WSATub O’ Towels $50K Cleveland Classic Day 2:
King, Hawkes, Urquhart, Kippax Advance
by Nathan Dugan
January 28, 2012 - Emma Beddoes stepped on court for the final qualifying round against Jaclyn Hawkes, with a real shiner. More purple than black, her eye incident with Lucy Fialova, a mere 20 hours earlier, had left a hefty mark. This had no impact on the play however, as Beddoes stormed to an 11-2 opening first game. Hawkes decided to turn up for the second game though, opening up an early 7-2 lead. This proved a little too much for Beddoes to claw back as the match was all squared. Beddoes was using the cross court drive to great effect, moving Hawkes form side to side, and although Hawkes was covering more of the court, the next two games were split after some tenacious resistance from the tall Kiwi. At 7-3 down in the deciding game, it was Beddoes turn to dig deep into the reserve tank. After three of the longest rallies of the match, she was back to within a point, with both players clearly feeling the toll on their bodies.
A fortuitous miss-hit and a Beddoes error, gave Hawkes 10-7 and her first match ball, after almost 80 minutes of play. Beddoes continued to press though, tying the match with a crosscourt that barely cleared the tin, before acquiring a match ball of her own. The minutes that followed had all the crowd holding their breath as the pendulum swung. Hawkes saved match ball with a tight counter drop, before seeing her serve attacked, with an irretrievable crosscourt nick return. Some desperate retrieving by Hawkes in the next rally, kept her in the match, before Beddoes kill attempt hit the red line on the tin. At 13-12, Beddoes produce an astonishing counter drop, after the match looked as if it would surely be over, taking us to 13-13. This is where her luck ran out though, as on Hawkes’ fifth match ball, an attempted Beddoes kill shot, was a shade of paint to low, giving Hawkes the passage into the main draw.
The following matches of the night provided little drama in comparison. Donna Urquhart took early leads in each game, looking comfortable throughout her 3-0 victory over Joey Chan. Chan put up some resistance at the end of the third game, but made two crucial errors to give her opponent a main draw birth. Joelle King looked like she was on a mission, as he brushed aside Delia Arnold in just over half an hour. King looked to be taking the ball significantly earlier than the prior night, giving Arnold little time to use her front court game. She may have regretted being in such a rush though, as she also jumped out of the Tub O’ Towels pot as first pick into the main draw, the result - a match against Nicol David!
Sarah Kippax will be the last name in the main draw, as she took full advantage from the effects of Aisling Blake’s heroic efforts the night before against Samantha Teran. Kippax seemed content to lengthen the rallies, methodically taking the first game. With Blake at 7-3 down in the second, it looked as though it was going to be one way traffic, but a run of seven straight points, turned the match upside down. Now leveled at 1-1, Blake showed renewed vigor, but with the scores tied at 8-8 in the third, it was Kippax who showed the mental and physical toughness, closing out the game 11-8. The third was a must win game for Blake, so with its demise, so went the match, as Kippax ran away with the fourth game to victory.
Final Round Qualifying Results, $50,000 WSA Cleveland Classic:
Joelle King bt Delia Arnold 11/7, 11/6, 11/6 (31mins)
To Play Nicol David
Jaclyn Hawkes bt Emma Beddoes 2/11, 11/7, 9/11, 11/8, 15/13 (80mins)
To Play Madeline Perry
Donna Urquhart bt Joey Chan 8/11, 6/11, 12/14 (33mins)
To Play Natalie Grinham
Sarah Kippax bt Aisling Blake 11/6, 9/11, 11/8, 11/1 (57mins)
To Play Jenny Duncalf
Back To Main
