Irish Open – Tomlinson & Serme Champions

Women’s & Men’s Finals –  Saturday 23rd April 2016

[1] Millie Tomlinson beat 9Q) Rachael Chadwick 11/ 4, 11/4, 11/3  28min

[1] Lucas Setrme (FRA) beat [4] Declan James (ENG)  11/9, 8/11, 11/6, 11/6  61 min

 

Finals Day at the 2016  GillenMarkets IRISH OPEN. The women’s final featured Millie Tomlinson and Rachael Chadwick. A close match initially but in the 2^nd half of the first game, the more experienced Tomlinson pulled away, exerting her control to win the first 11/4. You could see that Millie was very determined to not let Rachael get any opportunities. She kept her back and dominated the T to win the 2^nd 11/4. Millie kept a great length and was really tight. The third game was more of the same and Millie closed it out 11/3.  Millie said “ I just wanted to keep her behind me and not give her any opportunities” Rachael was understandably disappointed afterwards, but she has had a super week all the way from last Monday in the qualifiers to today’s final.

 

The men’s final had 2 players with only 2 places between them in PSA rankings. Lucas Serme, last year’s finalist was up against the 23yrs Englishman Declan James. The crowd anticipated a titanic match.

 

In the first Serme took an early lead before James found his range to level it. It then went nip ‘n’ tuck to 9 all. In between @ 7-5 there was a rally of 84 shots which ended with a super nick by Serme. First game to Serme 11/9. In the 2^nd James started taking the ball earlier and was dropping beautifully. He just stayed in front and took it 11/8. Serme knew he had to do something. “ After the 2^nd I had to change things. I pushed to stay in front more, gave him less space and mixed it up more” James started to make more mistakes resulting in the 4^th going to Serme 11/6. The 4^th was more of the same and Serme won it 11/6. There was a really super rally to give Serme match ball.

 

So congratulations to Millie Tomlinson and Lucas Serme, IRISH OPEN CHAMPIONS FOR 2016.

 Semi final day at the 2016 GillenMarkets IRISH OPEN. The first match on was between Millie Tomlinson and young Georgina Kennedy. The pace was furious from the start. Kennedy was forcing it a bit and put 3 balls out of court in that first game. Tomlinson never relented “We both have similar games, she has a good volley so I knew I had to stay in front of her” That is exactly what Millie did in all 3 games to close it out 11/3, 11/4, 11/5.
In the first men’s semi, we had the No.1 & No.3 seeds play each other. Lucas Serme of France, who lost to Ali Farag (now World ranked 11) in last year’s final played New Zealand’s Campbell Grayson. It was a grueling 5 setter lasting 94min. After going behind in the first, Lucas pulled it back to win the first 11/5. Grayson was very patient in the 2nd & 3rd which worked for him, taking them both. In the 4th, Grayson got a no let decision at 2-1 up which really got to him because within minutes he was 8-3 down. He was a tough decision against him by the referee but he ref thought Grayson could and should have played the ball so…
Two all and the decider.It was very tight and went to 8-7 and Grayson got another no let which this time didn’t upset him because he then had a match ball but Serme remained cool and saved it before winning the game 12/10. Super squash.
The qualifier Rachael Chadwick who had played some great squash all week was up against No. 4 seed Alison Thomson in the 2nd Semi. Alison was up early in the first, 6-3 then Rachael started to find her range and pulled it back to win 11-6. She won the 2nd easily. Thomson worked very hard to win the 3rd 11/6 but Chadwick upped it again, driving beautifully and covering the court really well. Her height and range helps her a lot. It was a tight game which Chadwick just pipped 11/9. So a qualifier in the final, the first time that has happened at the IRISH OPEN in a few years.
The last match of the day was the semi between Declan James and Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema. LJ used all his experience and snuck the first 11-8. James said ” I had a really tough match yesterday and was looking after my body”  His game plan was then really put into action in the 2nd. “I wanted to move him around a lot, not make mistakes and wait for my opportunities” It worked, James won the 2nd game 11-4. In the 3rd LJ worked really hard and it was nip and tuck all the way to 9 all before James won it 11/9.
In the 5th James had a beautiful drop at 1-0 to start him off. Using his super forehand drive which won him several points he got to 9/2 very quickly. He then had a super nick to give him match ball which he duly converted to win the match and into the final vs Lucas Serme. They have not played each other before, so it will be interesting to see their respective game plans. Also there is only 2 places between them in World rankings so it should be very close.
Women’s Final at 3pm and the Men’s at 4pm, both Live on IRISH SQUASH TV.

