2001 Club
Championship
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  Ladies' Tourn.
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Tournaments

Sunday, 8th April - Finals Night - A New Ladies' Champion

Once again, we were treated to another highly-entertaining finals night this year.  There was an appreciative audience, some very-high-quality squash, all the matches were played in excellent humour, the marking was first rate and nonintrusive - all in all, one of the best finals nights that I remember.  Oh, I nearly forgot, yet another scintillating speech from our captain! (Brian enjoys these little mentions.)

Steve Porter v Neil Healey

Steve and Neil opened up the evening's entertainment in the Men's Plate Finals.  From the start, Steve was having problems with his serves - they just wouldn't stay in.  Neil was content to play steadily and keep Steve moving round the court with a good selection of shots and this strategy gave him the first game 9/2.

Things got worse for Steve in the second game.  Once again, his serves were defying gravity, and although he had no trouble winning the serve back, he found it very difficult to win rallies on his serve.  There were still flashes of brilliance though.  Neil obligingly set Steve up with a few easy shots - one or two were lambasted into the tin at the speed of light, but most of them were despatched in an awesome manner.  Neil once again played steadily throughout and took that game 9/4.

Steve seemed to relax in the third and although I think one or two serves may have strayed, he was far more consistent.  The extra pressure he exerted forced a couple of tinned drops out of Neil, but Neil in tournament mode makes few mistakes, and once he got to an 8/4 lead, it was just a matter of time before he clinched the match.  Steve staged a last-minute come back with a couple of impossible (but winning) reverse angles, but couldn't stop Neil taking the game 9/6.

Score: 9/2 9/4 9/6 to Neil

Louise Nuttall (1) v Lorna Robinson (2)

Louise (the defending champion) started off the match superbly.  She was moving smoothly round the court, her shots were very crisp and she was hitting a variety of winners - disguised cross-court kills, attacking drops, straight drives etc.  Lorna was exactly the opposite!  She started off very slowly, tinned numerous returns of serve and was frequently wrong footed.  This carried on for two games, which Louise won 9/2 and 9/1.  

Louise started off the third game in the same form.  Lorna was still tinning returns of serve and at 6/0 down was in real trouble as it seemed to be all over bar the shouting.  Then Louise tinned a drop and this let Lorna back in.  Louise's concentration wavered at this stage, and she wasn't helped by Lorna starting to play properly!  Drop shots that Lorna had previously been happy to let go, she was suddenly reaching, and in time to hit a good shot off them too.  She was particularly impressive in the deep back right, and Louise found it next to impossible to get a drive past her - she seemed to be able to reach everything and hit a good length straight shot off it.  She also produced some beautiful ultra-low drop shots that were either outright winners, or were too close to the side wall to scrape up.  This technique got Lorna up to 5/6 in a single hand at which stage Louise regained some concentration to move up to match ball at 8/5.  At this stage, it looked fairly safe for Louise, however, Lorna kept up the pressure and kept clawing back the points.  Time after time, Louise hit a good-length good-width shot which Lorna was forced to boast.  Louise responded with a good text book straight drop which somehow Lorna anticipated and managed to get to in time to hit a winner.  Unbelievably, Lorna went straight through from 5/8 to 10/8 and the crowd went wild - at last there was going to be a real battle in the ladies finals.

Louise looked a little tired in the fourth game, and Lorna seemed if anything to be getting stronger.  However, Louise seemed to be in control of most of the rallies until the point where she forced a weak shot out of Lorna and then attempted a kill.  The kills just weren't nicking, and Lorna's excellent anticipation meant that her returns were often leaving Louise stranded.  Lorna took that game 9/5, and it was two all.

In the fifth game, Louise seemed to be back to her old self again, and unbelievably, Lorna reverted to her tinned backhand drop returns of serve.  Louise got up to 4/1 and it was looking very positive for her.  Once again, Lorna got the bit between her teeth and put Louise under real pressure with some unreachable drop shots and penetrating deep shots.  Lorna got up to 7/4 and managed to keep the three point lead through to a 9/6 victory.

