British Nationals Day 2 Report by Steve Cubbins February 11, 2014
- After two rounds of play at the Nationals Squash Centre the men’s
eight qualifiers were decided - and were joined by two luck losers
after Peter Creed and Joel Hinds withdrew injured.
Lyell gets his dream draw
Top qualifying seed
Dougie Kempsell made it through for the second year in a row, first
beating Joel Makin in a tough 82-minute opener, then despatching Nick
Mulvey in straight games.
“My body’s feeling it
after a tough match this morning,” admitted the Scot, “so I’m happy to
win in three tonight. I’ve never played any of the really really top
guys so it might be nice to get one this time around - although I won’t
be disappointed if I get a ‘less tough’ draw!” In fact Dougie drew
Charles Sharpes for the second time in a row.
Mark Fuller won his
afternoon game against Danny Massaro in three tough games, then came
from 2-1 down to beat Richie Fallows in a gruelling and at times
contentious five setter.
“He beat me 3-2 in
Colwyn Bay in a similar match,” said Fuller, ” so I really wanted to
win that one. He’s a great fighter and I am too so it makes for an
interesting match - it was a hard battle but fun too!”
Fuller expressed a preference for drawing Nottingham clubmate Declan James in the main draw, but he will face Joe Lee.
Fallows picked up one
of the lucky loser spots and he will face Peter Billson, who qualified
by beating first Matt Sidaway and then George Parker - 14-12 in the
fifth after being 2-0 up.
“It’s getting harder
and harder to get into the main draw,” said the Lancastrian favourite.
“All credit to George he had a tough-match this afternoon [against
Stuart Crawford] but still managed to up the pace after I’d taken the
first two and I just couldn’t live with him for a while.”
James Earles, Anthony
Graham, Ollie Holland and Lyell Fuller added to the tally of young
Englishmen in the draw. Teenager Fuller first beat Patrick Rooney and
then Will John (who picked up the other lucky loser spot) and knew
exactly who he wanted to draw:
“It’s great to get
through for the first time after missing out in the finals last year,”
he said. “It’s just got to be the world champion next!”
Lyell was the player
representative who was called on to pull the balls out of the bag to
decide the main draw places, and he was delighted when his first
selection was his own number 5 ball, setting up a date with defending
champion Nick Matthew.
“Is that on the glass court?” he asked. Yes Lyell, it’s on the glass court!
The final spot was
claimed by Keith Timms who recovered from two games down to beat Dave
Barnett, then came from 2-1 down to beat local hope Julian Tomlinson.
“That was probably my
final right there,” said a tired Timms after reaching the main draw for
the first time. “It’s been a good couple of days,, I’m well chuffed
with that, but now I’ll have to take another day off and find some
fresh clothes!”
Wednesday’s action
features not only the men’s first round -half of them on the glass
court - but also the start of the Masters competition, and two rounds
of qualifying in the women’s event.
Men's Qualifying Finals: Dougie Kempsell 3-0 Nick Mulvey 11-3, 11-1, 11-8 (32m) Mark Fuller 3-2 Richie Fallows 8-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9 (83m) Peter Billson 3-2 George Parker 11-5, 11-3, 3-11, 11-9, 14-12 (57m) James Earles 3-0 Ashley Davies 11-3, 11-3, 11-8 (28m) Lyell Fuller 3-0 Will John 11-5, 11-1, 11-5 (25m) Anthony Graham 3-0 Taminder Gata-Aura 11-4, 13-11, 11-7 (29m) Keith Timms 3-2 Julian Tomlinson 10-12, 11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6 (71m) Ollie Holland 3-0 Paul Rawden 12-10, 11-5, 11-7 (41m)
