CHARLES SHARPES GETS THE TITLE...
Kirsty McPhee reports

Before the PSA Final the crowd was treated to the return of squash legend Pete Marshall to the club where he began his professional squash life almost 20 years ago. He played both Emma Beddoes and Mark Fuller in back to back best of 3 exhibitions and with the devastating length and hold still working it wasn’t long before he dispatched both comfortably and it was time for the main squash event of the night.

It was a fantastic atmosphere for the final at Nottingham SC. Court 10 has been hot all week and the size of the crowd for the final only added to this.

Sharpes has got progressively better all week and started the final strongly, dominating from the start, hitting good width and length and then moving onto the loose ball early and putting Graham under a lot of pressure to comfortably win the first game 11/5.

Graham tried to slow the pace in the 2nd finding a better length and using height to recover and extend the rallies. Sharpes had already made it through two 100 minute matches this week and it looked like the long rallies were beginning to take their toll.

From 8-4 down though Sharpes managed to find the nick and his length and found a way back into the game and with Graham scrambling to get the ball back it allowed Sharpes to recover physically and go on a 7 point run to take the game 11/8.

The 3rd was a scrappy game throughout with lots of loose shots creating plenty of lets. The pace was quick with neither player managing to find any rhythm and the physical nature of the game suited Graham more than Sharpes allowing him to battle through 11/8.

Sharpes started the 4th game much more solidly and got back to basics, hitting straight and finding his length. He was also putting away the loose ball well, finding the nick and Graham struggled to stay with him. From 4-4 Sharpes pulled away taking the game 11/4 and the match 3-1 in 74 minutes. 

MANTIS Fantasy Squash Junior Camp

This was the first time that anyone had tried to run a weeklong junior camp at Nottingham Squash Club and we got a fantastic response from all over the region with over 20 juniors heading to Nottingham over the course of the week.

The camp was run by Elite Coach Kirsty McPhee and boasted a great coaching team with Eddie Charlton, Gordon Hill, Josh Taylor and ex World Number 1 Vanessa Atkinson.

The concept behind the camp was to link in with the PSA event that we were running in the evening and get the PSA players to come down during the day to go on court to play and coach the juniors.

Having the professional players at the club all week also provided created the opportunity to run workshops and clinics at lunch time and to have question and answers at the end of sessions so the junior’s could find out how the players train and prepare for events.

11/7, 11/8, 5/11, 11/7 (51m)

Sebastiaan Weenink

 11/5, 11/8, 8/11, 11/4 (74m)

11/8, 7/11, 11/9, 5/11, 11/7 (70m)

[1] Rasmus Nielsen

09-Aug, Qualifying Finals:

Lucas Serme (Fra) bt Mark Fuller (Eng)                                     11-5, 11-7, 11-7 (31m)
Johan Bouquet (Fra) bt Robert Downer (Eng)       12-10, 12-10, 3-11, 6-11, 11-9 (73m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind) bt Chris Hall (Eng)        11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7 (71m)
James Earles (Eng) bt Adam Auckland (Eng)                   11-5, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9 (45m)

08-Aug, Qualifying Round One:

Chris Hall bt Tom Phipps                               11/5, 116, 11/4 (28m)
James Earles bt Kim Are Killingberg     11/7, 11/7, 8/11, 11/5 (55m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Matias Tuomi            11/8, 11/6, 11/1 (33m)
Johan Bouquet bt Nathan Lake  7/11, 11/4, 12/10, 8/11, 11/3 (50m)
Rob Downer bt Simon White                        11/5, 11/8, 11/7 (33m)
Adam Auckland bt Dominic Hamilton    11/8, 9/11, 11/8, 11/6 (48m)
Mark Fuller bt Andrew Birks       7/11, 11/7, 11/7, 9/11, 11/6 (63m)
Lucas Serme bt Neil Rossin                         11/7, 11/6, 11/3 (24m)

The longest match of the tournament so far swung back and forth with the first two games dictated by the person making fewer errors.

 The court was hot and the rallies long with a lot of contact between the players and plenty of decisions. Mahesh was getting increasingly frustrated with the role of the ref and although he had game ball in the third, Charles came back and a stroke in his favour at 12-11 saw him take the lead and with it a conduct warning to Mahesh for bad language.

