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Marlborough College Open 2015
23-25 Jan, Swindon, England, $5k |
FORD CAPTURES MARLBOROUGH CROWN
Chris Fuller reports
Day three of the inaugural Marlborough College open saw Englishman
Tom Ford capture his third PSA title.
 He
began the day against close friend and training partner Michael
Harris in what looked on paper an intriguing match up.
Harris, constantly creative with a real flair, is always dangerous
and Ford, who himself enjoys a more structured game, early on looked
ready. He managed to negate Harris' attacks, keeping his opponent to
the back where his percentages were Never one to shy away when faced
with an opponent in fine form Harris kept pushing and at times
pulled out a couple of his trademark kills but faced with Ford's
relentless pressure his consistency faltered. And after gaining the
ascendency Ford never let up taking the match 3/0 in just
under 40 minutes.
In the other semi final fourth seed James Earles looked
confident in the early exchanges against yesterday's giant killer
Mark Fuller. Fuller, keen to carry on from where he left off
yesterday, refused to let him settle for long though and gradually
began to drag him into long drawn out rallies which seemed to hurt
the younger man.
Bit by bit they started to take their toll and errors eventually
came, seeming to galvanise Fuller further. After sharing the first
two games Fuller seemed eager to push on in the third chasing down
seemingly lost balls and eventually starting to punish Earles when
his opportunities came.
Suddenly at 2/1 and up in the fourth his second big win in as many
days seemed on the cards and he looked determined to take it. As his
eagerness increased again a now tired and mentally weary Earles
tinned his final return of serve to give Fuller his final place,
only the second of his career and a full five years after his first.
 And
what a final it was as Ford and Fuller treated the crowd to 62
minutes of exciting, accurate and at times frantic squash.
In the first Ford started the brighter opening up a lead which he
never looked likely to relinquish. Fuller came back strongly in the
second though in what was the game of the tournament.
Patient play by both players was interspersed with fast exchanges as
they desperately searched for a winning position. A tiebreak seemed
inevitable and so it proved as Fuller saved two game balls from
10/8. A huge rally at 10/10, possibly the best of the match and
certainly it's most important, ended in a fist pump from Ford as he
set up game ball which he took at the first time of asking.
Fuller was not to be denied a game though as he started the third
with a discipline rarely found in someone a game away from defeat.
Ford kept with him though and although he lost that game he
regrouped in the fourth opening up a commanding lead before taking
the title with his first championship ball.
So Marlborough sees Ford capture a third PSA tour title and a first
on English soil. It would be nice to think that he may be back next
year to defend his crown but I have a feeling that by then he may
have moved on to bigger and better things...
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Draw &
Results
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  Marlborough
College Open 2015
23-25 Jan, Swindon, England, $5k |
Round One
24 Jan |
Quarters
24 Jan |
Semis
25 Jan |
Final
25 Jan |
[1] Tom Ford (Eng)
11/4, 11/8, 11/3 (31m)
Steve London (Eng) |
[1] Tom Ford
11/6, 11/7, 12/10 (32m)
Rui Soares |
[1] Tom Ford
11/6, 11/8, 11/5 (36m)
[3] Mike Harris |
[1] Tom Ford
11/7, 12/10, 7/11, 11/6 (62m)
[8] Mark Fuller |
[6] Arthur Moineau (Fra)
11/4, 11/5, 11/7 (27m)
Rui Soares (Por) |
[7] Reuben Phillips (Eng)
11/6, 13/11, 5/11, 11/8 (59m)
[Q] Ben Ford (Eng) |
[Q] Ben Ford
11/3, 3/0 rtd (10m)
[3] Mike Harris |
[3] Mike Harris (Eng)
11/9, 13/15, 11/2, 11/6 (47m)
[Q] Julian Tomlinson (Eng) |
Connor Sheen (Eng)
11/7, 11/3, 11/6 (30m)
[4] James Earles (Eng) |
[4] James Earles
11/9, 11/4, 11/9 (35m)
[Q] Phil Nightingale |
[4] James Earles
11/8, 8/11, 11/7, 11/4 (65m)
[8] Mark Fuller |
[Q] Phil Nightingale (Eng)
11/9, 11/8, 14/12 (46m)
[5] Patrick Miescher (Sui) |
[Q] Patrick Rooney (Eng)
11/7, 7/11, 12/10, 11/8 (51m)
[8] Mark Fuller (Eng) |
[8] Mark Fuller
11/6, 11/6, 11/9 (61m)
[2] Adam Murrills |
Micah Franklin (Ber)
12/10, 11/7, 11/1 (36m)
[2] Adam Murrills (Eng) |
Qualifying Finals:
Julian Tomlinson (Eng) 3-1 Tristan Eysele (Rsa)
11/13, 11/7, 11/8, 11/9 (57m)
Phil Nightingale (Eng) 3-1 Luke Bishop (Eng)
8/11, 11/9, 11/5, 11/2
Ben Ford (Eng) 3-0 Nick Mulvey (Eng)
11/9, 11/6, 11/8
Patrick Rooney (Eng) 3-0 August Dussourd (Fra)
w/o
Qualifying Round One:
Julian Tomlinson (Eng) 3-0 Jack Martell (Eng)
11/5, 11/6, 11/7 (28m)
Luke Bishop (Eng) 3-0 Jon Geekie (Sco)
11/8, 11/6, 13/11 (27m)
Phil Nightingale (Eng) 3-0 Sam Ellis (Eng)
11/3, 11/2, 11/6 (30m)
Ben Ford (Eng) 3-2 Miroslav Celler (Svk) 11/9,
8/11, 8/11, 11/5, 11/5 (62m)
Mark Broekman (Eng) 3-0 Nick Mulvey (Eng)
11/5, 11/9, 11/6 (34m)
Patrick Rooney (Eng) 3-0 Alex Noakes (Eng)
1/0 rtd
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SIXTEEN BECOMES FOUR ON DAY 2
Chris Fuller reports
Day 2 in Marlborough saw the main draw of sixteen players quickly
turn into only four.
