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Tournament
Director:
Simon Boughton 

Men: £7k Women: £3k

26-29 Jan 2006

Artemis Open 2005

Three five-game matches in two days and Azlan Iskandar was still going strong in the fifth.

It wasn't a good  start for the Malaysian number one, as Alex Gough raced to a 5/1 lead in the first. This was quick, no feeling each other out here, but slowly the rallies became longer, and although Azlan pulled a few points back, the game was gone.

The roles were reversed in the second, Alex
trying to force the pace and making early errors to go 5/1 down. Again the rallies became longer, more cagey, but the lead was enough for Azlan to level, Alex giving the last two points away.

After an error-prone start to the third - from both - the pattern resumed, long rallies looking for the opening, and it was even up to 8-all. Then Azlan served out, and two more errors virtually gifted the lead to Alex.

A great start to the fourth saw Azlan again lead 5/1, but more mistakes let the Welshman back in. 5-all, 7-all, then a huge rally with both players visiting all corners of the court ... a let. Then another lung-busting rally, both of them playing safe until Alex gave away the stroke. And this time Azlan stayed strong at the end, levelling the match three crosscourts that were just too tight.

And that was it really. Azlan, having already broken four sets of strings this weekend - Simon managed to restring two overnight - started the fifth with a new racket after discovering another break, but continued where he left off.

A quick early lead was never threatened as the Welshman showed signs of exhaustion, and Azlan had survived a third successive marathon to become Artemis Edinburgh Open champion.
  

Ireland's Madeline Perry, world number 11, added her name to the Artemis Open hall of Fame with a confident performance against Laura Lengthorn, the English world number 15.

Attacking from the outset, Madeline quickly moved into a 6-0 lead in the opening game, controlling the 'T' and driving Laura to the corners. Once she got her first point the English girl seemed to find the pace of the game, and for a while she was in command, forcing errors from the Irish racket and coming back to reach game ball at 8/7. But Perry regrouped, levelled on a stroke then won a huge rally to retake the lead and clinched the game with a clinical volley drop.

Back in the groove, Madeline raced to 7-0 in the second in a single hand. It wasn't that Laura was making mistakes - both girls were driving the ball hard and the rallies were well-contested - but Madeline was always there for the winning opportunity, reaching 8-0 for the loss of two serves. A brief comeback was halted with a dying drive to the backhand, and two games were in the bag.

The third followed the same pattern, Madeline always ahead, on the court and in the score. Laura pegged two points back from a 5-0 deficit, but that was only a pause in the flow of points as Perry closed out the match, finishing with an easy drop with Lengthorn stranded at the back.
  

DAY THREE - QUARTERS AND SEMIS

First match on was top seed Madeline Perry against Georgina Stoker.

Georgina held her own at the start of the match, leading 6-5 in the first, but Ireland's world number eleven was never seriously troubled thereafter as she moved into her first Edinburgh final.

Second seed Laura Lengthorn took on surprise package Laura Mylotte, and while an all-Irish final was always unlikely, the Irish Champion, who speculated the she would 'get a lesson' put up a very competitive performance.

Lengthorn took the first, and eased away from 5-all in the second with Mylotte looking a little nervous. But Mylotte competed on equal terms for most of the third, getting the better of the rallies, driving Lengthorn to the back and taking a 7/2 lead.

As Lengthorn stepped up the pace errors crept in and it was quickly level, but Mylotte hung on, finally taking the game 10/9 on a crisp forehand winner.

An early Irish lead in the fourth quickly evaporated as the world number fifteen regained control to reach her allotted place in the final.

Alex Gough, a semi-finalist here last year, reached his first Artemis Open final with a straight-games win over Joey Barrington. Alex was never headed, but Joey was always within reach, and try as he might he couldn't close the gap.



Azlan out-Parky's Parky

The final match of the evening was the longest - isn't it always - and provided the ESC crowd with
a real treat.

Top seed Azlan Iskandar took on the retrieving machine that is Simon Parke and matched him shot for shot, and eventually beat him at his own game.

To cut a long story short, the first four games were shared and we entered a decider that was more like chess than squash. More like 20 games of chess in fact, with each rally beautifully crafted, both players retrieving as if their lives depended on it, trying to take chances when they came only to find the ball coming back again ... and again ... and again.



And each rally was the same. There were no short ones, both players using all their shots in each rally until one or the other found a winner or a tin.

It was gripping stuff, and it inevitably went up through the scores, 1-all through to 9-all with no sign of daylight. The inevitable tie-breaker never happened, as Parke was denied an obvious stroke at 9-10 - a rally he'd worked his socks off for, but he continued with merely a glance at the gallery - and Azlan went on to claim the win to a standing ovation from an appreciative Edinburgh crowd.

Marvellous squash, and if we get a final half as good we'll have been lucky.

Men's Quarter-finals:

       FULL DRAWS
                 &
          RESULTS

    
    Men's Quarters

No upsets in the men's quarters, but all of the top four seeds will have wanted to win in straight games if possible, to conserve energy for tonight's semi-finals, and none of them managed it.

3/4 seeds Joey Barrington and Simon Parke reached their expected semi-finals, but were tested by a pair of rising England stars.

