The British Open Masters continued at Solihull Arden and West Warwickshire as most of the events reached the quarter-final stage.
Full Draws and Schedules on EnglandSquashMasters Masters PHOTOS
Thu 6th Jun, Day Two
The second day of the Masters sees the big seeds starting their campaigns and another full day of competitive squash in prospect.
Women’s Over 60: This event got under way with World Champion Mandy Akin still showing great form overcome a skilful opponent in Tamsin Bennett always managing to just stay ahead in a 3-0 win.
Women’s Over 50: An early match in this draw saw Jane Armstrong prove too experienced for Wendy Hiscox and producing a very solid game winning in three. She goes on to meet defending champion Rachel Calver. Meanwhile, Kate Smith caused a minor upset when she came back from two games down against Sam Mueller to win a hard hitting action packed five game match. She goes on to meet No 2 seed Christine McMullen.
Women’s Over 40: Top seed Selina Harper from Cumbria got her campaign under way with a win over Army star Elaine Radcliffe. This will be a round robin group and some interesting match ups are in store.
Men’s Over 75: John Culverhouse earned a match against top seed and defending champion Ian Ross of Scotland by overcoming David Grant of Wales while Wales No 1 Stephen Evans will take on a former World Masters Champion in Chris Ansell who won a competitive match against Jonathan Bomford. Tibor Szolnoki beat Robert Smith in four to match up with National Champion Larry Grover while Roger More looked impressive in his win over Russell Foster and now meets former champion Barry Featherstone, the No 2 seed.
Men’s Over 65: National Champion Allen Barwise is top seed here looked in devastating form as he despatched Gordon Benbow in straight games. He will meet Keith Connors who was too much for Dave Matthew. Ripley Oyler’s giant killing ended abruptly has he went down to Bruce Gordon of the USA, the second game 14-12 being pivotal. Gordon will meet Jonathan Potter who upset the form back completely to beat the 3/4 seed Gordon McManus in five see-sawing games. Nick Gollaglee, the other 3/4 seed, won a lob fest and will now meet Scottish Champion Peter Shivas who had a tight one with Mohammed Zaman. The No 2 seed Tom Burton continued his progress and will meet Robert Warner who upset the seedings by beating David Kirk in five.
Men’s Over 60: Eight time British Open Champion “Fast” Freddie Johnson, the top seed had too much energy for Rob Reid and will now face Tony Griffin of New Zealand who beat Syed Jafry. Ray Burke had too much fire power for David Gray and Darren Withey showed his class defeating Lluis Suarez of Spain in straight games and they will meet in a quarter. Alex Betts had too much for Paul Clark and proceeds to meet John Parkes, another former winner of this event who had a great game with Mike Leonard winning in four good games. Steve Calvert had no serious problems getting past Steve Martin in four and will now meet Eamonn Price, a former champion and No 2 seed, who was too controlled for Irish International John Dineen.
Men’s Over 50: This group is packed with top class players. A lot of groups are but this group particularly is exceptional. Top seed David Ayerst of Ireland leads the way and went through comfortably to meet countryman Nick Staunton who beat 2022 Open Champion Stuart Hargreaves in four entertaining games. A superb match between Chris Lynam and Jonathan Gallacher of Austria saw Gallacher power to two games up but Lynam dug in and flying around the court slowly took the ascendancy and the next three. Richard Chin of the USA was looking great against England player Wayne Beglan. Two games up but Beglan stuck to his task and proved to be the stronger winning in five. He will now meet another Irish International in Dara O’Flynn who combining tremendous power and winning shots to overcome Javier Fernandez of Spain in a passionate match. The next round will be an intriguing match up between O’Flynn and second seed and former champion Paul Boyle.
Men’s Over 45: Having won the last two British Opens Matt Holland is favourite and top seed here. He started his campaign very positively with a straight games win over Atif Siddiqi of Pakistan. There was an upset result as Matt Whitehead beat 5/8 seed Domagoj Spoljar of Croatia having been 2-0 down but produced some fantastic shots to turn the tide. He now meets Holland. The 3/4 seed is Armin Hameed of Germany and he eased through to beat Paul Warner, the 5/8 seed, in that quarter final. In the other half things went to form with Alistair Coker and James Greenhead taking their places without fuss. The last quarter will see No 2 seed Mick Biggs take on an old rival Tim Burrell after both went through without a problem.
Men’s Over 40: Top seed Phil Rushworth progressed after an unfortunate injury removed his opponent but he will meet Steven Davies who had a good win over 5/8 seed Tony Webb to progress. The next quarter will see Neil Cross play 3/4 seed Jason Varrie after both scored fairly comfortable straight game wins. Tim Richards, a former National Champion, is the No 2 seed and he will face Ross Gore after both dominated their matches. The other quarter final will be between the 3/4 seed Julian Wollny of Germany and Ross Kneller who had a long and hard four game win over Paul Wallace.
Men’s Over 35: Top seed James Snell started the season as he finished the last in devastating form with master class squash to remove Gbenga Adeyi in straight games. He meets Gordon Harpur who beat Pasquale Ruzicka of Germany in a tough straight game. There was an upset when England Captain David Palmer went down in four top class games to Ryan Atherton in just under an hour. Atherton will meet 3/4 seed Jamie Douglas in the quarter. Chris Hall was dominant in his match as was Gurbhaj Kahlon and he now meets No 2 seed Tim Vail, a former champion, who also progressed without too much concern and will play John Welton who beat Wales International Damian Burgess.
A fantastic day of Masters Squash and the matches are just getting tougher. Along with a full plate programme the British Open Masters Quarter Finals will all take place tomorrow with some of the very best players in the various age groups competing. Spectators are always welcome at Solihull Ardern SC. Play starts at 10.00am.
Stuart Hardy, Chairman
Day Two Results :
Full Draws and Schedules on EnglandSquashMasters Masters PHOTOS