In the first round there were comfortable wins for three of the top
four seeds with only Michael Harris unable to win in three. He was
pushed hard by one of the qualifiers from yesterday, Julian
Tomlinson who continued his excellent form to share the first two
games with the higher ranked Harris before eventually being overrun
in the third and fourth.
Ben Ford also seemed to benefit from the extra time on court that
qualifying brings as he overcame seventh seed Reuben Phillips again
in four. Having admitted beforehand to finding Phillips difficult to
read in the front two corners, Ford played a noticeably more
controlled game than yesterday which seemed to work well, much to
the frustration of his younger opponent.
And Phillips wasn't the only seed to fall as London based Portuguese
player Rui Soares played with great discipline to beat sixth seed
Arthur Moineau and Phil Nightingale fought doggedly to see off fifth
seed Patrick Miescher.
Soares then kicked off the quarter finals against number one seed
Tom Ford (WR#82). It must be said that Soares' improvement in recent
months has been impressive and he took Ford close particularly in
the third game. Ford never panicked though and looks in fine form
going into tomorrow.
Another player looking good is James Earles who put an end to
Nightingale's challenge in three well contested games. Earles, who
has won two tour titles in recent months looked, as always, very
fluid bringing in his clinical short game at every opportunity.
Good friends Adam Murrills and Mark Fuller finished off the day with
61 minutes of old school squash. With neither player wanting to make
an error the rallies were long and structured reminiscent of the
days gone by when the biggest tournaments in the world were played
on traditional courts with 19" tins.
Fuller, more accustomed to this style of play always kept his nose
in front taking the Murrills, a counter attacker by trade was being
given little to run onto and so tried to up the pace and intensity
in the third and crawl his way back. He kept with Fuller and then
saved two match points to move to 9/10 before eventually making the
error which saw Fuller move into the semi finals.
There he'll face Earles in what is a repeat of their semi final
match at Charing Cross just over a month ago which Earles won 3/0.
Ford faces Harris in the other semi with the winners set to meet
later in the day. Two matches in a day is always a difficult
challenge and it will be interesting to see who copes with it
best...
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Draw &
Results
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Day One - Four Englishmen make main draw
Chris Fuller reports
Day one of the Marlborough College Open 2015 saw four English
players progress through qualifying to the main draw.
In round one only one match went the distance as veteran campaigner
Ben Ford beat the higher ranked Slovakian Miroslav Celler
3/2. At 2/1 down it wasn't looking good for Ford who was beginning
to look a little jaded but he used his wealth of experience to pull
away in each of the last two games.
Luke Bishop also pulled off a notable win against Jon Geekie.
Playing some exciting and at times quite outrageous squash he always
kept his nose in front of the Scot who will feel disappointed to
have at least not won a game.
The evening's qualifying finals started off with an interesting
encounter between Tristan Eysele and Julian Tomlinson. On
paper a clash of two players with similar styles but with differing
levels of experience - Eysele being four years older than his
opponent - most people thought that it would be a long one which
Eysele would eventually come through. And after a long and tense
first game which he took 13/11 the match seemed to be following the
script.
Tomlinson had other ideas though and his dogged determination
started to bring him more and more rewards as the match went on. He
took the second game 11/7 and then crucially took the third 11/8
after Eysele, who had been leading, seemed to tire.
The fourth was a tense affair similar to that of the first game with
Eysele seeming to have found a second wind. Unfortunately for him it
wasn't quite enough though and after a few very edgy final points
Tomlinson took the win 11/9 after an entertaining and it must be
said very fair 57 minutes.
Phil Nightingale fresh from a comfortable first round win
then took on Bishop who was hoping to continue riding the wave which
he had so successfully found earlier in the day. And so he did for a
game and a half, playing with a disguise and finesse that
Nightingale seemed unable to read.
All it took was what seemed like a small lapse in concentration
though and suddenly the spark had gone. What seemed to be coming
easily before Bishop was now having to force and Nightingale's own
confidence grew as he came back in the second and then stayed in
front throughout the third and fourth games.
Last onto court was Ford up against a considerably fresher Nick
Mulvey. Mulvey seemed keen to lapse on any early tiredness that
Ford showed as he started brightly opening up a first game lead.
As Ford slowly got back up to full speed it seemed to be just
delaying the inevitable though as his determined running struggled
to cope with Ford's superior control now that he was moving more
freely. After closing out the first 11/9 Ford moved through the
gears in the second 11/6 and held on to win the third 11/8 and with
it the match.
So four English players join a main draw already inundated with
local talent. Twelve of them in total will play tomorrow on a day
when we will whittle sixteen down to only four. It remains to be
seen how many will remain at that point. ..
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