Despite this Mahesh came back strongly in the fourth taking the match into a close and tense decider. Mahesh reached match ball first but Charles came back again and closed out the match 13/11 on his second match ball with a backhand nick.

Long rallies on a hot and bouncy court set the tone for what was a well contested match from both players.

Both players possess similar game styles based around a solid basic game while looking to hunt the volley at every opportunity. The most noticeable difference was Coleman’s short game which was more clinical and seemed to have more purpose behind it.

As the match progressed Coleman grew more dominant and the increased work load took its toll as London tired in the third.

This was the first of 2 matches this evening affected by injury.

These 2 tall players have good placement and disguise and the first games were evenly contested. Harford looked the stronger in the third and was well up when he pulled up appearing to have injured his back.

He managed to close out the game 11/6 with some outright winners but when he came out for the fourth was obviously in a lot of pain and really struggling to move.

At 6-3 down it was clear there was no way he could continue and unfortunately at that point he conceded the match bringing a sad end to what had been an enjoyable match. We wish him all the best for a speedy recovery.

A large crowd had assembled on the club’s show court to watch the first of 2 home players hoping to progress to the quarters.

Lucas got off to a good start going 7-3 up with Charlton taking a while to settle. He found his length and rhythm in the second half of the game though with some lovely finishing shots and came through to take it 13/11.

The second saw Lucas forge ahead again with Charlton too eager to go in short and the Frenchman covering the court extremely well. There was no comeback this time and Lucas took it 11/6.

 A fired up Charlton came out at the start of the third picking up the pace and dominating the exchanges to go 4-1 up. At this point there was a long rally with Charlton stretching to a ball in the backhand corner, losing his footing and rolling his ankle.

He came back on court after the injury time-out but his movement was obviously impeded and quickly lost the game 11/6. There was discussion about whether he should continue but not wanting to disappoint himself or the home crowd came out for the fourth.

Sadly he was not able to compete at the level he had been and Lucas took that game and with it the match 11/5.

After the disappointment of the previous match it was left to Declan James on the show court to carry home hopes.

Hoping to gain a scalp against his higher ranked opponent Declan started off slightly edgy in front of his home crowd. Hitchen’s played tidily as he does and moved ahead to take a one game advantage. A tight second proved crucial and shifted the momentum in Declan’s favour.

The third and fourth games followed similar suit with Dec growing in confidence and visibly appearing to want the match more than his opponent and so it proved as he closed it out 11/5.

Bouquet having come through two tough five setters in qualifying was sure to be feeling some effects of his previous exertions.

 Early exchanges were cagey with Ford having a higher level of ball control. Bouquet fought hard but at times seemed to lose concentration particularly with his shot selection.

Bouquet can be pleased with his efforts through the tournament and certainly appears to have improved in recent months.

Ford will be pleased to have got off in three and will be looking to upset the seedings in tomorrow’s encounter with Nielsen.

Final match of the evening and well behind schedule saw Rasmus Nielsen take to the court against young Englishman Alex Ingham.

Rasmus started the match at a high pace which he sustained throughout. Contrasts in game styles and builds seemed to favour the Dane in what turned out to be a reasonably straight forward win.

Rasmus looked in good form and looks like he’s going to be tough to beat on the lively Nottingham show court.

This match had the potential to be a high quality affair, Earles playing his first PSA event would be looking to get a win and more importantly earn valuable ranking points.

Early exchanges showed both players willingness to stay patient with Graham appearing the more solid. A couple of errors from Earles proved crucial and let Graham gain a one game lead.

The second and third were reasonably straight forward for Graham who retrieved well and made Earles play the extra shot which far too often found the tin.

The first match of the night featured 2 of our country’s top juniors who have grown up playing each other and know one another’s game inside out.

Adam started off the stronger taking the first playing more consistent squash and finishing the game with a lovely forehand cross-court nick to take it 11/5.

However Earles stepped it up in the second controlling the ball well on the volley as a few errors started to creep into the Lincolnshire man’s game.

The third was more evenly contested with both boys finding a good length and some excellent retrieving. It was Adam who was on the end of more of the rallies though and from 6-6 James ran away with it 11/6. Adam came back fighting in the fourth going 6-1 up but seemed to tire as James found his way back in.