Undoubtedly the best ladies' finals in years.  Louise can take some consolation in the fact that she won 37 points to Lorna's 31.  Lorna can take even more consolation that she didn't waste many points on games she couldn't win, but saved them up for the three games that she could (and did) win.

Score: 2/9 1/9 10/8 9/5 9/6

Glen Danks (1) v Brett Green (2)

Wow!  Most of the audience agreed that this was the highest standard squash seen in the Club Championship in recent years.  I think this was the best I have ever seen Glen play, and full credit must go to Brett for forcing him to play at such a high standard.

Brett got off to a good start and achieved a very early 2/0 lead in the first game courtesy of some good attacking play and a little bit of lethargy from Glen.  He soon extended that to 4/1 with some very tight drives and a superb volley kill that despite Glen's speed, left him stranded.  At this stage, a betting man would have disregarded previous form and would have put all his money on Brett!  Glen still hadn't settled in, and Brett was playing superbly.  This carried on until Brett established a 6/2 lead and then ran into a brick wall.  Glen settled in to 'no mistakes' mode and kept piling the pressure on with his very powerful straight and crosscourt drives.  He also produced some of the best retrieving I have ever seen when Brett got him out of position.

Brett, desperate to start winning points again, resorted to more and more attacking shots.  In general, his disguised soft drives to the back were very successful, and he won a few rallies with these.  His drop shots on the other hand started to tin - particularly his disguised forehand crosscourt - two or three of these kissed the top of the tin.  One or two of his backhand crosscourt drops nicked, but most of them popped up to allow Glen a clean shot.  Gradually the game slipped away from Brett, and eventually Glen took it 9/7.

In the second game, Brett was still giving it 100%, but Glen just seemed to be getting stronger.  Not only was he attacking continuously with low hard straight and crosscourt shots, but he now started throwing in frequent attacking boasts.  You wouldn't believe that someone would deliberately boast against a player the calibre of Brett, with his range of front-of-court shots, but these boasts were so good that they were actually putting Brett under pressure!  He was afraid to drop them as this technique was either resulting in tins or in shots that popped up enough for Glen to hit an excellent length crosscourt drive.  His only alternative seemed to be to hit a straight drive with the ever-present of risk of giving a stroke to Glen.  Inevitably, all this retrieving took its toll on Brett.  He was consistently being made to cover more of the court than Glen.  On the few occasions that he got Glen totally out of position, Glen would sprint to recover and would then be content to settle down to percentage squash again.  On the other hand, Brett, once he had started attacking, would tend to carry on attacking until that rally had been won or lost.  The result of all this is that Glen took the second game 9/4.

In the third game, Brett was visibly tired.  It didn't seem to affect his speed or retrieving ability, but he fluffed a few shots, and Glen started collecting points very quickly.  He got up to 8/0, whereupon he allowed Brett a single point before he took the game 9/1.

It must be said that Brett played extremely well - brilliantly in patches, but Glen was always able to contain him.  

Score: 9/7 9/4 9/1 to Glen

Paul's Reflections on the tournament

Thanks to all the markers for their sterling work.  Thanks also to all the players for accepting the markers' decisions without question.  Thanks also to those who submitted match reports.  We need more!

Steve Porter (round 1) and Louise (finals) got more points than their opponents and still lost!

Steve Porter served 34 hands to Neil Healey's 33 hands (finals, plate) and still lost!

I had the most inefficient scoring game - nearly 25 minutes to get 1 point off Glen!!

I think Kiffy should be elected player of the tournament - he must have played above himself to beat Steve Dyke and also take a game off Glen.

After watching Steve Porter v Granthan, Neil v Ben and Neil v Steve Porter, I think we should ban left-handed players - it's unnatural!  It's also quite legal according to our Equal Opportunities Statement.

Saturday, 7th April - Semi Finals all go as expected

Steve Porter v Tom Richardson

Steve had obviously decided not to get involved in any rallies in his match against Tom today.  At every opportunity, he killed the ball with his usual mixture of power shots into the jaws between front and side wall, reverse angles off impossible situations etc.  Steve took both the first two games with a consistent 9/3.  Tom realised in the third game that his lob serve was playing to Steve's strength and switched to a low hard body serve.  This brought about immediate results and he shot up to a 5/1 lead.  Steve was unable to make any inroads into this and Tom took that game 9/4.  Steve turned up his concentration in the fourth game and produced a string of winners to take the game 9/3.

