Paderborn Open 2016
06-09 April, Paderborn, Germany, $5k

09-Apr, Final:

[1] Nele Gilis (Bel) 3-0 [5] Nada Abbas (Egy)
           11/2, 11/2, 11/9  (38m)

Nele nails Paderborn prize

Despite brilliant sunshine it was not difficult to fill the seats on the centre court in the Ahorn-Sportpark.

The standard of the squash played in the last three days has shown how much the women’s game is changing both technically and physically said Ronny Vlassaks director of the Paderborn Squash Academy.

As trainer of both the Gilis sisters for a long time he felt very confidant that about his protègè’s recent form. So true to form, Nele showed her sharpness and determination in the first two games giving Nada Abbas only two serves in the first two games.

The young Egyptian was visibly nervous and also seemed overwhelmed by the big crowd and this special occasion. In the third game Nada put up some very strong resistance but was outclassed by a far better player on the day.

Nada, sixteen years old next month said how much she had enjoyed being in Paderborn and had enjoyed her game.

Nele also remarked that her opposition today, had played some brilliant squash to get to the final and that she had to be fully focused from the first contact of the ball.

Happy and quite emotional Nele took her prize with great admiration for the event and the organising team.
 

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Qualifying, 06-Apr:

Finals:
Ellie Epke (Nzl) 3-2 Annika Wiese (Ger)                 9/11, 7/11, 11/7, 11/7, 11/1 
Rachael Chadwick (Eng) 3-0 Jasmin Ballmann (Sui)                 11/9, 11/5, 11/8
Nadia Pfister (Sui) 3-2 Marta Latorre Ramirez (Esp) 11/7, 11/6, 8/11, 1/1,1 11/8 
Marina De Juan Gallach (Esp) 3-1 Elise Romba (Fra)         8/11, 11/4, 11/5, 11/5

Round One:
Annika Wiese (Ger) 3-0 Tereza Svobodova (Cze)                         11/6, 11/1, 11/5
Jasmin Ballmann (Sui) 3-1 Nadine Frey (Sui)                        4/11, 11/2, 11/8, 11/9
Rachael Chadwick (Eng) 3-1 Julie Rossignol (Fra)               7/11, 12/10, 11/5, 11/7
Nadia Pfister (Sui) 3-0 Jelena Dutina (Srb)                                  11/4, 11/4, 11/6
Marta Latorre Ramirez (Esp) 3-2 Sanne Veldkamp (Ned) 13/15, 11/2, 9/11,11/7, 11/4
Elise Romba (Fra) 3-2 Eva Fertekova (Cze)                 11/5, 11/8, 7/11, 7/11, 13/11 

08-Apr, Semis:
Nele through as Abbas upsets Peltier

[1] Nele Gilis  3-0 [4] Alexandra Fuller 11/2, 11/1, 11/5

Nele Gilis raced away to a furious start with many sublime shots giving Fuller only one chance to claim the service once in the first two games. Alexandra Fuller managed to settle down in the third but had little to put against overpowering Gilis.

With TV (WDR) present and about to go live on air the match was over.  Welcoming for Gilis no doubt but less for the producer. Both players for the second semi were ready and wanted to start immediately so all sides were pleased with what followed.

[5] Nada Abbas 3-1 [2] Cyrielle Peltier 11/6, 11/6, 5/11, 11/7

Not bothered about the TV crew Nada Abbas focused on her game. This young fifteen year old took the game by the scruff of the neck and clearly shocked her French opponent by her speed and power of striking the ball. With her whirlwind movement Abbas picked up many balls that were normally unreachable.

Peltier played well but found it hard to get in front of the Egyptian and was kept mostly on the back foot. At the start of third, Peltier took command of the first few rallies causing Abbas to make four unforced errors in a row. Getting away with a lucky referee decision in her favour at 0/7 she was able to recover. Peltier kept the balls wide and slowed the pace to take the game 11/5. Hitting the ball out on her opening serve in the fourth, Peltier paid heavily for this momentary lack of concentration.

Abbas was back in the game with fire and fury. The next ten exchanges were long and delightful. The crowd were just full of “wows”. At 8/7 for Nada it was another let situation, which gave her the final push. Cyrielle Peltier went for everything to try and save her Nr 2 seed honour but the mini cookie seeded five, kept her calm finished the last few points in an awe-inspiring manner.

The final tomorrow promises to be a very exciting contest from two very capable athletes.
 

