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TODAY at the Nationals: Tue 9th,
Day THREE
Steve Cubbins in Manchester |
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MCFC v
Stoke City
Sat 13th - Parking
Photo Galleries
Carry on Carrie |
On to
the Main Draw
Another hectic day at Sportcity with sixteen men's matches and
two rounds of women's qualifying ...
Men's Round One:
Top Half
Bottom Half
[1] Nick Matthew (Yorks) bt [Q] Andrew Birks (Shropshire)
11/3, 11/7,
11/4 (29m)
[9] Tom Richards (Surrey) bt Stephen Meads (Berks)
5/3 rtd (10m)
[5] Alister Walker (Glos) bt [Q] Dominic Hamilton (Oxon)
11/7, 11/6,
11/9 (32m)
[13] Alan Clyne (Scotland) bt [Q] Jamie MacAulay
(Scotland)
11/5, 11/2,
11/6 (26m)
[4] Adrian Grant (Kent) bt [Q] Stephen Siveter
(Merseyside)
11/4, 4/11, 11/1,
11/4 (36m)
[11] Chris Simpson (Hants) bt James Snell (Devon)
11/7, 11/6, 12/10
(42m)
[7] Jonathan Kemp (Shropshire) bt Simon Parke (Yorks)
10/12, 8/11, 11/9, 11/7,
11/4 (62m)
[15] Laurence Delasaux (Yorks) bt [Q] Peter Billson (Lancs)
11/5, 12/14, 11/8, 6/3
rtd (44m)
[16] Joe Lee (Surrey) bt Andrew Whipp (Cheshire)
11/3, 11/6, 7/11, 2/11,
11/5 (59m)
[8] Joey Barrington (Somerset) bt [Q] Anthony Graham (Glos)
11/5, 12/10, 12/10 (60m)
[LL] Nic Birt (Wales) bt [Q] Phil Rushworth (Yorks)
11/9, 11/2, 10/12,
15/13 (73m)
[3] James Willstrop (Yorks) bt John Rooney (Ireland)
11/9, 11/6, 11/5 (38m)
[14] Adrian Waller (Herts) bt [Q] Chris Hall (Surrey)
11/4, 11/5, 11/1 (27m)
[6] Daryl Selby (Essex) bt Eddie Charlton (Notts)
5/11, 11/7, 11/7,
11/6 (47m)
[10] Chris Ryder (Herts) bt Stuart Crawford (Scotland)
11/5, 11/6, 11/2
(28m)
[2] Peter Barker (Essex) bt Joel Hinds (Derbyshire)
11/4, 11/4, 11/8
(32m)
Women's Qualifying Finals:
Sarah-Jane Perry
bt Leonie Holt
11/7, 11/6, 11/9 (27m)
Carrie Ramsey bt Lauren Selby
11/5, 2/11, 11/13, 11/9, 21/19 (74m)
Millie Tomlinson bt Emily Whitlock
11/7, 11/6, 11/4 (31m)
Deon Saffery bt Annabelle Collins-Ballands
11/3, 11/5, 11/4 (17m)
Women's Qualifying Round Two:
Leonie Holt (Warwicks)
bt Victoria Bell (Cumbria)
11/8, 11/9, 9/11, 12/14, 11/6
(38m)
Sarah-Jane Perry (Warwicks) bt Zephanie Curgenven (Hants)
11/8, 9/11, 11/7, 13/11
(30m)
Lauren Selby (Essex) bt Julianne Courtice (Glos)
11/4, 11/6, 11/5 (24m)
Carrie Ramsey (Yorks) bt Laura Mylotte (Ireland) v
8/11, 11/2, 6/11,
15/13, 11/5 (50m)
Millie Tomlinson (Derbyshire) bt Brogan Lane (Herts)
11/3, 11/5, 11/7
(19m)
Emily Whitlock (Cheshire) bt Jenna Gates (Sussex)
w/o
Annabelle Collins-Ballands (Kent) bt Kate Cadigan
(Dorset)
w/o
Deon Saffery (Yorks) bt Kimberley Hay (Northumbria)
11/4, 11/7, 11/6 (20m) |
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Top Half: Parky's
still there
Well, if the first set of matches are anything to go by, we're
in for a loooong, day.
Simon Parke astounded the audience on court five as he
took a two-game lead against seventh seed Jonathan Kemp,
coming back from 10/6 down in the first in doing so.
Conventional wisdom held Parky, who made his first appearance in
the main draw in 1987 and was playing his 50th match in the
event, would run out of legs sooner rather than later. At 5-all
in the third he looked decidedly tired, but then as Kemp said
afterwards, "I've seen him look knackered at one-all in the
first and he still keeps going for two hours."