The first match of the day saw the 2 French teammates Lucas Serme and Geoffrey Demont play each other. These 2 players have played on French teams going back to juniors so know each other games very well. Lucas over 40 places higher in World rankings had too much for Geoffrey and won without to much trouble 3-0 in 28min. The young Welsh player Elin Harlow also won convincingly over Moana Gray of Australia 3-0. This is Elin’s 2nd tournament in Ireland this season. She won the IRISH Junior Open Under 19 title last November.

We had a super match between Englishwoman Georgina Kennedy the former European U19 champion and Xisela Aranda of Spain. Xisela belied her ranking of 145to push Georgina and had 2 match balls herself before Georgina just got over the line 16-14 in the 5th in a match that lasted 4min short of an hour.

Shaun Le Roux and Joshua Larkin had a tence match with plenty of questioning of referee decisions. Shaun was always in control but Joshua made him work hard and Joshua certainly worked really hard himself, with the amount of sweat showing from his shirt. Shaun won 3-0 but it was closer than the score suggests.

In the match of the day for the Irish crowd, Arthur Gaskin ranked 85 was up against India’s Mahesh Mangaonkar who is ranked 27 places higher than him.  Arthur started slowly but Mahesh was playing well and went 2-0 in games. Arthur knew he had to extend the rallies and get in the game “In the last point of the 2nd game I played the point more deliberately looking to extend the rally and not force it” At the start of the 3rd game Arthur continued with this gameplan.  It worked – he leveled the match 2 all to the delight of his home crowd.

In the 5th both his calves tightened when he went to the front wall and before he knew it he was 6-0 down. He got 3 points but Mahesh closed out that 5th game fairly quickly 11-3 to win the match.

In the last match of the evening, Rachael Chadwich from England had a super win over much higher ranked Alexandra Fuller (68) from South Africa. Rachael used her power and height to great effect to beat Fuller 3-0 in 24min. Alexandra was never really in the match as Rachael took full control of affairs.

Thursday’s quarter finals start on Court 1 @ 12 noon, with all matches being streamed Live on Irish Squash TV.

[6] Eva Fertekova (CZE) beat  [4] Nia Davies (WAL) 11/5, 11/2, 11/2  18 min  (Plays Ter Sluis next)

[3] Xisela Aranda (ESP) beat  [5] Marta Latorre Ramírez (ESP) 11/6, 11/4, 11/0  33 min   (Plays Kennedy next)

[8] Rachael Chadwick (ENG) beat (2) Marina De Juan Gallach (ESP) 11/8, 11/3, 11/4 22 min  (Plays Fuller next)

[1] Joshua Larkin (AUS) beat Brian Byrne (IRL) 8/11, 6/11, 11/7, 11/9, 11/7  78 min  (Plays Le Roux next)

 [4] Matthew Hopkin (AUS) beat [6] Ashley Davies (ENG) 11/9, 11/4, 11/9 31 min (Plays Lee next)

[3] Geoffrey Demont (FRA) beat [8] Sean Conroy (IRL) 7/11, 11/4, 11/9, 11/3  41 min (Plays Serme next)

[5] Christophe Andre (FRA) beat [2] Douglas Kempsell (SCO) 12/10, 8/11, 11/6, 11/9 46 min  (Plays Anjema next)