The Guy Salmon Kenilworth Open

The First ever Fantasy Squash Graded event was a great success with some top quality squash and some very close battles. Please see below for all the reports.

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Grade A Round 1

Gary Naidoo came through a tough 3-0 against Neil Rossin. Both players moved well but Naidoo looked more comfortable going short and got progressively better at pouncing on the loose balls and looking for the counter punch.

George Parker eventually managed to tire the South African Paul Creswell after taking the first 12/10 the match then swung the other way with errors creeping into Parkers game. Crewell took the second 11/8 but had to do a lot of work and was visibly tiring by the third which despite fighting hard he ended up going down 11/8,

Despite coming back from 10/8 down with 2 great backhand cross courts Luke Parker failed to convert the tie break against Sam Watts who took the confidence from the first game into the next 2 winning 11/8, 11/1.

¾ Seed Sean Hunter made short work of Gareth Hall 11/4, 11/4, 11/9 keeping his hopes of a PSA local spot alive.  

Jason Pike kept Tom Gold on a tight leash with strong length play, closing out a comfortable 3-0 win.

Late entrant Richard Evatt fought hard against the fast and erratic play of Dan Busby but to no avail eventually losing 3-0. Busby will now face number 2 seed Simon White in the quarter finals who came through comfortably against Dane Schweir 3-0.

Grade A Quarter Finals

Jason Pike continued his run of form with a 3-0 victory over George Parker it was a tough opening game with nothing really separating the players and Parker finding some great winners to keep himself in contention whenever the game got tight. The first two had taken there toll on Parker though and the 3rd was a much more 1 sided affair with Pike racing to a 10-3 lead. At 10-3 Parker made one of the best holds of the day completely sending Pike the wrong way “taxi” he said as Pike ran past him only for Pike to turn to the marker and ask “what’s the score”, “urm, 4-10”, “yep thought it was”. Pike took the game 11/4 and became the first player to book his place in the semi finals.

Despite a long match Gary Naidoo didn’t have enough for Chris Fuller, losing 11/3, 11/4, 11/6.

Sean Hunter started well against Sam Watts opening up an early lead controlling the middle with plenty of volleying and attacking play. Watts continued to run through and managed to grind his way back into contention with some desperate retrieving and sneaky reverse angles. Hunter took the 1st 11/6 but after that it was a dogfight all the way with Watts taking the 2nd 11/8 only to lose the 3rd 13/11. In the 4th Watts pulled away and when he took the game 11/3 it looked like the match might be all over. Hunter rallied for the 5th and shot to a 8-1 lead only to see Watts claw his way back again all the way to 9-10 but then failed to convert the last point putting Hunter through.

Number 2 seed Simon White looked strong all the way through against a progressively more tired looking Dan Busby coming through 3-0.

Semi Finals

Jason Pike couldn’t break Chris Fuller down in the first A grade semi final. Fullers accurate hitting to the back corners and restrictive play gave Pike nothing to feed off and he looked increasingly more tired and frustrated. 11/4, 11/7, 11/4 Fuller.

With Chris Fuller through to the final and already assured of a place in the MANTIS Fantasy Squash PSA in Nottingham it meant that the winner of the other semi final would be guaranteed a local spot regardless of the result in the final. When it came down to it Simon White played his best squash of the weekend convincingly seeing off Sean Hunter 11/8, 11/2, 11/3. He is yet to drop a game in the tournament, is not making many mistakes and looking strong.

Plate Final

One of the most entertaining matches of the day was between Dane Schweir and Luke Parker in the plate final with both players going for their shorts at every opportunity. Some fantastic retrieving from Dane decided the match, “why was no one watching the exhibition”, I heard them say to each other after the match.

Final

Chris Fuller started strong against Simon White, extending the rallies and looking comfortable with anything that was being thrown at him. In the 3rd game Fuller began to make a few mistakes and White managed to get on top, growing in confidence he extended his lead and ended up taking the game 11/8. Fuller re grouped and started solidly in the 4th cutting out the errors and making it tough for White to find any winners.

White looked strong throughout and was the deserving receiver of the local spot into qualifying for the MANTIS Nottingham PSA $5000 in August.

