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| Daily
Results and Reports from Manchester |
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THE
NORTH-EAST MASTERS |
Day SEVEN, Sat 12th Feb
SEMI-FINALS
It was a good day for Pontefract at the
National Squash Centre, with top seed Lee Beachill overcoming Nick
Matthew in five games, and James Willstrop deposing reigning champion
John White to set up an all-Pontefract final.
In the women's event top seed Linda Elriani beat Jenny Tranfield to
reach her fifth final in ten years, while unseeded Alison Waters
sensationally beat second seed Rebecca Macree to become the youngest
finalist for twelve years ...
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EN BREF
 Day
SIX:
Bad hair day, It's a dirty job, On the Radio, Meetings ... Meetings, and
more ... |
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SAT 12th,
SEMI-FINALS:
Malcolm Willstrop on the Semis
[3] James Willstrop bt [5] John White
7/11, 11/6, 11/9, 12/10 (62m)
Alison Waters bt [2] Rebecca Macree 9/6, 10/8, 9/2 (45m)
[1] Linda Elriani bt [3] Jenny Tranfield 9/2, 4/9, 9/4, 9/1 (42m)
[1] Lee Beachill bt [4] Nick Matthew
6/11, 15/13, 11/5, 9/11, 11/6 (90m) |
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MATTHEW: SO CLOSE TO ECSTASY…
Yes, Nick Matthew went so close to beating Lee Beachill today
that I, his parents sat just in front of me, and his coach David Pearson
could all smell it. Different factors came in conjunction I think.
 First
of all, Nick has been training very hard, and at last his back is not
bothering him anymore. That must be a real boost for the young man. Also, he
never ever beat Lee, and he must have been quite keen to do so. And I also
found that Lee was not at his best today all through the match, except for
the last rallies of the encounter. He didn’t seem to have his usual
regularity in his drives, his lengths were good, but not inch perfect, as
they normally are, and his defensive lobs, which give him a determinant
advantage over his opponents, were not as high as they usually are, not to
mention a few uncharacteristic unforced errors.
Yes, the fact that Nick played divinely well must have put some pressure on
the World number two, but as the imprecision and the mistakes started from
the first game, like it did in Lee’s match against Alex Gough in the
previous round, I wonder if there is a specific reason here…
 Nick
played superbly in the first, he was attacking, playing deep angles, glued
series of drives, and perfect volley drop shots and kills and needed only
two game balls to win 11/6 in 15 minutes.
And he probably should have won the second. He was so close, so close… And
the whole game could have gone either way: 2/2, 3/3, 5/5, 6/6, 8/8, 9/9,
10/10, 11/11, 12/12, 13/13… Nick saved a game ball, Lee saved three.
Nick was applying so much pressure on his opponent, he had to take so many
risks, as Beachill was returning everything that was thrown at him… and
tinned a backhand drop shot that gave Lee his second game ball. A long and
hard rally followed, ended by a front court backhand boast from Nick, for
which Lee asked for a let, and for which the referee gave a stroke. After 25
minutes, Lee was now level.
 Was
the referee's decision right or wrong, that’s not the point. But Matthew
thought it was the wrong one, and it took him the third game to come back
into the game, as he accumulated tin after tin, to lose the game 11/5 in 7
minutes.
Very few people expected Matthew to come back, but he did, and in a
beautiful fashion, again in a close game that took us to 9/9. He placed a
superb backhand cross court deception, and this time, only needed one game
ball to equalise 11/9 in 17 minutes.
But in the fifth, Lee’s magic was back. His length perfect, his drop shots
perfectly timed, his delaying back to its normal standard. A slightly out of
sync Matthew wasn’t able to attack anymore, pushed to the back, and although
he still retrieved beautifully like he did all match, he wasn’t able to put
any pressure on Beachill, who was too happy to win the match on a rather
comfortable last game 11/6.
Beachill got a good scare, Matthew a pretty good performance that probably
will give him a lot of confidence for the rest of the season…
[1] Lee Beachill bt [4] Nick Matthew
6/11, 15/13, 11/5, 9/11, 11/6 (90m)
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 "That was very
tight. He played well, and it's not as I I played at all badly. He moved
well, kept the ball tight and every time I got him under pressure he just
stuck in, even when he got tired. He got my shots back and did something
with them, all credit to him.