Keep going he did, reaching 9-all in the third, and forcing Jon
to make a miraculous retrieval at the front on 10-9 to stop him
taking it to extra points. The fourth was a little easier for
Jon as he took it 11/7, but come the decider Parky was still
there, taking a 4-1 lead.
 "He
just won't go away," said one observer. Jon pulled it back to
4-all. "He's got him now, hasn't he," said another.
And he had. Parky never stopped trying, never stopped running,
even at 10/5 down he was still doing court sprints. The crowd
loved it all, and so did the winner.
"I enjoyed all of it," he said, "it was fun all the way through,
just not as much when I was losing. At 10/6 in the first he just
decided to go for it, I didn't make a mistake, he was just good.
"It's my first tournament since India in December, I've been
doing a lot of training so needed a match under my belt. Having
won, I guess that was a good one to start with!"
 "I
nearly got him! I've been playing quite well recently - but that
was probably the best I've played for about a year. I definitely
had the chance to take him - but just didn't have enough in the
end.
"It's the only time I've had to pay £22.50 and my petrol money
for the honour of competing in the Nationals - so I needed to
get my money's worth!
"I was disappointed not to be one of the top 16 seeds - and
thought long and hard before deciding to play. And then I almost
took out a top eight seed - so I think I proved myself."
Kemp will now play Laurence
Delasaux, who beat Peter Billson in three and a half
well-contested games after the local favourite retired with
cramp 6/3 down in the fourth. "I knew it would be tough," said
Delasaux, I just had to stick to my game plan, and keep him
moving. I was a bit disappointed to lose the second but he came
back at me very well."
"That's four games in three days," said Billson, "I suffer with
cramp anyway, and being last off and first on didn't help, but
it was a good match, I enjoyed it.
Two shorter matches followed as fourth seed Adrian Grant
saw off qualifier Steve Siveter despite a wobble in the
second game, and Chris Simpson beat James Snell in three.
Looking well in control in the first two, Snell had to attend to
a bleeding finger after a dive mid-way through the third, and
threatened to extend the match before Simpson closed it out
12/10.
"I felt pretty good all the way through," said Simpson, "but
after the blood break I went for a bit too much and hit a few
tins. I'm pretty happy with how I played overall though."
 The
all-Scotland affair saw Alan Clyne progress in straight
games against Jamie Macaulay. I only saw the last few rallies,
but the penultimate one, ending in a stroke to Clyne, seemed to
last about 10 of the 26 minutes that the match did. The final
rally was a little shorter as Clyne's service hit his opponent
to finish the match.
"It's no use running on coal when your opponent's on renewable
energy," quipped Jamie.
Steve Meads, playing in his 22nd Nationals since making
his debut in 1987, wasn't running on anything after ten minutes
of his match with Tom Richards. With the score at 5/3
Meads pulled up. "My back just went," he said. "I've been having
treatment on my knee which was a bit of a worry but that held up
fine.
"My back went like this when I was working in Hong Kong, I
couldn't walk for a week and a half ..."
The top half of the draw rounded out with wins for Alister
Walker and Nick Matthew against qualifiers Dominic
Hamilton and Andrew Birks, both enjoyable to watch and played in
good spirit in front of a large crowd
 It's
good to get the cobwebs out of the system after a day of
travelling. He impressed me - he worked hard throughout the
game, no cheap shots.
Ever since I first played in the Nationals, it has been a
priority event for me - in the early days, a good opportunity to
get the scalp of a top player, just like my opponent today was
trying to do. It's a big thing to be the national champion
It shows the standard of the event that I'll probably face Tom
Richards tomorrow in the second round - a player who's pushing
to get into the world's top 30. I'll have to up my level
After a tough period at the end of last year, I needed some time
off over Christmas - so when I played in New York, I felt I was
lacking a bit. But I felt a lot better in Sweden - and got
better each day, even though the final was a bit of an
anti-climax. So hopefully I have benefitted from the time off
My two targets this year are to do well in the Commonwealth
Games and to reach number one in the world.
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Steve Meads: Debut 1987
Joe Lee: Born 1989
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Bottom Half: More
youngsters v oldies,
James looks fine
The youth v experience theme continued as the bottom half of the
draw began in the evening session. First through was Joe Lee
- whose father Danny appeared in the 1986 draw - who let a
two-game lead slip against local favourite Andy Whipp before
reasserting to take the decider after 59 minutes.
 "I
was slightly surprised in the first two," said Lee the younger.
"He wasn't 100% but I was playing well, he made a couple of
errors and his head seemed to go down.
"But at the start of the
third and fourth I made some errors and his head was up. I had
to work hard to get back into it and just managed to hang on to
it in the end."
Meanwhile erstwhile commentator Joey Barrington was
taking one minute longer to stem the challenge of European
Junior Champion Anthony Graham. Barrington took the first with
reasonable comfort but the next two were real gruellers,
Barrington taking them both 12/10 after coming from 4/8 down in
the third.