Grade B

Group 1

First match of the day went to Alistair Wingfield but Joe Faulkner made him fight all the way. Faulkner got of to a slow start in the first and was struggling to react fast enough to Wingfields 2 wall boasts being constantly pulled out of position. In the second Faulker looked like he had a plan, was moving onto the boast faster and sticking in his straight drop, it worked with him taking the game 11/8. At the start of the 3rd though Wingfield straightened up, hitting deeper for longer and gradually wrestled control of the match away from Faulkner, after the tough battles of the 2nd and 3rd the 4th was relatively straightforward with Wingfield wrapping up the match 3-1. 

Justyn Claydon started strongly against Wingfield who was struggling to create postion on courts and looked to be always off the T. After a fight back at the start of the 2nd Claydon again pulled away and Wingfield failed to regain control .The 3rd was close all the way but to many errors from Wingfield costing him in the end.  

Claydon just needed to beat Faulkner to finish off the group. Faulkner fought right to the end but Claydon’s shots were just too good, 11/8, 11/5 11/3.

Group 2

Ian Cochrane looked comfortable beating both Luc Elsby and Dan Willets 3-0 which secured his place in the semi finals.

It was a tough battle for 2nd place in the group with Willets taking Elsby to 5.

Group 3

John Holden had a strong start in group 3, beating Rob Stewart 3-0.  Next up was Holden against Paul Murphy. With both players battling for the groups top spot it was hotly contested all the way with Holden having just enough to come through 3-2. In the end this was just enough to see Murphy through to the next stage, finishing with 5 points and claiming the spot available for the person who finished 2nd in his group with the most points.

Semi Finals

In the first B grade semi final, Ian Cochrane lost the first game 11/6 and had to fight all the way in the second, finally coming through in the tie break to level the tie against Paul Murphy. The 2nd and 3rd were both just as close with only 2 points separating the players. At the start of the 4th Murphy gave away to many cheap points and despite fighting his way back in it was to late and Cochrane made it through to the final 3-1.

Justyn Claydon took the first 2 games comfortably against Jon Holden who looked to be struggling to gain length and composure but in the 3rd he fought back hard, cutting out the mistakes and with some great retrieving making it very hard for Claydon to put the game away, Holden took the 3rd 12/10 which set up a brutal 4th  but in the end Claydon managed to find his length taking the match 3-1. 

Grade C

Paul Shufflebotham was pushed all the way by Dan Cochrane in the opening round of group C, Dan showed some fantastic retrieving play to keep in the rallies and in the second began to force the errors from Shufflebotham, Shufflebotham ended up taking the 2nd game in the tie break 13/11 and the match 3-0.

No.2 seed Natalie Townsend took the opening game 11/8 against Luke Perrins only to be pegged back in the 2nd eventually losing in the tie break 12/10. After taking the 2nd Luke capitalised on the initiative taking the 3rd 11/4 and the 4th 11/7.

Semi Final

The grade C semi final between no.1 seed Roger More and Ken Loeonard was one of the longest of the day with the 4th game finally being won by More 19/17 after countless game balls for each player. At one point while begging the marker for a stroke More remarked, “how can that not be a stroke, I was here, he was here, the ball was here, everything was here”.

In the bottom half Paul Shufflebotham had a relatively much easier match against Luke Perrins coming through 11/8, 11/9, 11/7, will be interesting to see if this added freshness gives him the edge in tomorrows final.

Final

Paul Shufflebotham started the match well, controlling Roger More and won the 1st game convincingly 11/7. He started the 2nd well taking an early 4 point lead only to see More begin to move progressively better and fight his way back to level the tie 1-1. In the 3rd More was going for lots of drops with Shufflebotham looking to hold him at the back by powering the ball down the walls. It was point for point for the next two games with Shufflebotham taking the 3rd 12/10 and then More coming back to take the 4th 13/11. The match looked to hang on the 4th and once More took that the momentum seemed to be all going his was and despite some great winners from Shufflebotham on return of serve More took the last game 11/8 and the C grade title.

Grade D

A brutal opening match in grade D with Harry Rogers coming back from 2-0 down to defeat Jason Warnett. He now faces Jake Shufflebotham in the quarter finals after he defeated Mark Smith in another tight opening match in group D 13/11, 12/10, 11/5.

The other half of group D saw Faye Deakin defeat Olivia Gow and no.2 seed Sam Bailey come through 3-0 against Josh Drew.

Semi Finals

A brilliant semi final between two young Warwickshire players eventually went the way of Jake Shufflebotham as he overcame Harry Rogers. They both moved really well throughout making it tough for both players to find winners.

In the other D grade semi final Sam Bailey came through in 4 games against Faye Deakin with Deakin taking the 3rd game on tie break.

Final