"The second was crucial, it's a different story from 2-0 down. I think I
just played those last couple of points a bit better. Then I was prepared to
press hard at the start of the third and Nick made a few errors, but he came
back again in the fourth and started hitting winners again.
"He didn't drop back at all, and I wasn't able to get the ball deep and
tight as often as I'd like, and when I did he kept getting it back.
"I got a bit of a run in the fifth, and I was quite lucky to win in the
end."
Lee Beachill |
 "It's
one of the best matches I've ever played, but in the third I think I
just lost my composure mentally, after the tie-break in the second I
kept on thinking I could be 2-0 up. But he's been there a lot more
than me. I got a bit excited, I probably thought "I'm going to beat
Lee Beachill", and that cost me the second game and probably the
third.
"But I'm pleased that I was able to come back in the fourth. In the
fifth I cracked up more mentally than physically. The only rally I
felt tired physically in was the last rally of the match.
"Of course I'm disappointed, but I'm happy that I had a crack at him
as he's the only top player I haven't beaten yet.
"Next time maybe he'll know that he can't just walk all over me, which
he did for a long time. Now, I want to play him again, as it's easy to
come close to beating him once, but it's harder to do it again.
"I'm injury-free for the first time in four months and it took me two
months of hard work with David Person to come back to my best. David
made a very bold statement to me; 'you always play your best squash
when you work with me.' And you know what, he's absolutely right."
Nick Matthew
"I think he'll take a lot away from that match. Without criticising
the referee, it was a crucial decision at the end of the second, as I
don't think Lee would have come back from 2-0 down.
"But I think a match like that, with Lee being challenged, is good for
squash. It shows the crowd there are good English players around."
Hedley Matthew |
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STRONG ELRIANI
 First
of all, I know it’s a detail for you, but the two first lady semi-finalists
looked not only glamorous, but also in perfect harmony: 29 year old Jenny
Tranfield, dressed in white, with black stripes, and 33 year old
Linda Eriani, all in black, with white stripes.
Perfect.
More seriously, the pressure was definitely on Linda today. She had
everything to lose: Cassie retired, everybody was expecting her to win the
tournament… Mustn’t be that easy to carry around…
And she started fast, did Linda. In five minutes, she was stepping off court
with the first game on the board, 9/2. I personally thought that Jenny was
maybe overwhelmed by the occasion.
 Well
she wasn’t…
Although Linda started well in the second 2/0, Jenny suddenly found her
rhythm, her height, her width, her drop shots started to hurt Linda quite
badly, and she was able to reach more and more of her opponent attacks,
allowing her to counterattack with great success. A powerless Elriani
couldn’t do much to stop the succession of points (five in a row…) and
Tranfield equalised 9/4.
Now, was Linda cracking under pressure? It certainly looked like it when we
got stuck at 3/2, then 4/3 for Tranfield, who was making very few mistakes,
applying great pressure to her opponent, taking a real mental ascendancy on
Linda. The upset was possible, very possible…
 But
something must have clicked in the world number five's brain, as all changed
suddenly, and Elriani was again bossing Tranfield around. Now, it was
Linda’s turn to score six points in a row, that took her from 3/4, to 9/4,
with no change of serve.
Impressive.
The last game was a formality really, 9/1 for Elriani in seven minutes.
Tranfield must have thought that she had her chance, and hadn’t seized it,
and against somebody as strong and powerful as Linda Eriani, it’s not that
easy to come back, mentally and physically, from two-one down…
Discouragement is the word that comes to mind…
Linda will play her fifth final since 1994, the lady knows all about it, the
pressure, the lights, the crowd. I’m sure she’ll enjoy the moment fully…
[1] Linda Elriani bt [3] Jenny Tranfield
9/2, 4/9, 9/4, 9/1 (42m)
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 "I
lost the match on my return of serve. I returned badly in the second
part of the match and got myself stuck behind Linda. It's very
difficult to time it well on this court. I was trying too hard and if
you play anything other than perfection against Linda she is just too
good a volleyer.