Everyone was interested in the next set of matches to see how
James Willstrop was, after having to concede in the Swedish
Open final with shoulder and leg problems. The good news is that
the second seed looked fine, despatching the Irishman in three
games with increasing authority.
 "It
was great, under the circumstances - at first I was very
tentative but I came through it OK. I've done everything I can
since Sunday - mostly intense work with my physio Alison in
Leeds, trying to get things in my body back in place!
"But these things happen in squash - and there's no reason why
you can't turn things round. Now I can forget about it and get
on with it - it's good to erase some of the doubts. And it was
good to have David [Campion] with me - he's been through it as
well. He knows the psychology of injury!
That match took 38 minutes,
exactly half the time it took Carrie Ramsey to record her
second five-game win of the day, this time over Lauren Selby.
More - much more - on that match later with the women's roundup.
Coming in at one minute under that at 73 was lucky loser Nic
Birt, who beat qualifier Phil Rushworth in four games,
taking the end of a let-laden fourth 15/13.
"I was halfway home to Wales last night when I found out I was
the lucky loser," said the winner, "just 20 miles from
Birmingham, I had to stay overnight, and now that's another
night's stay!"
Nic was happier about today's match: "I started well, getting on
the volley a lot, but in the third he started taking it in short
more. It was a question of hanging in, and I just managed it in
the end, but it was another good match."
 Asked
about playing James Willstrop next, the answer was a deadpan
"great".
Adrian Waller made short work of his match against
qualifier Chris Hall, but Daryl Selby was in the mood for
a workout to stretch his legs after having to drive up from
Essex rather than take the train due to transport problems in
London.
Eddie Charlton took the first game before Daryl got into his
stride, and by the end of the third he was running Eddie, always
a willing runner, ragged. Eddie virtually collapsed after Daryl
had him on a string for one long, long, rally, only to hear the
referee admonish him to quicken it up between points. "What,
after a rally like that," he managed to get out, to everyone's
amusement.
Mercifully the fourth didn't last long and Daryl was well warmed
up for tomorrow.
Rounding out the draw with all 15 seeds (plus the lucky loser)
going through to round two were Chris Ryder and Peter
Barker, both easing through in straight games.
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Women's Qualifying: Carry
on Carrie ...
 Ten
matches today in the women's qualifying event, the highlight of
which was Carrie Ramsey's 21/19 in the fifth win over
Lauren Selby to clinch a place in the main draw for the
first time.
Carrie had already had a
five-setter at lunchtime when she upset the odds to put out
Laura Mylotte, while Lauren had enjoyed a much easier time in
beating Julianne Courtice, so the odds were surely with the
higher-ranked (72 to 137) Essex girl.
 From
the start it was a competitive match though, both hitting the
ball well, mainly to the back, and both retrieving well when
they had to. I kept dipping in and out of it as I visited the
other courts, several other matches finishing during its
progress.
 Long
story short, they traded the first four games and reached 5-all
in the decider. From then on it was pure drama with great
squash, determined running, decisions aplenty, and plenty of
them were disputed by both players.
At 5-all Lauren careered into Carrie, pushing her towards the
sidewall and gaining a stroke in the process, which Carrie was
most upset with. Lauren then went all the way to 10-5 and it
looked all over, but no, back came Carrie to save those five
match balls and level it.
Let's take it point by point from there:
 11-10
Carrie, mistake by Lauren
11-all, dropshot too tight
12-11 Carrie, sidewall nick much to Lauren's disgust
12-all, drive goes out
13-12 Lauren, on a stroke (disputed)
13-all, dropshot
14-13 Carrie, boast too good
14-all, volley into the tin
15-14 Carrie, tin by Lauren
15-all, deep drive too tight
16-15 Lauren, another tight drive
16-all, drive absolutely glued to the wall
17-16 Lauren, loooooooong rally, tin
17-all, trickle boast too good
18-17 Lauren, tin
18-all, volley drop
19-18 Carrie, another boast
19-all, volley kill
20-19 Carrie, picks off a dropshot driven deep
21-19 low crosscourt drive, all over
The last game alone took 26 minutes, the whole match 74. Phew.
Carrie's joined in the main draw by Sarah-Jane Perry,
Millie Tomlinson and Deon Saffery, youngsters all,
and they all face stiff tests tomorrow against the 4th, 2nd, 6th
and 7th seeds respectively. Sleep well Carrie, you'll need it
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"That's the longest, hardest, match
I've ever played ... I don't think I've been past 12/10 before!"
"At 10/5 down I was just thinking 'not 3/2 again'. I've lost in
the fifth too many times, but I evened it up a bit today with
two wins in the fifth!"
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