Score 9/3 9/3 4/9 9/3 to Steve

Ben Salcedo v Neil Healey (no commentary)

Everyone said that Ben played well, and there was even a chance that he could have taken the first game, but Neil (even with an ankle problem) was never in any real danger.

Score 9/5 9/3 9/5 to Neil

Mary Boyle (4) v Louise Nuttall (1)

Mary looked tired in this match and never really troubled Louise.  Her returns of serve were straying out from the wall and allowed Louise a choice of shots.  Whenever Mary hung back anticipating a length, Louise would drop or boast and vice versa.  Mary did stage a comeback towards the end of the first game and won five points in a single hand with some very good drops, but Louise came back back strongly and dominated the rest of the match.

Score: 9/5 9/2 9/1 to Louise

Lorna Robinson (2) v Sarah Bent (no commentary)

Lorna justified her second seed position by beating Sarah (the third seed) 3-0.  The second game must have been interesting though!

Score: 9/3 10/9 9/5 to Lorna

Russell Harrison (3) v Brett Green (2)

What a match!  Not quite as good as last year's marathon between these two old adversaries, but very exciting to watch.  In the first game, Brett was slightly off form and Russ was playing a very safe game, waiting for opportunities and then making the most of them.  This led to Russ establishing a 5/2 lead after some exceptionally long rallies.  The pattern seemed to be that whoever attempted an attacking drop or boast would lose the rally.  They then settled down into a series of even longer rallies played mostly down the left hand wall.  At this stage Brett tightened up his game and cut out all risky shots.  Both players also did some magnificent attacking retrieving at times, but in general seemed content to rally safely waiting for their chances.  Brett levelled at 5/5, but then Russ pulled ahead and at 8/7 up had a good chance of winning the first game.  It must have been very disappointing for him to see Brett steal the game 10/8.  That first game took 16 minutes and obviously took its toll on both players.

At the beginning of the second game, it appeared as if we were in for more of the same.  However, after an exchange of hands, Brett started pulling ahead, and it soon appeared that Russ was very tired.  He was still moving well round the court, but he was inclined to give up on some of Brett's winning drops and boasts whereas in the first game, he hadn't given up on anything.  Brett got up to 8/0 in a single hand and then took that game.  The second game took a mere nine minutes.

The third game followed the same pattern as the second with Brett getting stronger and Russ apart from an attempted comeback when 8/0 down still showing signs of exhaustion.  Brett took the third game 9/1 in five minutes.

Score: 10/8 9/0 9/1 to Brett

Glen Danks (1) v Martin Kiff (5)

If Kiffy had had any sense, he would have gone out against Glen aiming to take a couple of points per game.  Fortunately, he has no sense whatsoever, and went out with the intention of BEATING Glen.  The result was a very exciting match with plenty to thrill the audience, and Kiffy has gone up in everyone's estimation as a result.

So far in this tournament, Glen as always been most vulnerable in the first game, so it was no surprise when Martin started sneaking a few points.  These were from some very low boasts from Martin, a few unforced errors from Glen, and even a shot which Glen didn't play, believing it to be out, when the marker called it in.  Glen eventually took that game 9/5.

In the second game, Martin produced some spectacular retrieving and seemed genuinely delighted to be given the opportunity to rebound round the court chasing the ball into and out of corners.  Glen took the slightly lazy approach of trying some front-of-court kills when Kiffy was out of position, but Kiffy reached them all with ease and surprised Glen with some very good attacking boasts.  All of a sudden, Martin was 7/4 up and Glen had to step up a gear.  It wasn't enough however, and although Glen was now powering the ball to the back of the court, Martin could just about reach and control them.  Despite Glen's best efforts, Martin took that game 9/5 - wild cheering in the balcony!

