Thu 12th, Day FOUR:
Last sixteens and more masters
It was men's second round, women's first round, and
Masters all day at the NSC ... one
big upset in the women's draw as Fiona Moverley beats Sarah
Kippax 14/12 in the fifth, while in the men's draw seven of the
tops seeds won through but second seed James Willstrop withdraws
injured.
 The
day started on the Glass Court with top seed Laura Massaro.
Qualifier Jess Davis struggled to come to terms with the match
in the first two games but gave a good account of herself in the
third, holding her illustrious opponent to 5-all and
getting involved in some tough rallies.
 Before
the first men's match was completed, news cam that James
Willstrop, who was clearly struggling yesterday, had
withdrawn giving Charles Sharpes a walkover into the
quarter-finals.
 Tom
Richards was the first on-court winner in the men's draw,
beating Ben Coleman in three games "that were tougher than
the scoreboard makes it look."
 Emily
Whitlock made the quarter-finals for the second time with an
11/4, 11/4, 11/4 win over Leonie Holt. "I'll have to play
better than that tomorrow," she said of her upcoming match with
Massaro, "but I'm looking forward to it. I was playing well in
Cleveland so hopefully I can keep that going."
Last year's finalist Madeline Perry eased through to
the quarters with a straight game win over Georgina Kennedy,
where she'll play Victoria Lust - back in the Nationals
after a two year absence - who beat qualifier Alison Thomson in
three games.
 The
bottom half of the men's draw was completed with wins for
Daryl Selby and Adrian Waller. Selby looked in charge
of his match with Eddie Charlton for the first two games, but
the Nottingham man made the third very tough.
 "After
one huge rally inn the third everything was a blur," said Selby,
"apparently I won that game 11/7!"
He'll play Richards for a place in the semi-finals while
Sharpes faces Adrian Waller, who won his all-left-hander matchup
with James Earles in similar fashion, Earles improving to make
the third game a real contest.
 The
evening session started with contrasting wins for Nationals
regulars Alison Waters and Jenny Duncalf, both
against qualifiers.
 On
the glass court defending champion Waters eased past Lucy
Beecroft in three while two-time champion Duncalf was almost
taken to a decider by Rachel Chadwick, who had a couple of game
balls in the fourth before Duncalf staged a comeback.
To see those two drawn to play in the quarter-finals still looks
strange ...
 Sarah-Jane
Perry made it trough to the quarters in straight games, but
what a tough match she had against Millie Tomlinson, edging home
14/12, 15/13, 11/9 in just short of an hour.
"Last time I even saw Millie play was when we played the Euro
Junior Final in 2009," admitted Perry. "She played very well,
I'm looking forward to getting on the glass tomorrow where I'll
have to step up a gear."
 SJ
won't have played Fiona Moverley for a while either, but
that's who she'll meet in the quarters after the Yorkshire girl
produced an upset to beat Sarah Kippax 14/12 in the fifth. The
decider went point for point, both having opportunities to win
but it was Moverley who finally finished it off, denying Kippax
her accustomed place in the last eight.
"I'm on a winning streak," said Moverley who has won two WSA
titles this year, "Last time I played Sarah was a good few years
ago and she beat me easily. That was a very enjoyable game, and
to win makes it feel better. I put this tournament as one of my
targets for the year so to make the quarters for the first time
is great."
 In
the men's top half Chris Simpson and Joe Lee set
up their expected quarter-final meeting with wins over Greg
Lobban and Jaymie Haycocks.
Simpson beat the young Scot in four games and admitted that
"he's very tough to play, he injects a lot of pace but has good
tough too.
 Lee's
three games against Haycocks took 48 minutes - including an
early change of ball as the originals apparently "wasn't round".
"I've played him a few times and it's always close, he beat
me in a league match a couple of weeks ago so I was never going
to take it lightly," said Lee. I think I played the big points
at the end of the second well, going two-nil up makes a huge
difference."
 The
quarter-final lineup was completed as top seed and defending
champion Nick Matthew beat Declan James in straight
games, and Scottish number one Alan Clyne beat top
Welshman Peter Creed, also in straight games.
"It's what we play for, putting yourselves up against the top
players," said Clyne, "so it's going to be a hard task but
you've got to get yourself up and go for it.
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