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Swiss League
Playoffs
11/12 April 2008 |
Full Results
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Wohlen take Swiss Team Title
John Williams reports
In a very hard-fought Playoff Finals Series in Zürich Switzerland,
Squash Club Wohlen has captured the Swiss League Men's crown
for 2007/2008.
The Club won its first Swiss Team title in its first ever Season in
the Swiss Men's A-League. It wasn't all smooth sailing however, as
the semi-final turned out to be quite a tussle with defending
champions Vitis.
On position 1 Simon Rösner (PSA#63) needed 90mins and 5 games to
wear down the 35-year old Swiss National Coach-John Williams.
Patrick Gässler of Germany beat his higher-ranked countrymen Stefan
Leifels 3-1 in 100mins, not being able to convert one of the 7
Match-Balls he had in the 3rd game. With the Tie finishing level at
2 Matches & 8 Games apiece, this turned out to be a decisive
statistic.
David Evans proved the major difference between the Teams though as
he dispatched former Swiss Champion Andre Holderegger with the loss
of just one point.
In the other semi the Zürich based Team -Sihltal- accounted
comfortably for the Team Region Bodensee - a club based less than 1
kilometer from the Austrian border. For Sihltal it was Swiss No.1
Nicolas Müller beating Austrian No.1 Aqueel Rehman 3-0, as well as
Marco Dätwyler (3-1 win vs. Marc Rogers) & Marco Eggenberger (3-0
vs. Marco Deeg) securing the win for the Zürich based Team.
In the Men's Final Sihltal were going to need a good start on
positions 1/2 to have any chance of winning, as Wohlen always had
the upper hand with former British Open Champion - David Evans on
position 3.
It wasn't to be however for the all-Swiss combination from Sihltal
though as the 2 German imports, Rösner & Leifels won the opening
Ties for Wohlen. Rösner won an entertaining 5-game battle with Swiss
Champion Nicolas Müller and Stefan Leifels showed his experience to
win the very important No.2 match 3-1 against Marco Dätwyler.
With Evans then doing his job on position 3, with a 3-0 win over
Marcel Straub the 1st Swiss Team Title was secure for Squash Club
Wohlen and the champagne (& beers) started flowing. Former 7-time
Swiss Champion Lars Harms on position 4 wasn't needed as he and yet
another former Swiss Champion - Marco Eggenberger - had a few laughs
together in an Exhibition-styled match to conclude the final.
In the Ladies Final it was the 2 'Winterthur-based' Teams who made
the final. In the end it was the Team 'Winterthur' who proved too
strong on all 3 positions against their lower-ranked opponents from
'Squash Club Eulach'.
All in all this year's finals brought many players together young &
old, from all parts of Europe in what was without doubt a great
success for the Swiss Squash Scene in general. Many thanks also go
to Squash Club Winterthur for putting on a great weekend for all
players involved.
Also many thanks to the Swiss Squash Administration Team - in
particular Michael Müller & Philipp Schaller who spent Friday &
Saturday making sure that all went to plan. Thanks guys...!
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Swiss League
Playoffs
11/12 April 2008 |
Action from the Jan '08 Vitis v Wohlen match
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John Williams reports
 The
Swiss League Final Playoffs will kick off tonight in Winterthur (Zürich)
with the semi-finals between the Top four teams in the Men's &
Women's Competitions.
The Season's climax in the Men's A-League will see a lot of foreign
players venturing into Switzerland for the two days, for what is
expected to be a hard fought finale.
Top team from the regular Season - Vitis (defending
Champions), will meet fourth placed team Wohlen where
strangely the fourth placed team will go in as slight favourites. In
the other semi Sihltal (2nd) will play Region Bodensee
(3rd). The line-up of matches from the respective matches will be as
follows:Vitis v Wohlen
1. John Williams (AUS-former PSA#15) v Simon Rösner (PSA#63)
2. Patrick Gässler (GER#6) v Stefan Leifels (GER#3)
3. Andre Holderegger (SUI#4) v David Evans (British Open Winner
2000)
4. Daniel Hoffmann (GER#10) v Lars Harms (SUI-former PSA#41)
Sihltal v Region Bodensee
1. Nicolas Müller (SUI#1/PSA-141) v Aqueel Rehman (AUT#1/PSA#115)
2. Marco Dätwyler (SUI#3) v Marc Rogers (RSA/PSA#157)
3. Marcel Straub (SUI#5) v Andre Haschker (GER#5)
4. Marco Eggenberger (SUI#7) v Marco Deeg (GER)
The Women's playoffs will be more of
a local affair between all the top women players in Switzerland, the
only exception being the appearance of German No.1 Kathrin
Rohrmüller who will be competing for Eulach. The host
center - Winterthur - has two Teams competing in the Women's
playoffs, potentially offering a total 'home-club' Final in the
Ladies.
Ladies Semi-Finals:
Winterthur (1st) v Stans (4th)
Sihltal (2nd) v Eulach (3rd) |
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