Please click the link below for the comprehensive tournament information sheet provided by Colets Health and Fitness Club.

Tournament Information Sheet

With a stand alone Masters Open for the first time in many years, Colets was the ideal venue for many foreign competitors. Entrants from 12 Countries, Lebanon, Greece, Uruguay, Norway, Sweden, USA, Canada, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Poland, contributing to the 281 entries.

The weather was abjectly British on the first two days, but brightened up and our guests could actually return home and say they had seen a glimpse of British sun. Unfortunately, squash is an indoor game.

WO75 – Barbara Sanderson of Ireland won yet another title, 9/1  9/1  9/2  over Joan Witton.

WO70 -  Ann Manley also beat her long standing opponent, Bett Dryhurst, 10/8  3/9  9/5  9/7  to win the Womens 70.

WO60 – Jan Ellis, after 4 months skiing with her retiree husband, Frank, came back , did a weeks training and edged Elke Rubsam 5/9  9/3  9/2  0/9  3/9  for her second Open Title.

WO55 – 3/4  Lesley Sturgess overcame no 2 seed Karen Hume, 9/2  10/9  9/5  in an edgy Semi before startling Jill Campion 9/5  9/2  at the start of the Final. Campion though, gritted her teeth and controlled the rest of the match, 9/2  9/2  9/1 to be the British Open Title winner.

WO50 – Rachel Woolford 3/4  claimed a notable scalp beating no 1 seed Rose Bamber, 4/9  8/10  5/9  in 30 minutes and entered the Final confident against the ever bouncy Scottish no 1 Fiona McLean. Woolford had the Title at her fingertips, 9/4  9/4  4/9  8/7  up match ball but the durable McLean kept her cool, survived the crucial point and then lady luck and some great retrieving saw her edge the Title 9/6 in the fifth, commiserations to poor Rachel.

WO45 – The eternal  all running action female phenomena, either with a racket or her ever present mobile phone in her hand, is called Hope. Not that any opponent has much of that when they play her. USA no 1 Hope Prockop demolished all and sundry, Alison Goy, Isabel Tweedle and Andrea Santamaria, all felt the heat, the latter always in the game  but coming off worse at the crucial times. In the WO40, Prockop, seeded 3/4 , amazingly beat no 1 seed, the ultra hard hitting Shayne Baillie, 9/1  9/3  9/0 in 19 minutes and in the Final was too strong for Rachel Calver, 9/5  10/8  9/7  in 32 minutes.

Last seen, mobile wires  dangling from her ear, telling her tribe how she had got on.....

WO35 – A very small draw with Lauren Briggs in a class of her own. In the Final, Keeley Seamons kept her on court for 23 minutes and deserved the lone point she acquired.

MO80 – Lance Kinder’s serve is unnerving. Death defying. Someone will have to explain to him that when he goes to Johannesburg and serves out 10 times, that’s 10 points down the chute in a 27 point match at PAR! However bad his serve is, the rest of his game is normally in a league of its own. Lance runs like a sixty year old. His lobs and drops are top class. And because of these three major attributes, he, (having asked us for a M80) recorded another National Title, beating his good friend John Woodliffe, 9/6  8/10  5/9  6/9 , 4 games in 51 minutes.
But Lance, that serve has to go!!

MO75 – The World Champion and USA no 1, Michael Gough, travelled over and travels back, still holding his 2015 British Open Title beating Pat Kirton, 9/2  0/9  9/4  9/4  in 39 minutes. Kirton earlier, had sneaked Brian Phillips, 9/7  5/9  2/9  9/6  2/9  in 45 minutes.

MO70 – First surprise was 2015 Champion Mike Clemson entering the plate after unseeded Bill Wilson removed him in 23 minutes, 9/5  10/9  9/3.

Masters Chairman, Martin Pearse, returned after a very long recurrent ankle ligament lay-off, and sneaked USA no 2 Norbert Kornyei, 9/4  9/10  10/8  10/9  in 54 very tough minutes, but then went down 9/1  9/1  7/9  5/9  7/9   to Tony Clifford in 57 minutes. That 57 minutes probably did for Clifford who started strongly against no 1 seed Rod Boswell, leading 9/4  and 5/1. But  Boswell, having weathered the Semi Final against the once  termed-correctly-‘Portly’ by Dicky Rutnager in   the Times,-----Adrian Wright, 9/5  10/8  9/7, came back from 1/5  to 9/5  9/1. Then in the 4th game, Clifford had 3 game balls at 8/1, couldn’t clinch and Boswell, by now realising fate was on his side, went through, virtually in one hand, 10/8. Title Thank You!!

Outside for a long awaited Players no 6....

MO65 - No 1 seed Peter Smith, never expected to win the British Closed. As an outsider he had nothing to lose and came through well. However, being seeded no 1 doesn’t agree with everyone. And so it proved as the tricky Scottish no 3 Ian Ross dinked his way to a 48 minute 8/10  9/3  3/9  9/6  2/9 victory. Earlier, Ross had had a ding dong with Terry Norman, 3-2. John Rae was far too strong for all and sundry, mashing Trevor Cox, Howard Cherlin and Ian Ross, losing just 20 points in the process.

As was John Dougal, Chris Goodburn, Larry Grover gaining 11 points between them. Ian Graham’s dream was heart stoppingly close, 2/2 and 8/5 up match ball with Dougal, but the latter volleying and drops are in a  different league to most and the Scotsman punched the air with delight, 10/8 in the fifth in 51 minutes. As Messrs Rae, Dougal play each other at least once a week, back in bonny Edinburgh, the Final was over a bit too quickly for Rae’s liking, Dougal 9/7  9/4  9/0  in 18 minutes.

