24-Mar, Final:
[1] Rasmus Nielsen (Den) bt[2] Peter Creed (Wal)
        11/5, 7/11, 11/7, 11/6

Rasmus Nielsen best in Krakow Open and also PSA Polish Tour 2011-12
Maciek Maciantowicz reports

Yesterday Rasmus Nielsen  beat Declan James in the semifinal in four games, including very tight first two (10-12 and 13-11).
Declan had gameball for 2-0 but could not take this chance and Rasmus took over control in this match, winning next two games
11-4 and 11-7.

In the second semifinal Peter Creed won against Arthur Gaskin also 3-1 - lost first game, won second and then Arthur was injured.
He tried to play but finally gave up at the beginning of fourth game.

Today in the final we had the two top seeded players. And also players who won first tournaments in our PSA Polish Squash Tour 2011-12 - Rasmus won Gdansk Open November 2011 and Peter won Wroclaw Open 2012 in January 2012.

Rasmus started very well with 11-5 in first game. Peter answered with very good play in second game with 11-7.

It looked like he will get next game as well, as he was leading 6-3... but then he lost 6 points in a row and finally this game 7-11.

This was crucial moment and Rasmus after building his game back in third took over control in last game, winning 11-6.
 

10/12, 13/11, 11/4, 11/7

Declan James

[2] Peter Creed

8/11, 11/5, 11/0, 2/0 rtd

[2] Peter Creed

Qualifying Finals:

[7] Arthur Moineau (FRA) bt [1] Wojciech Nowisz (POL)   11/3, 11/8, 11/4 (30m)
[4] Michael Harris (ENG) bt [8] Neeraj Aggarwal (AUS)    11/6, 11/6, 11/3 (28m)
Mark Fuller (ENG) bt [3] Reuben Phillips (ENG)              11/8, 11/5, 14/12 (36m)
[5] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) bt [2] Martin Mosnik (SLO)         (11/3, 11/3, 11/4 (27m)

Qualifying First Round:
[1] Wojciech Nowisz (POL) bt Maciek Maciantowicz (POL)  11/8, 11/6, 5/11, 11/7 (40m)
[7] Arthur Moineau (FRA) bt Mateusz Kotra (POL)                     11/4, 11/2, 11/3 (24m)
[8] Neeraj Aggarwal (AUS) bt Krzysztof Pietras                      11/8, 11/3, 12/10 (29m)
[4] Michael Harris (ENG) bt Jack Jago (ENG)                            11/6, 11/8, 11/9 (31m)
[3] Reuben Phillips (ENG) bt Lukasz Stachowski (POL)              11/6, 11/4, 11/4 (29m)
Mark Fuller (ENG) bt [6] Karamatullah Khan (PAK) 8/11, 11/4, 7/11, 12/10, 11/2 (46m)
[5] Arthur Gaskin (IRL) bt Przemyslaw Atras (POL)                   11/4, 11/1, 11/2 (23m)
[2] Martin Mosnik (SLO) bt Michal Reid (CAN)         12/14, 9/11, 11/9, 11/3, 11/6 (43m)

23-Mar, Semis:
[1] Rasmus Nielsen (Den) bt Declan James (Eng)
            10/12, 13/11, 11/4, 11/7
[2] Peter Creed (Wal) bt [Q] Arthur Gaskin (Irl)
           8/11, 11/5, 11/0, 2/0 rtd

22-Mar:
Another seed falls in
Krakow quarters
Maciek Maciantowicz reports

The first match of quarter-finals day at Squash4You in Krakow  was the shortest one - top seed Rasmus Nielsen won against Bart Ravelli 3-0.

Then we had great battle between young 19 year old Declan James and no 3 seeded Fabien Verseille.

First easy game to Fabien, then two for Declan... and the real battle started in 4th, which was won by Fabien and there was 2-2.

Final game was very tight but at the end Declan made less mistakes, played some really nice shots and won 11-7. He will play Rasmus Nielsen tomorrow.

Third match was to be another big battle - Arthur Gaskin against Robert Downer.

We had a lot of nice rallies in the first game, many unbelievable shots from Downer, but it looked like Gaskin was controlling most of what was happening on court with 11-7.

Next two games were even easier - 11-4 and 11-3 - Downer played well, but this was not enough to even win a game with Gaskin who seems to be in a great shape.

He will play tomorrow Peter Creed, who needed quite a lot of time and energy to beat Alex Ingham.

This was a match that people enjoyed a lot - a lot of fantastic long rallies, nice volleys and great pick ups. Creed won 3-1 but it was really tight.

Nielsen v James and Gaskin v Creed - who is going to be in the final? Theoretically Nielsen and Creed as two top seeded players, but in practice some people expect Gaskin to play in the final and maybe even win this event...

We'll see tomorrow and Saturday!

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21-Mar:
Round One in Krakow
Maciek Maciantowicz reports

No big surprises today in first round, although one of the top seeded players, Ben Ford, is out. He played Arthur Gaskin who used to be ranked high and is coming back after to the PSA tour after a long break.

We expected great and tight match and we had it - great rallies and wonderful shots from both sides, especially first two games.

Then we saw "more Gaskin" and "less Ford" ball by ball. Great squash - unluckily they met in the first round as this could
be at least quarterfinal.

Arthur is in my opinion one of "black horses" in this tournament - getting through qualification to main draw, with a big chance to be in top four, if he can beat Robert Downer tomorrow?

We'll see!

Fabien Verseille against Mike Harris was another great match. Harris was 1-0 and 8-4 up.... not far away from 2-0, but Fabien stopped making mistakes and started to put more and more pressure , took over control and won 3-1.

He will play Declan James who beat polish player Marcin Karwowski.

We'll also see Rasmus Nielsen playing Bart Ravelli and Peter Creed against Alex Ingham.

Frogs' Talk

Salut Framboise,

bon voilà le tournoi s'arrête ici pour moi, je perds contre la tête de série 2 du tournoi, le gallois Peter Creed. Il gagne le tournoi précédent à Wroclaw donc pas mauvais le mec.

Je suis pas mécontent de mon match dans l'ensemble, je perds le premier jeu 11/6, j'arrive à rester dedans jusque 6/6 puis je fais 4 fautes directes , et il rentre un nick sur la balle de jeu ...

Je remporte le deuxième jeu 11/9, en gros le même jeu mais sans les fautes directes, je suis resté dedans et il fait deux trois fautes à des moments importants. 3e et 4e, même scénario que dans le 1er, je fatigue à chaque fois à 6 partout. je perds 11/6 11/7.

Donc dans l'ensemble pas mécontent de mes matchs , mais c'est en jouant ce genre de mecs que tu te rends compte qu'il y a encore beaucoup de chemin à faire ...

Sinon Fabi joue contre Declan James ce soir , ça devrait être un bon match , je te tiendrai au courant .

Bises !
                                    
 

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FROGS' TALK

Salut Framboise.

Je t'envoie un petit mot depuis Krakow !

J'ai gagné ce midi contre un local, 3/0 pas trop dur mais juste bien pour se mettre dedans !

Puis ce soir, je rejouais contre la tête série une des qualifs, le numéro 2 polonais. Pas mauvais avec sa raquette mais un petit lent à l'avant du court, un match à pas prendre à la légère pour pas se faire piéger. Je suis rentré dedans dès le début, je gagne 11/3 11/8 11/4, plutôt content de moi malgré un manque de concentration dans le début du deuxième jeu.

Je rejoue demain contre une des têtes de série 1 2 3 ou 4 , on connait pas encore le tirage , je t'enverrais d'autres news.

Bises !
                           

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