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The AHORN TROPHY

The final of the Ahorn trophy was made up of the voluntary players who were eliminated in the first round of the main draw.

The final took place just before the two major semi-finals was between the New Zealander Eleanor Epke and Switzerland’s Marija Schakova.

Here again this plate final was played in great sporting style. The tall strong Ellie Epke making use of her strength and lengthy reach to make Marija Schakova move out of her comfort zones on many occasions.

Schakova tried her best but found few answers for the sharpness and sheer power dealt out by Epke.

Epke 3:0 - 11/6, 11/5, 11/5
 

08-Apr, Quarters

No surprises in quarters

The quarter-finals in Paderborn were completed without any big surprises.

The small but rather pleasant surprise was the call from the local television station to ask if they would be allowed to cover the semi finals live. The short discussion with the semi finalists showed great support for the idea. The TV crew promised not to disturb the play and said the coverage could be up to 18- 20 minutes live.

Match Reports

[1] Nele Gilis (BEL) 3-0 [6] Tinne Gilis (BEL)

Nele Gilis started the match at a scorching pace and kept her younger sister Tinne under strong pressure throughout the entire match.

Tinne, despite being two years her junior, gave a brilliant performance and held up to the pressure very well. Coping with tight, good length shots Nele showed the difference in match play.

She said afterwards that it is always hard to play her sister and that they had contested a tournament final in their home Club just last week.

Tinne remarked that she felt she had played well but in the final half of the last game she had difficulty in concentrating.

[4] Alexandra Fuller (RSA) 3-1 [7] Enora Villard (FRA)

Great start from both players at an intense pace with both retrieving well placed shots. The first game was extremely close at 14/12 and stayed that way until 7 all in the second.

Fuller was allowed to apply even more pressure forcing Villard to stay on the defensive. In the third game Villard was not able to keep up her consistency and faded strongly towards the end.

"Having played each other in Kriens a few days ago I felt confident at the beginning of the contest," said Villard. "But I have my masters final exam tomorrow in Paris and focusing on squash became even harder. No excuse as I thought we both played well and I wish her luck in the semis."

Alexander commented that the start was not her best but found a good rhythm towards the end.

[5] Nada Abbas (EGY) 3-1 [Q] Rachael Chadwick (ENG)

After claiming the scalp of local girl Sina Wall Rachael Chadwick was feeling happy with herself and took the first game 11/9.

The young Egyptian girl showed nerves at the beginning of the first second but quickly overcome any anxiety as she progressed from strength to strength.

Taking the next three games fairly comfortably Nada Abbas looked strong towards the end as said that she was very happy to reach the semis.

[2] Cyrielle Peltier (FRA) 3-0 [8] Ineta Mackevica (LAT)

After her hard five setter yesterday against the talented Jessica Davies, Cyrielle Peltier showed no signs of fatigue and soon commanded the action.

In the thirty minute encounter the squash was still heavily contested but Ineta Mackevica was not able to match to get into the game with any serious challenges.

Peltier said that she was happy to go through into the semis without spending to much energy.
 

Ronnie's View

"The standard of squash was well above average for a 5K event," said Ronny Vlassaks the European squash coaches tutor based in Paderborn.

"The women’s game is changing from being very technical and average affair into very physical and highly paced game. This is good for the sport and will attract more women into the ladies game.

"All coaches are developing their players now in a different way due the changing development of the game. The voluntary heart-testing project at the Paderborn Open proved that all contestants were supremely fit and capable of matching the arduous tasks on court."
  

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07-Apr, Round One:
Chadwick stops Sine in Paderborn ...

Round One of the Paderborn Open saw seven of the seeded players progress to the quarter-finals, the exception being third-seeded German Champion Sina Wall who lost out to English qualifier Rachael Chadwick.

[1] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Tessa ter Sluis (NED)
The opening match had two players,who know each other well. Nele Gilis from Belgium against Tessa ter Sluis from Netherlands. Nele felt really self confident as she has produced good results recently, just a few weeks ago she played former World number 1 Raneem el Welily from Egypt at the British Open. Nele was the favorite today and showed why. Tessa ter Sluis tried her best but had to succumb to the immense pressure of Nr. 1 seed Nele Gilis who goes through to the quarterfinal.

[7] Tinne Gilis (BEL) bt Nadia Pfister (SUI)
A tough match for young Tinne Gilis from Belgium against Nadia Pfister from Switzerland. Tinne worked hard against the well experienced Swiss girl. Winning a slot in the quarter finals Tinne Gilis said she was very happy to have survived. Tomorrow she has to face her older sister Nele Gilis, who is the number one seed in the 5k Paderborn Open 2016.