Martyn paid for his indiscretion in the third game.  Glen stuck to doing what he does best - winding up and driving hard down the wall with regular good-length good-width powerful cross courts.  Poor Kiffy was like a pinball, hurtling all over the court, but the sheer pace of the ball and the good length of the shots were too much for him, and after a mere four minutes, Glen took that game 9/1.

Glen stuck to his winning formula in the fourth game, and although Kiffy announced that "my little legs are hurting now", he showed no signs of slowing down and frequently ran the diagonal from front right to back left to reach and play some dying crosscourt lengths from Glen.  Glen didn't make any mistakes in the fourth game, avoided risky drops, volleyed hard to the back of the court whenever he could and eventually took that game with the loss of just one point.

Well done Kiffy!

Score: 9/5 5/9 9/1 9/0 to Glen

Friday, 6th April - Mary Boyle beats Frances

Frances Heneghan v Mary Boyle (4)

Mary played well against Frances this evening.  In the first two games she kept Frances guessing with a good selection of lobs to the back and winning low boasts.  Frances trademark forehand kills off the serve just weren't working and she also tinned several attempted backhand crosscourt volley drops.  In the third game, Frances stepped up her game and at one stage was in a commanding position, but Mary hung in there and eventually sneaked the last game 10/8.

Score: 9/2 9/3 10/8 to Mary

Sunday, 1st April - Kiffy beats Steve Dyke

Martin Kiff (5) v Steve Dyke (4) (no commentary)

Kiffy must have played well to beat Steve Dyke in the last remaining quarter final match of the men's tournament.

Score: 9/1 9/2 9/4 to Martin

Sunday, 1st April - quarter finals of plate completed

Steve Porter v Granthan Speake

No commentary on the first game which Steve won 9/5.  By the way Granthan started the second game, Steve must have had his hands full in the first.  What is it about rowers that when you let them out of a boat they just run and run and run.  Granthan's determination forced many handouts and it took Steve five attempts to succeed at game point.  He eventually won the game 9/3.  Steve's strategy changed in the third game and instead of rallying he started to play winners from the serve, together with a mixture of reverse boasts.  Steve went ahead to win 9/1.

Score: 9/5 9/3 9/1 to Steve

Tom Richardson v Brian Ireland

Tom took the first game 9/2, but in the second, Brian put up a real struggle and led at 7/5 and 8/7.  On both occasions, he could have claimed a stroke against Tom, but elected to try to keep the ball in play anyway which turned out to be his undoing.  Tom took that game 10/8.  Brian got off to a very slow start in the third game and allowed Tom to get up to an 8/1 lead.  Then he started his comeback.  He killed the ball at every opportunity and Tom, feeling the pressure, obliged by stiffening up and fluffing a few shots,  But there was too much of a deficit, and Tom got the serve back at 8/5 and took the game and the match.

Score: 9/2 10/8 9/5 to Tom

Peter Harrison v Ben Salcedo

Ben has improved a lot in the last year, and this showed today as he took on Peter Harrison.  Ben's retrieving was always good, but now he has added drop shots, lobs and clinging down-the-wall lengths to his repertoire.  He took the first game easily (9/2) and repeated his tactics in the second to take that 9/0.  Peter was not playing badly, and was making Ben work hard for his points, but he (Peter) hit too many unforced errors (lobs going out of court etc.).  Things changed completely in the third game.  Peter got off to a superb start and played better than I have seen him play before to go 7/1 up.  He was moving round the court well, and was doing a good job of keeping the ball just out of Ben's reach.  At 7/1 down, Ben responded to the challenge and started clawing back the points.  Helped by a couple of lucky shots he eventually took that game 10/8. 

Score: 9/2 9/0 10/8 to Ben

Saturday, 31st March - Quarter Finals go as expected

Glen Danks (1) v Richard Chinn (8)

Richard Chinn flounced onto court today wearing a skin-tight (boy, was it tight) t-shirt and skimpy violent yellow shorts that left little to the imagination (believe me, it was little!!!).  This proved to be a masterly strategy as it allowed him to get to 3/3 in the first game against the number one seed, Glen Danks.  At this stage, Glen had become acclimatised to Richard's appearance and started demonstrating why he is the number one seed.  He started pressurising Richard with very powerful straight and cross-court drives.  To his credit, Richard got his racket to many of these, but found them near to impossible to control.  Whenever he put Glen under pressure with a dying length, Glen produced perfect boasts that were so low on the front wall that Richard found himself under even greater pressure.  Glen took the first game 9/4, and didn't allow Richard any more points in the match.