There was a mammoth rally at 8-6 which sadly 2 spectacular full length dives from Adam couldn’t save but had the crowd appreciating his efforts. After 45 minutes of entertaining squash James closed it out 11/9. He plays another Englishman Anthony Graham in the first round.

Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Chris Hall
                            11/9, 11/6, 8/11, 9/11, 11/7 (71m)

This was the first of 2 five setters of the evening which somewhat disrupted the schedule! It was a long match interrupted by a lot of decisions for the referee with Mahesh in particular having a fair bit to say.

He got the better of Chris in the first 2 but the Englishman wasn’t going down without a fight in the third and fired himself up to take it 11/8.

He kept up some of that momentum in fourth to sneak it 11/9 but after an hour of court there were some tired looking rallies and it was the young Indian who looked the stronger and so it proved taking the fifth 11/7.

He plays number 2 seed Charles Sharpes in the next round.

Lucas Serme bt Mark Fuller         11/5, 11/7, 11/7 (31m)

The final match of the evening was the one the local crowd had been waiting for with another chance to watch tournament organiser and local legend Mark Fuller after his epic win in 5 the night before.

He was taking on upcoming French youngster and brother of world top ten player Camille Serme, Lucas.

After his tough match last night combined with the stress of launching a website and organising the squash festival it was always going to be a tough proposition. So it proved in the first with a tired looking Fuller going down 11/5 in little over 6 minutes.

But he isn’t nicknamed “Mad Dog” Fuller for nothing and he came out fighting in the second with a couple of great outright winners before the fast pace and Lucas’s deception at the front of the court proved too much.

Fuller came back with tighter squash and working volleys in third to go 6-3 up but as the rallies lengthened Lucas was moving around the court with ease and despite his best efforts Fuller lost the third and with it the match 11/7.

Lucas moves on to play another local favourite Eddie Charlton in the main draw.
 

Johan Bouquet bt Robert Downer                     12/10, 12/10, 3/11, 4/11, 11/9 (73m)

This was a match of contrast with 3 tight games which Johan dug in to win and 2 quick games going the way of the man from Portsmouth. They had some long and at times brutal rallies with both players making full use of all 4 corners. The likeable Frenchman was the steadier player in the first 2 with Rob on the lookout for a winner, usually a cross-court nick whenever the opportunity arose! He had game ball at 10/9 but Johan kept his cool to come through 12/10.

Downer, who always enjoys and chat with both himself and the ref, became more conservative in the second which played to his advantage as he went 10/8 up. But once again Johan, playing some lovely straight touch shots to the front of the court, was not to be denied coming back to clinch it 12/10 much to the frustration of Downer.

However uncharacteristically tins starting flowing from the Frenchman’s racket in both the third and the fourth as Rob found his range and cut down significantly on his own error rate. From 3-3 in third Rob went straight through 11/3 and with Johan visibly tiring, no doubt as a result of his 5 setter yesterday, Rob finished the fourth with a cracking backhand cross-court roller.

The fifth was a different story though with Bouquet appearing energised and Rob matching him for pace. It was close all the way but at 9-9 a big tin from Rob set up match ball which Johan took full advantage of winning with a great backhand cross-court flick from the front. This sealed the match 11/9 and with it a place in the main draw against Ben Ford.

“This is my first time in Nottingham and my first tournament in 2 months. I’ve had 2 tough matches already and was a bit scrappy yesterday but played better today. I put a lot of work into the first 2 but broke down in the third and fourth with too many mistakes.

I managed to stay positive in the fifth and regrouped well. I enjoyed the match today and feel like I need more matches like this to help me improve.”

“It’s always close when we play and Adam always has a strong 2 or 3 games but I know I can get him tired and I felt like I did that today.

I’m happy with the last 3 games, there were too many cheap points in the first but I regrouped and cut out the errors.

This is my first PSA tournament apart from a couple of closed satellites so I’m pleased I achieved my goal of qualifying and I’ve got nothing to lose tomorrow now.”

“I didn’t play my best tonight, I felt tired and found it very hot.

I was better in the second and had him moving around but in the third I lost my breath and he played well on the big points.

The fifth was better again and I was more precise.

I joined PSA this year and have been out in Australia playing the tournaments there so I’m looking forward to the main draw of this one.”