventually finally at the end win the match, 11/9 in the 5th.

"How many match balls? Far too many for sure!

I didn’t do anything particularly well. I just dug in, and stuck at it.

There were phases of good play, but that’s about it. I battled it out…"

George Parker

[3] Peter Creed (Wal) 3-0 [7] Tom Ford (Eng)
                  12-10, 11-7, 11-6 (37m)

GRINDING IT WAY…

One of those matches where you think mmm, player X is surely going to win easily, he is pretty comfy out there, and in fact, you get it completely wrong!

The ¾ of the first game, Tom Ford was just in control. He was way in front, despatching superb length and finding stunning drop shots.

But Pete just kept digging and hanging in there, coming back from 1/4 to 4/4, and 6/9 to 9/9. Some long and disputed rallies as we arrived at the business end of the game, and it’s against the run of play the Welsh that takes the opener on his second game ball, 12/10.

The second is still rather close, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, and again, maybe Tom is playing a bit too defensively, it’s Peter that creates the opportunities, and seizes them, 8/5, 9/6, 11/7 Peter on his first game ball.

The third, a terrible start for Tom – or a great for Pete, 4/0. Tom will never catch up the big gap, 7/4, 9/5, and it’s a good victory for WR75 Peter, 11/6 against WR78 Tom on their first ever PSA encounter (thanks SquashInfo).

"My analysis, I didn’t play well, but I was mentally strong today, I was quite composed. My defence shots were ok I felt, and I tried and use my speed not only to defend, but also to attack. I was never relaxed, but I was mentally quite solid.

I tried to hit the right shot at the right time, but it just didn’t come off! Every shot I was telling myself, ‘get it behind the box’, and I never did! And I tried the next one. And again, it was not behind it!!! He was always trying to do something with the ball, where I was just couldn’t play the shot the way I wanted. I think that the old me two years ago would have gone all over the place and got my knickers in a twist.

But today, I managed to stay focused, thanks to David Evans that kept me focus he helped me settle down a little and prevented me from playing silly shots!

Peter Creed

[5] Kristian Frost (Den) 3-0 [2] Steve Finitsis (Aus) 
           11-9, 11-7, 11-5 (63m)

KRISTIAN ACCURATE

First game was probably crucial in this match. Kristian was pretty up for this, not sure that Steve was. Let me explain what I mean. It feels to me Steve is the kind of player that seems to play at his best when playing for a team, but when he plays for his own benefit, he sometimes doesn’t have the motivation…

And probably, the match would have been much longer had Steve taken the first. It was a close game for sure. 6/6, 7/7, Kristian getting a 2 points lead, only to mishit the ball twice, 9/9.

A stroke gave him game ball, 10/9. Six decisions later, another stroke after some very very very long rallies gave him the game, 11/9.

The next two games were on the same pattern really, with Steve getting the wrong end of very long rallies, the score not telling the story really, 8/2, 8/4, 10/6, 11/7. The third is about the same, with a few too many unforced errors from Steve (I counted 4), 6/2, 10/4, 11/5…

Happy with that victory Kristian was…

"I talked it through with my coach John Williams, he devised a game plan, and I just executed well, even if the first game was very tough indeed.

When I managed to set up a small lead, I was able to play a few drops/boasts to the front, that frustrated him a bit probably.

I was not expecting a 3/0 I was DREAMING of a 3/0! Nowadays, a 3/0 is just such a gift, it makes such a difference, had I won in 2h, I would have been slightly tired, wouldn’t I! The quicker, the better!!"

Kristian Frost

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