Score: 9/4 9/0 9/0 to Glen

Russell Harrison (3) v Martyn Whiting (6)

Russ and Martyn had a very entertaining game.  In the first game, Martyn didn't get a look in as Russ was very focussed and was producing an impressive combination of very powerful yet controlled drives.  Martyn couldn't match their width or length and allowed himself to be set up for the kill shot - either a perfect length low drive, or a delicate boast.  Russ took that game 9/1.  In the second game, Russ relaxed a little and allowed Martyn to attack, which he did very effectively, at one stage leading 7/5.  Russ turned up the pressure then to take the second game 9/7.  It was the same story in the third.  There were some great rallies, and Martyn's shots seemed to get tighter the more tired he got, but in the end Russ's superior fitness and retrieving  showed through and he took the game 9/7.

Score: 9/1 9/7 9/7 to Russ

Saturday, 31st March - 'Gone to Seed' produces unexpected late flower

Neil 'Gone to Seed' Healey v David Potter - plate quarter finals

This was an excellent match - worthy of a plate finals.  Dave got off to a good start and moved Neil around the court with his trademark reverse angles and good length drives.  Whenever Neil did a drop shot, Dave seemed to get there with ease and whacked the ball past him.  Neil wasn't helped by discovering that his racket strings had broken towards the end of the first game (the marker feigned deafness to avoid having to award conduct points) and eventually Dave took the first game 9/2.  In the second game, Dave kept the pressure up and Neil made a few unforced errors, distracted having to play by his spare racket.  Dave took that game 9/1.

In the third game, both players were transformed.  Neil was turbocharged with twin afterburners; Dave decided to have a bit of a kip!  Neil took that game 9/1 in two minutes.  The fourth game developed into a real battle with both players working hard.  There were some spectacular rallies and the final score of 9/3 to Neil didn't to justice to the Dave's efforts.  The final game was another tussle, but Dave was visibly tired, his boasts lost their bite and he had no answer to Neil's drops.  Neil took that game 9/4.

Score: 2/9 1/9 9/1 9/3 9/4 to Neil

Friday, 30th March - 'Second Seed' trounces 'Gone to Seed'

Neil Healey v Brett Green (2)

Neil attempted to unsettle Brett by bombarding him with electronic messages:

This intimidating tactic was very successful up until 1/1 in the first game.  Then Neil needed to switch to plan B . . . which he had forgotten to bring!  Brett's speed around the court coupled with his penetrating deep shots put Neil in all kinds of trouble and gave Brett the first game 9/2.  Neil fought back in the second and quickly established an early 2/1 lead through good attacking drops and boasts.  Brett (still distracted by the sight of Neil apparently knocking back lagers in the 90 seconds in between games) settled back into percentage squash and worked Neil round the court hitting winners whenever appropriate to take that game 9/2.  In the third game, Neil made the most of the few chances he was given, but started to tire towards the end.  Brett kept up the pressure by flicking the ball all over the court leaving Neil to alternative but to go for risky winners . . . and losers!  Another 9/2 - consistent!

Score: 9/2 9/2 9/2 to Brett

Russell Harrison (3) v Tony Whitehouse (no commentary)

Score 9/2 9/5 3/9 9/1

Martin Kiff (5) v Pete Scully (no commentary)

I'm not sure if this was played, but Kiffy goes through.

Thursday, 29th March - Granthan steams through

Granthan Speake v Kevin Thompson (no commentary)

Granthan had a good win over Kevin.

Score: 9/0 9/0 9/3 to Granthan

Wednesday, 28th March - Granthan gets some exercise

Granthan Speake v Richard Chinn (8) (no commentary)

Richard Chinn gave Granthan a good workout.

