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27-Feb:
Bianchetti bags Belgian title

Italy's top seed Davide Bianchetti collected the fourth PSA title of his career, coming from 2-1 down against Stacey Ross to win  11/3, 10/12, 6/11, 11/1, 11/5 in 75 minutes.

SELBY'S
BRUSSELS
ADVENTURE

Stacey Ross

Qualifying

Finals:
Jose Angel Becerril bt Martin Knight 3-0
Stefan Leifels bt Luca Mastrostefano 3-1
Daryl Selby bt Amr amzy Swelim 3-2
Badr Abdel Aziz bt Dave Barnett 3-1

Qualifying first round:
Jose Angel Becerril bye
Martin Knight bt Andreas Fuchs 3-2
Stefan Leifels bt Petros Tzamaloukas 3-0
Luca Mastrostefano bt Gregory Lecerf 3-1
Amr Ramzy Swelim bt Bernard Destrebeq 3-0
Daryl Selby bt Ryan Thomson 3-1
Badr Abdel Aziz bt Laurent Broeckaert 3-0
Dave Barnett bt Jean-Phillipe Aubert 3-0

26-Feb:
Bianchetti & Ross
in Belgian Final
 
Top seeds Davide Bianchetti and Stacey Ross will contest the final of the Netebo's Belgium Open in Brussels, after both completed straight-game semi-final victories with ... interesting ... scorelines.

Bianchetti beat Belgium's Stefan Casteleyn 11/2, 12/10, 11/3, while Ross overcame world junior champion Ramy Ashour 11/2, 14/2, 11/0.

SELBY'S BRUSSELS ADVENTURE ... OVER

Starting out on his professional career, Daryl Selby reports from the Netebo's Belgian Open in Brussels ...

Over here in Belgium I played my first round where the draw put me against Stacey Ross.

Now I know that if Stacey is in the zone and playing well there is not much a lot of players can do to beat him because he is so dangerous from every part of the court. Although luckily for me today I could tell that Stacey was not fully in that zone and that let me in.

My gameplan was to make the first game as hard as possible and though I did that he won it 11-9. I then tried to hit a better length as it was too short before and was giving Stacey opportunities to attack. This worked and thanks to a few tins from Stacey I won the second 11-5.

That's when I thought 'I really have a chance of winning this match', and I was positive throughout the third, going shorter a bit earlier but still chopping in fairly tight. But for every good shot I hit, Stacey hit a better one. 11-9 to Stacey. Now yesterday's five setter was creeping into my legs and I dug into some reserves I didn't know I had - maybe the pasta I had for lunch - but I kept going and from 10-6 down, Stacey's head went wandering and I managed to claw back to 11-10 game ball.

But it wasn't to be as Stacey upped the pace and although I gave everything it wasn't enough on the day.

Anyway I am pleased with the way i played throughout the tournament and some more PSA tournament experience under the belt. I'm off to finish my conversation with Whippy about the nature of infinity, then a good nights sleep before I head home tomorrow. Bye ...

Daryl Selby

QUALIFYING FINALS:

I played Swelim today and as I said yesterday I knew it was gonna be a tough match..... and it was.

I started well in the first game with the rallies long, each of us sizing the other up as we had never played before. After trading point for point all the way through he nicked it 16-14.

I knew it was a very tough game and it had taken quite a bit out of him so started the next one strong and in 15 minutes I was 2-1 up, 11-3, 11-0. I didn't realise how much it had taken out of him!

Although I played some very good squash getting on the ball as early as possible and trying not to give him any angles to attack as he is a very dangerous player if you give him time, especially at the front. In the fourth he came out fighting as I knew he would, and he sneaked it 11-9. I still felt strong going into the last and was up all the way through the game until finally 10-5 match ball, then he got one point back, then another, then another.

I thought 'I can't lose this from this position otherwise I will be seriously gutted', but luckily I went for it and ended up with an 11-9 victory in the last!

I really enjoyed the game and have to play Stacey Ross tomorrow, so we will see how that goes.

Daryl Selby

QUALIFYING:

I arrived in Brussels yesterday, after travelling on the eurostar, through lovely France then onto Belgium. This is a super satellite and so I am in qualifying as my ranking still isn't high enough to get in the main draw.

This afternoon I played Ryan Thomson from Namibia who actually lives in England, and as always happens at PSA tournaments you get drawn to play whoever you travelled with. I won 3-1, started off moving well and playing good tight length whilst still getting used to the courts. Ryan hit a few errors and I won the first two games 11-3, 11-4.

Then a combination of Ryan playing better and myself letting off the gas a bit and Ryan won the 3rd 11-5. Then I regained the T in the fourth and although Ryan was still working hard and making it difficult for me, I won the game 11-5.

Tomorrow I'm playing Amr Swelim from Egypt which is probably the toughest 5-8 player I could have got but as long as I play well and am prepared to work hard I can win, but I am prepared for a very hard match.

Anyway I'm off to relax and give Dave Barnett a lesson on the snooker table!! Carry on the good work at TOC as its great to be able read all the reports and be kept updated on the results.

Daryl Selby