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14-Apr-05, Final:

[1] Jan Koukal bt [2] Andy Whipp  11/6, 11/6, 11/3 (35m)

Koukal Claims Prague Hat-Trick
Tomas Forter reports from Prague

The final of the Hi-Tec and Dunlop Prague Squash Open featured two top seeds - local favourite Jan Koukal and Andy Whipp from England. Both players were quite fresh as they both had easy semis yesterday. So the fans expected them to battle hard in the final.

The first game started with high pace and both players traded points to 3/3. 3 winners from Koukal and 2 tins from Whipp and local star was 8/3 up. He was able to control the lead and won 11/7 in 12 minutes.

Whipp started the second very well and soon he was 3/0 up after two winners and 1 tin from Koukal (the only mistake he made in the whole match - see the statistics). From then on Whipp tinned 3 consecutive backhand drops. No let decision and 2 more tins from Whipp and Koukal was 6/3 up. Whipp was the player who wanted to attack but Koukal's great movement and retrieving forced him to take too much risks and the mistakes were the outcome. Koukal won the second 11/6 in 11 minutes and Whipp was quite frustrated with the number of mistakes he made. (It is very difficult to win a game with 11 PAR scoring when you hit 8 tins.)

The final game was even easier than the previous two. Whipp again started well and went 2/0 up with tight backhand length and deceptive backhand drive which sent Koukal the other way. Koukal levelled with an easy penalty stroke and forehand drop. Whipp won his last point of the match with nice little forehand drop and continued in a way he played in the second. His tins and also a couple of winners from Koukal brought him soon to 10/3 matchball. He used the first opportunity to win the match as he pushed Whipp deep in the forehand corner and put the loose drive in the front corner with an easy dropshot. The final was over in 35 minutes.

Koukal won his third PSA title in the club where he used to play for many years. The fans enjoyed the show even when the match was not as long and as close they maybe expected. But it is very difficult to play someone moving so well as Koukal does on such a bouncy court. When you add the fact that he made just one mistake in the whole match the result is pretty obvious.

Tomas Forter

Bader Abdel Aziz

Jan Koukal
 

Andy Whipp

Andy Whipp

Qualifying (Mon 11th)

Finals:
Andreas Fuchs AUT bt Dennis Drenjovski GER        11/4, 11/5, 11/2
Simon Rosner GER bt Peter Billson ENG                 11/5, 6/11, 7/11, 11/4, 11/8
Luca Mastrostefano ITA bt Sandor Fulop HUN          11/8, 11/8, 11/8
Bader Abdel Aziz SWE bt Karamatullah Khan PAK    12/10, 11/6, 11/9

First Round:
Andreas Fuchs AUT - bye
Dennis Drenjovski GER bt David Vlasak CZE          11/4, 10/12, 12/14, 11/6, 11/9
Peter Billson ENG bt Andre Haschker GER              11/9, 11/4, 11/5
Simon Rosner GER bt Lukas Jelinek CZE                11/4, 11/4, 11/2
Sandor Fulop HUN bt Jakub Stupka CZE                 10/12, 12/10, 11/8, 7/11, 12/10
Luca Mastrostefano ITA bt Jaroslav Cech CZE         11/7, 3/11, 3/11, 11/1, 11/7
Karamatullah Khan PAK bt Matthias Heinmann GER  4/11, 11/8, 12/10, 10/12, 11/7
Bader Abdel Aziz SWE - bye

Prague Diary
from Andy Whipp

Prague is an absolutely fantastic place. The city centre is filled with attractive buildings, a funky bridge with a statue which everyone stops to stroke even if they've got no idea why they were doing so (of which I was one of hoping it would bring me good luck, boy I couldn't have been more wrong!) and then a museum containing instruments of torture and the "biggest spiders and scorpions in the world".

Quite a claim. All very nice and impressive, but all drift into insignificance once me and Dave Barnett found the holy grail of Prague, the castle/cathedral. Along with The Acropolis in Athens this is the most impressive sight I've ever seen. Not only was this cathedral massive but the intricate details, carvings, stain-glass windows were all something pretty special. After many photos had been snapped up we bought a ticket (costing a quite extortionate 30p!) so we could go to the top of the cathedral, up the tallest spiral staircase in the world containing just the 287 steps.

The views from up there were second to none and well worth the very long, arduous trek to the top which actually nearly killed us (in fact I'm sure we had the grim reaper on our tail at one point, maybe his scythe got stuck in the thin passage way!).