Score: 9/1 9/1 9/2 to Richard

Monday, 26th March - Shock defeat of world's most talkative squash player

There were two more withdrawals today.  Tony Arthur's knees were in no state to allow him to play his match against Martyn Whiting.  Stan Biffin had to cry off his match against Neil Healey tonight and decided to withdraw from the tournament as he would have difficulty playing his matches this weekend.

Jimmy Harrison v Steve Dyke (4) (no commentary)

I'm not sure what happened to Jimmy, our world-famous Scottish squash player.  Apparently, he lost!  That such a stylish, elegant, athletic and modest player could lose in the second round beggars belief (perhaps, the fact that his opponent was Steve Dyke had something to do with it), but we must say goodbye to Jimmy for this year.  If any witnesses could provide a match report for this one, I would love to see it.

Score: 9/1 9/2 9/7 to Steve

Mathematical trend analysis predicts that the score in the next two games (had Jimmy been able to stand up) would have been 16/9 and 29/9 to Jimmy!

There were two more withdrawals today.  Tony Arthur's knees were in no state to allow him to play his match against Martyn Whiting.  Stan Biffin had to cry off his match against Neil Healey tonight and decided to withdraw from the tournament as he would have difficulty playing his matches this weekend.

Sunday, 25th March - Glen and Brett through

Only two matches were played today.  The third match between Jimmy and Steve Dyke must have been rearranged.

Glen Danks (1) v Paul Heneghan

Paul played well in this match, but was totally outclassed by Glen (the first seed) and was lucky to get one point in the entire match.  If Glen hadn't tinned an easy drop in the middle of the first game he would have had a 27-0 win!  Paul didn't give up without a struggle though, and there were many handouts, particularly at the beginning of the second game.  Paul was just unable to win the two rallies in a row needed to start earning points.  There were some good rallies however, and Paul survived for 25 minutes before succumbing to the inevitable.

Score: 9/1 9/0 9/0 to Glen

Jonathon Bomford v Brett Green (2) (no commentary)

An easy victory for Brett.

Score: 9/1 9/2 9/1 to Brett

Saturday, 24th March - A Washout!!!

This was a disappointing day.  Neil turned up to play Ian in their postponed first-round match, but Ian never showed and was uncontactable.  Martin and Pete decided earlier in the day to rearrange their match, but didn't tell anyone.  I've no idea what happened to Russ and Tony Whitehouse - they never showed either.

It was a bit embarrassing after all my whinging about a shortage of markers and spectators in these tournaments to have markers and spectators turn up in droves (well - two of each to be precise), but no matches for them to mark or spectate.

Players MUST let me know when they rearrange their games.

Friday, 23rd March - Tournament starts

Kevin Thompson v Richard Chinn

Richard Chinn got off to a sneaky start by playing his first game in secret!  He probably knew that the spectators had intended some serious heckling.  Here is a match report submitted by one of our more talented commentators.

The opening match of the 2001 Club Championships was a typical David and Goliath contest, fought out on Thursday evening. Unfortunately Goliath, alias the Mighty Chinn hadn't read the script, and slew David, alias Kevin (Lorna's bloke) Thompson, who has only been playing for a few months, in three straight sets, 9-2, 9-0, 9-1. 

David had spent the evening preparing carefully for the dual to come, practicing his shots on unsuspecting clubnight adversaries, while he awaited the arrival of his rival !! Eventually Goliath arrived, borne to the battle on his trusty velocipede, to confront the pent up Celtic fury that was about to explode. For five minutes, they hurled shots at each other, the contestants standing their ground. Then they exchanged places, and continued to spar until the arrival of Solomon, alias the oldest slinger in town, whose task it was to adjudicate, and he ordered the battle to commence.

