Tom Ford Takes Select Gaming Kent Open Title by Alan Thatcher photos Kim Roberts
May 29, 2016
- No.2 seed Tom Ford claimed his first PSA World Tour title for six
months when he won a thrilling final of the Select Gaming Kent Open
against Welsh outsider Joel Makin.
Ford, a tall left-hander from Cheltenham, took 83 minutes to wear down an opponent playing his eighth match in 12 days.
Makin,
who was runner-up in the Stortford Classic a week earlier, was on his
knees in the closing stages but kept battling through his obvious
exhaustion to lead 9-8 in the fifth game.
But Ford,
who has developed into a stylish, attacking player, finished strongly
to win the final three points with shots of stunning accuracy before a
packed gallery at The Mote Squash Club in Maidstone, Kent.
The
contrast in styles created a fascinating encounter with Ford angling
his soft volley drops into both front corners with Makin’s powerful,
physical approach producing some unbelievable retrieving and plenty of
winners of his own.
Both players had battled through
punishing, five-game semi-finals, with Ford beating Peter Creed in 87
minutes and Makin outlasting top seed Charles Sharpes after 104 minutes
of mayhem.
However, they both looked fresh at the start with
rallies of 50-plus shots. Ford led 8-5 in the opening game before No.8
seed Makin stormed through to win it 11-8. The second and third games
were both settled on tiebreaks and, after almost an hour’s play, Makin
led two games to one.
Ford sensed his opponent was tiring
and raced through the fourth game in six minutes. He was in front all
the way through the fifth game until he reached 8-6, when he lost three
points in a row as Makin made one final, dramatic push, despite
finishing many rallies bent double with fatigue.
Ford’s cool
temperament saw him control the final, punishing exchanges with some
precision rallying. He worked his opponent into every corner of the
court to reel in one of the biggest prizes of his career and his first
tournament win since two titles in Canada in November.
A
delighted Ford said: “I want to thank a lot of people for running this
superb tournament but the man I need to thank the most is the resident
osteopath, Nick Griffith, who has treated me every day for an injury to
my ribs and helped me to compete.
“Having extras like that
available to us means a lot to the players and we appreciate it very
much. It is a tough life on the tour and sometimes it can be a lonely
existence but I have really enjoyed all the interaction with the Mote
members during the tournament.
“It is lovely to play in a proper squash club in front of knowledgeable and appreciative audiences.
“I
want to thank Joel for making the final such a great match and I felt
we both produced some of our best squash on court today.”
Makin, when asked how he felt during the fifth game, replied: “I was pretty tired in the first game, let alone the fifth.
“I am pleased to have put together two good tournaments back to back and my aim, as always, is to keep improving.”
It
was the youngest final in the eighth edition of the Kent Open, with
Ford at 22 years of age and his opponent one year younger.
As
Ford raised aloft his trophy after receiving it from title sponsor
Jonny Powell, of Maidstone-based Select Gaming, spectators agreed that
it was the best final in the tournament’s history.
SELECT GAMING PSA M10 KENT OPEN
The Mote Squash Club, Maidstone, Kent, England.
Final:
(2) Tom Ford (England) beat (8) Joel Makin (Wales) 8-11, 12-10, 11-13, 11-5, 11-9 (83 minutes)