So, then onto the squash. My personal performances were very contrasting.

On my way to the final I played some good, error free squash but that all changed once I stepped on court for the final. I'm not quite sure why this happened, maybe the steps had taken it out of me or maybe my lack of sleep all week due to Duncan talking till 2am every morning played a factor, maybe it was just a bad day or maybe Kouki just played well, who knows.

Things could have been worse, I could have had an 8 hour drive home like Andrea Fuchs had, cramped up in a tiny car smaller than Pete Barker's little yellow number. Andrea's a big chap and with his roundish coach squeezed in there too for good measure it can't have been fun.

OK, I'm off to Holland in a few hours. Duncan's meant to be playing so we
can resume our conversations about sharks and nazis!

Ciao ...
Andy Whipp

---

13-Apr-05, Semis:

[1] Jan Koukal bt [Q] Bader Abdel Aziz 12/10,12/10,11/6
[2] Andy Whipp bt [4] Christian Drakenberg  11/7,11/7,11/3

Koukal on course for
Prague Hat-Trick ...
Tomas Forter reports from Prague

The first semifinal between second seed Andy Whipp and fourth seed Christian Drakenberg was a very short and easy match. From the very beginning Whipp was always in front. Drakenberg managed to even the score at 5/5 but then Whipp moved 8/5 ahead and kept his lead - 11/7
in 12 minutes.

The same happened in second game. Whipp made a string of four points from 2/2 and controlled his lead - 11/7 in 11 minutes. The third game was even easier for Whipp. He hit some nice winners and in a few minutes it was 11/3 and the match was over in 30 minutes.

The second semifinal between local hero Jan Koukal and giant killing Bader Abdel Aziz started quite surprisingly when Aziz took the lead 3/1 and then 7/3. He hit some very nice winners especially forehand kills. From this point Koukal got into his rhythm, moved very well and started to control the game. As a result of this Aziz made some easy tins and the score was soon 7/7.

Aziz then managed to get a 9/7 lead. Koukal levelled the score after some very long rallies. But another forehand kill from Aziz brought him to 10/9 gameball. Koukal saved it with perfect forehand length. Forehand drop shot and gameball for Koukal. An Aziz backhand crosscourt drop in the tin and first game goes to Koukal - 12/10 in 15 minutes.

Koukal got off to flying start in the second. Soon he was 4/1 and 9/4 up. But from this moment he started to go for shots too soon and gave Aziz some openings in the front. Aziz used them very well and after his four winners and two tins from Koukal Aziz was 10/9 up and had another gameball. Koukal saved it with a nice forehand drop, Aziz was able to get the ball back but slipped and fell on the floor so Koukal had an easy volley to stay in the game - 10/10.  Two tins from Aziz - 12/10 and 2/0 lead for Koukal in 12
minutes.

In the third Aziz hit three consecutive backhand dropshots into the tin so Koukal moved from 2/2 to 5/2 and controlled the lead till the end - 11/6.

12-Apr, Quarters:

The semi finals of the Prague Open consist of three players according to the seedings and giant killer Bader Abdel Aziz from Sweden who had to qualify for the main draw.

He was the only winner against the seedings in the
first round, beating sixth seed Tony James, and he repeated the feat in the quarters as wellwith another straight games victory over third sed Mark Krajcsak.

Tomorrow Aziz will face local star and top seed Jan Koukal, with the other semi-final between Andrew Whipp from England and  Christian Drakenberg from Sweden.

Local favourite Koukal is aiming for a third consecutive PSA title in Prague, having won the Prague and Czech Opens last year.

---

Prague Diary
from David Barnett

Arrived yesterday in time to see second round of qualifying, watched the only close match of the round between Peter Billson and Simon Rosner, probably the best two players in qualifying. Billson led 2-1 playing some good squash before Rosner fought back to win a close fifth (11-9).

First round today was for me a tougher draw than previously expected due to a last minute draw change. I had to play Stefan Leiffels of Germany. Started well, winning the first but he then improved, I lost the next two closely before he closed out the fourth.

The only seeding upset was qualifier Bader El Aziz beating seeded Aussie Tony James 3-0, Andy Whipp was the only English survivor after Duncan Walsh lost to three seed Mark Krajscak.

Quarter finals start tonight with top four seeds favourites to progress.

Speak to you soon ...

Dave Barnett