Saturday 11th May, Day TWO:
After
two rounds of qualifying yesterday, we're down to the main
draw today with eight top class matches on the showcourt at
Jersey Squash and Racketball Club.
It was Liberation Day on Thursday as the island
celebrated freedom from five years of wartime occupation
(hence all the flags in the tournament hotel -
the Merton Hotel, and lovely it is too!).
It ended up being a long day as the crowd witnessed an upset
in the opening match, all four seeds progressing to the
quarter-finals, and were treated to an unexpected bonus at
the end ...
Round ONE:
LIVE STREAMING
[Q] Rory Pennell (Eng) 3-1 Alex Ingham (Eng)
14/12, 4/11, 12/10, 11/4 (58m)
qualifier Pennell wins all-English little v large
matchup
Johan Bouquet (Fra) 3-2 [Q] Youssef Abdalla (Eng)
11/13, 12/10, 11/2, 11/13, 11/6 (70m)
Frenchman survives Adballa onslaught in a hugely
entertaining match
[1] Chris Simpson (Ggy) v Nathan Lake (Eng)
11/5, 11/4, 13/11 (41m)
top seeded local fends off late challenge from Lake
[4] Steven Finitsis (Aus) bt [Q] David Haley (Wal)
11/7, 11/5, 11/7 (38m)
Aussie outguns Welsh qualifier ...
[3] Charles Sharpes (Eng) 3-2 Kevin Moran (Sco)
11/5, 8/11, 11/4, 5/11, 11/3 (64m)
the final swing goes Sharpes' way
Aqeel Rehman (Aut) 3-1 [Q] Dougie Kempsell (Sco)
8/11, 11/2, 11/5, 11/7 (58m)
Aqeel repels phenomenal effort from Scot
Arthur Gaskin (Irl) 3-0 Matt Sidaway (Eng)
12/10,
11/4, 11/9 (41m)
Irish number one overcomes spirited effort from wildcard
[2] Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy) 3-1 Alex Phillips (Eng)
13/11,
7/11, 11/4, 11/4 (36m)
Omar surprised by Englishman's "Egyptian hands"
Rory roars into quarters
The
first match of the Jersey Classic main draw was an
all-English, all-left-hander matchup, but Alex Ingham
and Rory Pennell's similarities ended there, with
qualifier Pennell dwarfing his opponent physically.
Ingham led throughout the first game but failed to
capitalise on two game balls as Pennell got the better of
the endgame to take the lead after 16 minutes of solid play.
Ingham raced through the second, but despite making his
opponent work hard he couldn't shake off Pennell, who stuck
with him and regained the lead, again in extra points.
It was Pennell who dominated the fourth game, his extras
reach paying dividends and he finished it off with a
flamboyant winner to the delight of the crowd.
"That's three tough matches I've had already, all against
left-handers too," said a tired but delighted winner.
"I didn't really come here with any expectations but
sometimes that works in your favour. At the moment I'm not
looking forward to another match, but that will probably
change in an hour or so !"
Bouquet survives Abdalla onslaught
Frenchman
Johan Bouquet became the second player to reach the
quarter-finals after surviving a hugely entertaining, often
brutal battle with young English qualifier Youssef
Abdalla. Gifted with speed, agility, tremendous
shotmaking prowess and a showman's instinct, Abdalla had
already established himself as a crowd favourite and he
didn't disappoint here.
The first two games were both very close, with Abdalla
edging the first, Bouquet the second, both on extra points.
Abdalla barely tried as he lost the third quickly but
stormed back in the fourth, saving four match balls on his
way to levelling the match 13/11.
More of his flamboyant shots - "he's uncoachable" said the
watching Nick Taylor - took him to6-2 in the decider, but
Bouquet kept plugging away and the errors came from the
young Englishman's racket - five tins in a row as fortunes
switched, and eventually nine points in a row to take the
Frenchman through to the quarters.
"I
was quite nervous at the start," admitted Bouquet, "I'm just
back from injury so I had no confidence in pushing off in
the early stages. He has some great shots and it was crucial
that I took one of the first two games, then at 6-2 down in
the fifth I was quite lucky that he started making a few
mistakes.
"It's my first time in Jersey, I'm really enjoying it so far
and hope to see much more of the Island."
Top seed fends off late Lake
challenge
The
Channel Islands' own top seed Chris Simpson made a
solid start to his Jersey Classic campaign as he
consolidated early leads in both of the first two games
against Nathan Lake, 11/5, 11/4, finishing off the
second with a series of impressive winners, much to Lake's
annoyance.
Lake came out determined to make amends in the third,
injected more pace into the rallies, kept his lobs out of
Simpson's reach and held a slight advantage for most of the
game.
It took Simpson a while to adjust, but he caught up at
9-all, and got the better of a series of highly-competitive
rallies to take the match on his third match ball.
"In
the first two games I got good starts and some good runs of
points," said Simpson, "and he was always chasing. But in
the third the ball softened up a bit and he adapted better,
using height very well. I had to try to adjust my tactics
and do it back to him, and that was a really tough game to
win.