In the blinking of an eye, Goliath had raced to four, without reply, but David was biding his time, and, with delicate precision struck his first blow, a neatly placed drop to the left. Taken aback, Goliath faltered, and David struck for a second time, confusing the giant with a powerful drive to his rear. The hushed crowds gathered as the giant heaved a mighty groan, and, with a superhuman effort struck back, in his typical boastful way, wrongfooting his opponent to regain the initiative, and continuing to boast about until the first set was won. For 90 seconds, David's supporters encouraged him, and he proceeded to the second round inspired by visions of Lorna to do or die. But, unbeknown to the assembled multitude, Goliath too had been inspired, by the prospect of post battle convivialities, and set forth as a giant refreshed. With three deft shots he strode into the lead, until dropped in his tracks once again by his plucky opponent. This only served to increase his anger, and with seven shots to the back, he ended the second round without reply. Once again, the beautiful Lorna and her cohorts administered succour, comfort and wisdom to their flagging hero, and he rose to take up the final challenge, aware that this was a battle to the end. Once again, the giant boasted his prowess, until the resourceful David took a leaf from the giant's book, and gave him a taste of his own medicine. How the crowd roared at this reverse, encouraging their youthful champion to further glories. But all was to no avail. The giant's anger was uncontained, and he let fly a volley of shots which his noble enemy could not return, and the people wept as their hero fell courageously upon the battleground.

Score: 9/2 9/0 9/1 to Richard

Steve Porter v Paul Heneghan

Paul and Steve obviously thought that there was a prize going for the longest match and battled it out on court for over an hour.  The first three games were all close affairs with a 9/6 to Steve followed by 10/8 (a 43 rally game) and 9/7 to Paul.  The fourth game was very frustrating for Paul, as he seemed unable to get any points!  Out of the first 30 rallies, Steve won 19 of them to Paul's 11, yet the score stood at 7/0 to Steve.  Paul tried serving from the left, from the right, lobs, blasts - Steve just hit winners off everything.  Paul eventually managed to salvage two points before Steve took the game 9/2.

In the final game, Steve roared off to a 3/0 lead and Paul's position looked very unhappy.  Suddenly, Steve started to tin a few shots.  Paul kept him off balance with some varied serving and shot up to a 8/3 lead.  He then joined the ever increasing club of players who tin easy drops at match ball, but recovered a couple of rallies later to take the final game 9/4.  Paul now meets Glen in the second round!

Score: 6/9 10/8 9/7 2/9 9/4 to Paul

Tom Richardson v Pete Scully (no commentary)

Tom lost to Pete, but salvaged one game.

Score: 9/6 9/4 6/9 9/2 to Pete

Jimmy Harrison v Brian Ireland (no commentary)

Victory for Jimmy.  He managed to stop talking for just long enough to take the match.  I hope he's got his vocal chords in training for his second-round match against Steve Dyke.  Translators are standing by!

Score: 9/6 9/5 9/4 to Jimmy

Peter Harrison v Tony Whitehouse (no commentary)

Judging by the state of Pete in the changing room afterwards he gave it 110%.  He should have just about recovered in time to play Ben Salcedo in the quarter finals of the plate next Sunday.

Score: 3-0 (I think) to Tony

Tony Arthur v Ben Salcedo (no commentary)

With all due respect to Ben, who did admirably to take a game off Tony, Tony was not moving round the court well due to knee problems.  Hopefully his knees will have recovered by the time he meets Martyn Whiting in the next round.

Score: 9/3 1/9 9/8 9/3 to Tony

David Potter v Jonathon Bomford (no commentary)

The first shock result of the tournament!  Jonathon must have been playing well to get this result.  David managed to overcome his ankle injury temporarily to take the first game, but then started hesitating and was unable to stop Jonathon from taking the next three.

Score: 4/9 9/3 9/1 9/2 to Jonathon

Mike Hart v Granthan Speake (walkover)

Mike Hart has had to withdraw from the tournament with an injury.  It would be nice to see Mike complete an injury-free tournament some day!  Granthan is now through to meet Richard in the next round.  That should be entertaining (but maybe not from Granthan's point of view).

Score: Walkover to Granthan

Ian Smith v Neil Healey

This match will be played tomorrow (Saturday) at Sat 15:00

Thursday, 22nd March - Tournament tomorrow

The first game of the tournament starts at 16:30 tomorrow. I should have a few match reports here late tomorrow night.

©Copyright 2002 by Paul Heneghan

Last modified: 16 March 2002 01:26