MO60 – 5/8 seed Ian Holmes , seemed a shadow of his former self as he tamely went out to Paul Ekins 3-0 and Stuart Hardy ditto before he retired against Simon Evenden with a  back problem.

Mark Cowley at 1 saw off Geoff Walton and Paul Ekins, whilst Ruston Bativala should have been seeded  much higher. His game with Clive London was a classic, 74 minutes, 2/9  9/4  9/7  3/9  9/7, edged by London, who then removed Cowley in 33 minutes and in the Final, a very, unusually diffident, lack lustre Peter Alexander, who looked to be carrying an injury – but wasn’t. It is not often that Alexander is out stretched, out run and out paced, but London literally got everything back and the Title, 9/4  9/4  9/6  in 20  minutes.

Earlier on, local hero Dave Clarke, back from injury, had a 44 minute epic with Evenden, the latter winning 9-3  in the fifth.

MO55 – Mark Woodliffe was just too good for everyone in the draw, taking out 3-4 Bryan Beeson, 9/5  9/4  9/6 in 44 minutes. In the bottom half, Ian Bradburn 9-16 had removed Alan Thomson 3-4, 9/5  9/5  6/9  3/9  10/8, before going down to Neil Harrison 0-3. John Parkes, 5-8 took out no2 seed Dermot Hurford, 10/8  9/4  9/3, then Harrison, but found Woodliffe just too clinical in all areas, 9/2  9/0  9/1  in 27 minutes.

MO50 – No 1 Swedens Freddie Johnson unexpectedly departed Colets early, losing 6/11  13/15  10/12  to talented John Foster In 42 minutes. Indeed so many no 1’s departed early, it was called the Colets Curse. Foster then had a titanic battle with Canada’s no 1 Steve Wren, again 42 minutes. But this time 6/11  9/11  11/5  8/11 and Wren the winner. Another surprise was no 2 Peter Gunter losing 12/10  11/4  11/8  to a very focussed, back from injury, Eamonn Price. But just 50, Steve Mc Loughlin, returned the compliment the next day, Mc Loughlin 3, Price 0. The Final saw Wren having a couple of shots in his armoury that McLoughlin has yet to acquire. Result, 11/9  11/5  and 12/10. Title to Canada!

MO45 – No 1 Jon Gliddon, found 5-8 Alex Couch a handful as did the latter in the next round with 5/8 Andy Normile. In the bottom half, Colet’s Manager Dave Peck, collapsed in a heap, calf wounding, stretcher, bar, beer and wine. Which he does very well.

Frankie Ellis, back from an extended 4 month skiing holiday with his missus, trained (furiously) for 2 weeks and got to the Semi, beating David Speed 3-0 and Steve Dodridge 3-0. But Andrew Cross was a bridge slightly too far, 10/12  11/7  5/11  6/11. Cross controlled the Final. 11/9  11/3  11/9, but Normile would have been pleased to claim the very valuable points on offer for 2017 International selection.

MO40 – With Scott Handley and Peter Marshall in the draw, there were only ever going to be two winners. And so it proved. Marshall reminded us all of his incredible power and accuracy of his two handed backhand. Ironically, his forehand wasn’t so precise. But with everything at 100% power, Dave Gouldby, Adam Waddington and Ben Hutton, all kept him on court for 30 minutes or so. Scott Handley’s game is more analytic as the time s recorded for his opponents Paul Reilly (22), Joss Hargrave (20) and Jamie Goodrich (21). But in the Final Handley started well, 11/7, Marshall pulled one back, 6/11, but just before it became obvious Handley had pulled an abductor, or similar, so he unfortunately had to concede. Champion, P.Marshall, 2016.

P.S. I captained  Mighty Mouse in his first ever County match aged 13, for Leicestershire, knee braces. Poor little sausage had to play Howard Cherlin at Dunnings Mill. Lucky for Howard, he never played him again.

MO35 – Some tough matches here, the mobility, speed and athletisism amazing. Who needs to watch the Pro’s? Especially when Messrs Lewis, Frankland and Richardson are on show. No 2, Steve Richardson, normally in a suit and tie, an Irishman in the City, is a really talented shot player, well worth a visit to see. He ploughed through his early rounds, Stuart Junor, Nick Staunton (tough one this) and John Barry. In the top half, it came down to the Semi between Frankland and Lewis, but Neil went out to Darren, 11/13  11/8  11/5  11/9  in a very high quality match.

As a hard nosed spectator, normally watching 35 year olds ploughing around the court does nothing for me, but this Final will stand out (in my memory at least) for a very long time and I am glad I stayed to watch it.

Lewis simply retrieved virtually every ball and when it came back to Richardson, it was always the correct shot, the right length, the right depth. Richardson’s skill set is beyond the norm and everything he did made Lewis’s life doubly difficult. Played in a wonderful spirit with not a hint of a problem at any time, it lasted 62 minutes. In truth, Darren should have won3-1 but in his only downtime, he binned 3 at the death to allow Steve to equal 5/11  11/7  11/3  12/14. But the fifth was virtually error free from the Leicestershire player and he claimed the title in 62 minutes, 11/6  in the fifth.

Finally, thanks to Colets, to Dave Peck, to Giordan Orsini the long standing  Manager, Nicky, Jenny and all the staff at the bar.  To Wendy Danzie and all the ESR Refs, some very long days for them. To Chris and Paul at England Squash for running the Tournament so well. To Brian and Roz for all their work on the Internet and behind the scenes.

Martin Pearse
Charirman

For the day by day event report posted on SquashSite please click here.