[8] Enora Villard (FRA) bt Marina de Juan Gallach (ESP)
Enora and Marina are both the same age and know each other from the juniors. Yesterday Marina de Juan from Spain won her qualifying final against another French girl. Today it was not that easy for her. Both players played solid squash with good shots and lengthy rallies. It was an up and down of both of them. But in the end Enora Villard from Paris had the over hand and managed to win in 3 straight games.

[4] Alexandra Fuller (RSA) bt Eleanor Epke (NZL)
Alexandra Fuller won her first PSA Tournament recently, which showed her in great shape. The good performance underlined her excellent form at the moment but the junior player from New Zealand Eli Epke did not make it easy on her. Being tall with an awesome reach, she stretched Alexandra more than she expected however Fuller had to use all her experience and quality to get away with a tight 3:1win.

[Q] Rachael Chadwick (ENG) bt [3] Sina Wall (GER)
Sina Wall from Germany was able to play in her home club. In front of a massive crowd everyone expected a quick and easy match. The English player was of a different opinion Rachael Chadwick fought tooth and nail to take the first game in a nail biting 12:10. Wall was determined to turn the tables and the crowd never let her down was able to win the second in record time.

The third carried on in a brutal fight with both players giving their all. Chadwick forced Wall to make the two errors necessary to claim the third. The fourth was similar but the qualifier Chadwick had the better nerves and was able to take her first big scalp, which was bitter for the home crowd. I’m terribly disappointed said Sina Wall, somehow I had difficulty dealing with the situation in front of my own fans. Chadwick was delighted and could not ring home quick enough to spread the good news.

[6] Nada Abbas (EGY) bt Marija Shpakova (SUI)
Nada Abbas a youngster from Egypt kept the Egyptian reputation at its very high level. She gave Swiss national team player Marija Shpakova no chance and put away all her lose shots. The quality of this young girls squash showed the home crowd that her aims to reach the top are serious. We are looking forward to seeing how Nada Abbas will progress in the tournament said German Number 1 Sina Wall.

[5] Ineta Mackevica (LAT) bt (WC) Riina Koskinen (FIN)
Riina Koskinen from Finland got the wildcard for the Paderborn Open 2016, she is part of the Paderborn women’s team and has trained here for the last year. She showed a good performance and even managed to put Ineta Mackevica in serious trouble in the second and fourth games. Riina was not strong enough for the Latvian player and lost 3.1. Ineta Mackevica from Latvia secured herself a place in the Quarterfinals.

[2] Cyrielle Peltier (FRA) bt Jessica Davis (ENG)
The really well experienced Cyrielle Peltier from France was given a big shock by the very talented Jessica Davis from England. Taking a two game lead Jessica Davis was in front and at 9:6 has some harsh decisions against giving Peltier the advantage to take it to 1:2.
More brilliant play from this English girl had Peltier in serious difficulty.

Her movement out of the front sector of the court sector was slow and consequently penalised heavily by the referee. Showing inexperience perhaps but nonetheless she gave a very gutsy display and kept Peltier on the defensive for a long time. Again the harsh but correct ruling she lost the fourth and tiring in the fifth was unable to take the second big scalp of the day in Paderborn.
 

Draw & Results

"Famous in Paderborn"
posted by Simon Rosner

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The Harrow Interview with Nele Gilis

Sina Wall and Tinne Gilis

„Checking out the Czechs“

The players eliminated in the first qualifying round played the „Paderborn Trophy”.

It was a group of four players, playing a round robin. Each match was played a best of five. In the group were two Czechs Tereza Svobodova and Eva Fertekova. Besides the two Czechs, Jelena Dutina from Serbia and Sanne Veldkamp from Netherlands made up the quartet.

We saw some great squash from all of the players, but the classic was the final between the two Czechs. As they both won their first two matches 3:0 it came down to a thrilling escapade with both players giving absolutely every thing they had to offer. After an excellent sixty minute fight Tereza Svobodova and Eva Fertekova gave a display, worthy of 5 star final. The first game ended up in a tie break, which Fertekova won 15:13. It stayed close in the second game, with thrilling rallies from the two Czechs. Svobodova took the second 11:9.