"I'm pretty disappointed because I thought I was in the match,
especially in the third game, I was up 4-3 but then I found myself
game ball down.
"Linda played and responded very well to my pressure, she played deep
and was very patient."
Jenny Tranfield |
 "Jenny
slowed the pace down in the middle of the game and I did nothing
to stop her, I realised I started to play her game, I had lost my
length so I managed to get my length back, volley more which is very
important on this court as it's dead in the back.
"I think I lobbed too much, which is not what you want to do against
Jenny as she likes to slow it down and I really wanted to keep it
going.
"In the third I said to myself "stop mucking around, get in front and
speed it up."
"She was playing very well today and I could have lost the match
tactically. I had to play the right game to beat her.
"For tomorrow I'll see who I've got to play and decide how to play
her. Will it be the 'old' one like me, or the younger one ..."
Linda Elriani |
"Jenny was playing well, but at 5/4 in the third you could see her
confidence slip and it was a different match after that."
Sue Wright |
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DREAM TOURNAMENT FOR ALISON
 I
really didn’t want to make a report on this match, as it’s one of those
matches where whatever you say, you will appear to take sides…
And I don’t want to take any.
Yes, Rebecca Macree was not happy with the ref’s decisions. Was she
right or wrong, once again, that’s not the point. The fact is that she felt
that the decisions were made against her, and it frustrated her immensely.
 Now,
as far as the match is concerned, I truly believe that Alison Waters
is on a roll, that she has the confidence that comes with being only 20, the
technique dispensed by one of the best coaching teams in the world, i.e.
Paul Carter and David Pearson, the fitness, the shots, the brain.
She dominated Macree in most of the departments of the game, and although
Rebecca placed some pretty good hits and drop shots, her length was not as
good as it should have been, and it gave her young opponent weapons she had
plenty of already…
Alison Waters bt [2] Rebecca Macree
9/6, 10/8, 9/2 (45m)
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"I've played Rebecca before, so I knew to expect some physical stuff, lots of
lets and strokes. But I'd never beaten her before, 3-1 was the closest I'd
ever got.
"I tried to keep it wide and to the back to start with, and I tried not to
get involved in anything, just to stay calm and go through to play the
ball. I know she expects people to stop and ask for lets a lot of the time.
"The second game was crucial, I was 8-6 up and if it had gone to one-all it
would have been totally different, but when I won that game the initiative
was with me."
Alison Waters |
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Willstrop deposes Champion White
Steve Cubbins reports ...
 James
Willstrop stripped John White of his National title in a thrilling last
match at Sportcity that treated the crowd to another wonderful display of
top squash.
White started strongly, but Willstrop battled back, finally taking the match
in a fourth game tie-break.
"It wasn't to be, was it ..." said White of the match, while Willstrop was
pleased with his form.
"I thought I might be tired after last night's match," said the third seed.
"But as the match went on I started to feel better and better."
Beachill now faces Pontefract team-mate Lee Beachill in tomorrow's final.
 "I thought I might be a bit tired after last night's match, and I wasn't
quite there at the start. But as the match went on I started to feel better.
'Yeah, I'm feeling alright' I said to myself in the second, which was a bit
of a surprise.
"But I got a good rest and looked after myself last night, otherwise I don't
think I would have been in such good shape. If you're feeling good
physically it helps the confidence, and if you've got confidence it helps
you utilise your physical ability.
"Lee beat me well in the worlds last time we played, so I have to try to do
better than that, but I feel as if I'm improving all the time."
James Willstrop |
[3] James Willstrop bt [5] John White
7/11, 11/6, 11/9, 12/10 (62m)
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 "It wasn't to be, was it. He stuck to his game plan and I stuck to mine, but
his worked better! We seem to feed off each other because we give each other
a lot of options. James has had a great tournament, the court suits him as
well. His retrieving is incredible.
"I went too short too early and I feel I
could have volleyed a bit more, but I was trying to be a bit more patient
than normal, trying to get some openings, but he doesn't give you any.
"It's important to take a positive out of a losing battle, so there's
always a next time."
John White |
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