"I don't come back to the Channel Islands enough, so it's
great to be playing a PSA event here, and really encouraging
to see the job Nick's doing with so many juniors all as keen
as mustard."
Finitsis outguns Haley
Young Welsh qualifier David Haley found himself
outgunned in his first round match against Steve Finistis.
The big Aussie simply had too much power and too many
winning shots and try as he might Haley just couldn't match
his opponent today.
Finitsis took the first two games with something to spare,
and although Haley started the third well, Finitsis was soon
powering the ball into the nick again - including a trio of
spectacular service returns boasted into the nick as well as
the more traditional crosscourt volleys - as he came from
4-7 down to win the match in a single hand.
"He
played quite solid and it took me a while to get my shots
working, but I started to find my range towards the end,"
said Finitsis. "My shot selection wasn't necessarily the
best but as long as they turned out to be winners I was
happy! The court here has big nicks so hopefully that will
continue to be to my advantage.
"I've been based in Holland for four and a half years now,
so it's only a short trip to Jersey, it's a great tournament
so far with a really appreciative crowd, I just hope it
continues going well for me!"
Sharpes swings to a win
Third
seed Charles Sharpes came through a seesaw encounter
with Scotland's Kevin Moran, who was reprieved from the
qualifying competition by a late withdrawal, in a match that
was fiercely contested from start to finish, each of them
taking turns to forge ahead as the first four games were
shared.
The final swing went the
Englishman's way, and he was n ever going to let an 8-0 lead
in the decider slip away, despite a spirited late effort
from Moran.
"That was so tough," said Sharpes, "the court is pretty
bouncy and it makes it so hard to win every point.
Aqeel repels Kempsell effort
Aqeel
Rehman was made to work exceedingly hard to take his
expected place in the quarter-finals, finally getting past a
phenomenally determined Dougie Kempsell. The Scottish
qualifier recovered from a 6-3 deficit to take the first
11-8, but Rehman was quickly back on top in the second, not
relenting this time as he levelled 11-2.
The Austrian capitalised on a good start in the third to
take the lead 11-5, but it was never easy, with Kempsell
putting in an amazing amount of work, forcing his opponent
to do the same.
Every rally of the fourth game was fiercely contested, the
Scot was on the floor half a dozen times, but in the end he
simply had to yield as Aqeel ground out the last four points
when a decider looked very much on the cards.
"I had a bad start, I wasn't switched on in the first,"
admitted Rehman, "and against a player like Dougie who's so
determined and so strong it's always going to be tough
coming back. I'm really glad to get through that in four
games in the end."
Matt can't get past Arthur
Wildcard Matt Sidaway, one of Nick Taylor's proteges
and a regular on the Jersey Squash and Racketball Club
showcourt, put in a great effort against Irish number one
Arthur Gaskin, who was grateful to get through in three
games that still took over 40 minutes.
Sidaway
showed great determination and no little skill as he
narrowly lost out a point-for-point first game, but in the
second Gaskin, started to exert some control over the
rallies and the scoreline as he doubled his lead 11/4.
The third looked to be going the same way but Sidaway
wouldn't be shaken off this time, seemed to find his second
wind and recovered from a 3-7 deficit to level at 8-all,
delighting his supporters with some crisp winners and a loud
CMON" as he edged 9-8 ahead.
Gaskin
stopped the rot with a drive that was glued to the sidewall
- "that's annoying," said Matt - and went on to take the
final two points to advance to the quarters.
"He surprised me at the start," said Gaskin, "it's usually
not easy to play well in front of your home crowd but he
certainly managed to do that. He's only a kid, I'm giving
him a few years, but if he carries on playing like that
he'll soon move up the rankings."
Omar surprised by Alex's "Egyptian
hands"
The last match of the day was also the shortest - probably a
good job as Omar Abdel Aziz and Alex Phillips
went onto court well over two hours behind schedule - but
was perhaps the most entertaining too.
The
Egyptian second seed made a rapid start, attacking his way
to a 10-3 lead, but Phillips started joining in with the
fast-paced, often frantic, attack-minded game and took seven
points in a row, eventually losing out 13-11.
The pattern continued, with the Englishman out-attacking
Aziz in the second game to take it 11-4 and seemingly
revelling in this rapid style of play. In the end though,
there's usually only one winner in an Egyptian type of game
and Aziz upped the pace even more to reel off the next two
games 11-4, 11-4.
"I
didn't expect him to play like that!" said Omar. "I made a
good start, but once he picked up the pace of the game he
started to play some really good shots, and I had to really
push to get through that in the end - he has Egyptian
hands!"
"That's the way I like to play," admitted Phillips, "I
usually can't resist just going for it. Oce I'd taken the
second I probably should have tried to settle down a bit,
but I ended up giving him quite a few free points in the end
and he doesn't need those!
"I really enjoyed it though," he concluded - and so id those
who stayed to watch.
