Top Seed Briggs Triumphs In WSA Wells and Youngs Wimbledon Cup 2012
by Matt Wagg
March 26, 2012 - Lauren Briggs won her twelfth WSA World Tour title at the weekend, beating her namesake Lauren Selby to four games in the final.
In a busy weekend of squash, three of the top four seeds would make up the all-British semi final draw. Victoria Bell of Cumbria was the only non-seed left in the competition following her defeat of not only No4 seed Merhan Amr Mahmoud, but later too the experienced No5 seed Deon Saffrey.
Bell’s run ended at the semi’s however as Briggs, yet to drop a game in the event, continued the trend to book her predicted final place alongside Lauren Selby.
Similarly, No2 seed Selby hadn’t dropped a game on her way to the final, holding firm despite being pushed to tie-breaks in her first round match against Rachel Willmott and quarter final against Nada El Kalawaay. She moved past promising Scottish international Lisa Aitken in another three games to set up a ‘Lauren vs Lauren’ final.
Briggs started the final quickly, amassing the first two games to little response from her opponent. After a pause in play for an injury break however, Selby returned to the court seemingly a different play. She was quicker to the front of the court and found and attacking strategy that worked against the top seed, and she duly took a close third game. Briggs seemed to have weathered the storm and despite a close beginning to the fourth game, established a stronger lead before closing out the match.
Final:
[1] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt [2] Lauren Selby (ENG) 11-4, 11-5 11-13, 11-5
Semi finals:
[1] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt Victoria Bell (ENG) 11-4, 11-4, 11-3
[2] Lauren Selby (ENG) bt [3] Lisa Aitken (SCO) 11-7, 11-8, 11-3
Quarter finals:
[1] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt Milnay Louw (RSA) 11-5, 11-7, 15-13
Victoria Bell (ENG) bt [5] Deon Saffrey (WAL) 6-11, 8-11, 13-11, 11-5, 12-10
[3] Lisa Aitken (SCO) bt Frania Gillen-Burchurt (SCO) 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 15-13
[2] Lauren Selby (ENG) bt Nada El Kalawaay (EGY) 11-9, 12-10, 11-9
First round:
[1] Lauren Briggs (ENG) bt Julianne Courtice (ENG) 12-10, 11-7, 11-5
Milnay Louw (RSA) bt [8] Sally Skaarenborg (DEN) 11-6, 11-9, 11-8
Victoria Bell (ENG) bt [4] Merhan Amr Mahmoud (EGY) 11-8, 11-9, 12-10
[5] Deon Saffrey (WAL) bt Cheyna Tucker (RSA) 11-7, 11-8, 13-11
Frania Gillen-Buchert (SCO) bt [8] Anna Jurjun (POL) 11-4, 11-1, 11-6
[3] Lisa Aitken (SCO) bt [W] Katie Smith (ENG) 11-7, 11-4, 11-8
Nada El Kalawaay (EGY) bt [7] Aparajitha Balamurukan (IND) 11-8, 10-12, 11-3, 11-6
[2] Lauren Selby (ENG) bt Rachel Willmott (ENG) 12-10, 11-5, 11-6
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