The third game went to the wire with a brilliant effort from both players. Fertekova won the third game in another tie break 12:10, to go 2:1 up. In the fourth it seemed like Fertekova had mentally finished the match but Tereza Svobodova took several risky shots to win the fourth 11:4. It came down to the fifth game.

The match had already been going 45 minutes so far and both players, desperately tired battled on. Both carefull not to make mistakes Fertekova had the stronger nerves to win the match 13:11. The two Czechs gave Paderborn an extraordinary “quali plate final” to watch with Eva Fertekova winning in five games 15:13, 9:11, 12:10, 4:11, 13:11.

06-Apr, Qualifying:
Under way in Paderborn

The 2016 edition of the Paderborn Open kicks off today with two rounds of qualifying matches ... results in the draw ...

Qualifying complete

The evening started with a meet and greet event where many sponsors were able to meet and chat to the Tournament players. Quite a new experience for many of the young upcoming PSA ladies.

The "Check your heart out event", a free heart scan done by one of the leading cardiological specialized in Europe and in co-operation with the Technische Krankenkasse (Health Insurance Company), was again something new for these players seeking the elite status. To have their most vital organ checked by the new uncomplicated digital equipment give many of them confirmation that they were doing the right preparation and keeping their fitness to a high level. All players were in an impeccable state complemented Andreas Voigt (TK), who overlooked the project.

As promised the first match was held in front of a capacity crowd and proved to be a match full of fireworks. Local girl and german national #2 Annika Wiese from Paderborn started off fully concentrated and took the first 11/7. In second it looked as if the number one seed Ellie Epke was about to be eliminated in her first game of the competition when Wiese took it 11/2.

In the third game Epke found her rhythm and took a quick lead to 6:0. Another hard fight with long rallies and Wiese was able to get back to 6:4. Wiese was desperate to close the match however the experience from Ellie Epke soon began to show. She was able from to demonstrate her basic game to perfection with great length, width and height, shots sending Weise all over the court.

The fourth match proved again to be a hard fought encounter with Ellie Epke closing it down at 11/8. In the fifth Wiese with the roaring Paderborn crowd were unable to stop Epke taking the last game 11/5 in great form.

Rachael Chadwick felt very much at home on the centre court in Paderborn. Despite Jasmin Ballmann trying to to force the pace Chadwick took the advantage of Jasmins forced errors. Being a little annoyed at her inconsistent performance Jasmin could not match the quality control from Rachael for closed the affair quickly.

Nadia Pfister started her finals match in good control over Marta Latorre Ramirez giving her little chance to win the points in the first two games.
 
In the third game Marta played precise length shots and caught Nadia by surprise consequently taking the game 11/8. The same happened again with even more pressure in the fourth game and she closed the match at 11/1.

Finding her rhythm yet again, Pfister found the answer to the problem and battled through to win 3:2.

Elise Romba played a brilliant first game in this match but was quickly over powered by the in the following games due to the aggressive but fair play from Martina de Juan Gallach.

Tiredness from the long match this morning soon took its toll and the match was quickly over due the the amount of unforced errors from the french girl.

After the matches were complete tournament driector Norman Farthing the tournament director put all the names qualifiers into a hat and handed the lucky tombola winner a signed Simon Roesner Racket. Julie Rossignol of France was very pleased to accept this kind gesture.

Czechs suffer in Round One

Czech girls Tereza Svobodova and Eva Fertekova were involved in a heavy vehicle accident yesterday, on the autobahn some 60km from the venue in Paderborn.

When driving through some road works, thankfully within the reduced speed limit, the tyre of a 40 ton lorry exploded just inches from the passenger side of their car.

The complete side of Fertekova's brand new BMW X5 company car was wrecked. An impatient Audi driver behind failed to stop in time and they were consequently hit from behind to create an assessed sum of some 200 thousand Euro worth of damage.

Luckily no one was hurt but both Tereza and Eva were still very shaky this morning.

Tereza lost in straight games to local girl Annika Weise, while Eva fought back strongly to after being two down but lost concentration towards the end gave Elise Romba the ticket to the qualifying finals.

Marta Latorre Ramirez took an easy second game after failing to make the points in her first game against a strong looking Sanne Veldkamp. Losing the third game in the same pattern again managed to focus and finished much more composed in a hard fought 54 minutes.

Nadine Frey started very nervously but took control in the third game proving to strong for her Serb opponent.

Rachael Chadwick took a while to get used to the court but was able to focus on her length and reach putting Julie Rossignol, her smaller french opponent under extreme pressure.