Daryl Selby and Chris Simpson both paid the price for yesterday's exploits, but both acquitted themselves well. Daryl faded after taking the first game from Simon Parke, and Chris was facing an uphill struggle after losing the second 18/16 to give Joey a 2-0 lead.

Ireland's top seed Madeline Perry looked to be cruising to victory when she took the first two games against Leonie Holt in four and five minutes for the loss of five serves and no points.

But Leoni found something extra in the third, started to make Madeline work much harder, and started to get the better of some hard rallies.

A good start to lead 5/2 became 8/4 with some determined play, and the top seed looked like she was dropping her first game of the tournament. A couple of errors from Leoni let Madeline back in, and she went on from there to claim the game, although Leoni was fighting to the end, forcing several handouts at match-ball down in the 15-minute third.

Georgina Stoker earned her seeded place in the semi-finals, recovering from a game down to Sarah Bowles. Georgina looked out of sorts early on, but Sarah's error count grew parallel to Georgina's increased composure, and the final two games were fairly comfortable win for the 3/4 seed.

"It's the first time Sarah and I have played in years, but we used to play all the time. "I'm a bit tired, I just gor back from the US yesterday, so I didn't feel too refreshed in the first, but once I started getting my length I was OK." Georgina Stoker "Too many mistakes and I just ran out of steam." Sarah Bowles

After a first rally the "went on forever" according to one spectator, the second round match between Steve Meads and Daryl Selby went on to become an enthralling contest, the longest match of the tournament so far (of course, it just had to be the last match of the day, didn't it ...).

They traded the first two games, with Daryl always ahead in the first, and Steve never letting go of the second. The rallies were long as both probed for openings.

A few careless errors from Daryl in the middle of the third, and Steve was ahead, with the youngster starting to get a bit ratty with himself and the referee. Meads, meanwhile, moved serenely on, moving as well as ever, getting forward at every opportunity, winning the rallies although Daryl never looked out of it.

Daryl was back in control in the fourth as the match reached an inevitable decider. Daryl started getting very ratty with the decisions in the early part of the game. A no let that took Steve to 6/3 prompted a prolonged discussion and a "that's six decisions against me already this game" analysis from Daryl.

After tinning the next serve in frustration the youngster buckled down, kept the rallies going and two tins and two strokes brought him level. Two more tins from Meads took it to 9/7. Meads steadied the ship with a lovely drop and a stroke levelled it again.

At 9-all, with the game already 20 minutes old, six long rallies ended in six lets. This time it was Daryl's turn to pull out a drop - a long one, into the nick - to reach match ball, and Meads' turn to get ratty as the ensuing rally ended in a stroke which didn't find favour with the old stager.

It was a fitting end to the day, a tense, well-supported match with Daryl showing he is improving fast, and Steve that he's not ready to lie down just yet ...

Andy Whipp told us earlier that he was in good form, beating virtually everyone put in front of him this season.

Well tonight he beat 5/8 seed Ben Garner, as he did in the BSPA Boston Open, in straight games, looking pretty impressive.

He was always on top in the first two, and looked to be cruising at 8/3 in the third, but a number of silly errors gave Ben the sniff of a comeback as he lengthened the rallies and worked his way back to 9-all.

Andy then got the better of a long exchange to reach match ball, which Ben saved with an outrageous service return into the nick.

On the next match ball though, Andy worked Ben around the court, and although Ben was disappointed with a no let decision, when both players were happy to play a let, it just wasn't going to be his night tonight.
  

Madeline and Laura

"I used to play Deon a lot, in junior events and at Pontefract, but I stopped playing for a while and she moved ahead of me. I only started playing properly again in the last few weeks, and although I made too many mistakes in the first two games I was playing for most of the rest of the match. "It's Georgina tomorrow, I've been playing her since I was ten, but she's improved a lot so we'll see ..." Sarah Bowles

Jenny Wright

Scott Handley was one of a group who flew up from 'down South' this morning, getting the 8am flight to Edinburgh. Waiting to meet him was one of the University of Birmingham team, Jonny Harford.

Scott started slowly, several errors helping Jonny to a 5/1 lead, but he settled, levelled at 7-all and took the first 11/8. From 4-all in the second he pulled away again to double the lead, but a fast start from Jonny in the third gave him a lead he held onto - Scott gave the game up at 8/3 - to pull one back.

The little rest clearly did Scott the power of good as he raced to 8/1 and 10/2 in the fourth. Two tins from Scott and two fine winners from Jonny made the audience think a comeback might be on, but a loose shot down the middle resulted in a stroke to Scott and it was over.

It was ladies first in the morning, with the top seven seeds receiving byes until this evening's second round.

One of the first matches on was France's Laurence Bois against Katie Wilson from Ulster. Laurence was in command from the beginning, able to keep the ball tight, forcing weak returns from Katie which she put away clinically.

The first two games were quick, both 9/0, but Katie competed well in the third, matching Laurence for pace, and from 5-all pulled away, taking the last two points on strokes to pull one back.

France was back in control in the fourth, and although the rallies were well-contested, it was always Laurence who found the winning position, taking it 9/0 to complete a strange-looking scoreline as she went through to face top seed Madeline Perry this evening.

There was success for two locals as Helen Macfie and Louise Philip, both based at Edinburgh SC, won through to the second round. Macfie won three close games against Selina Sinclair, 9/5 9/7 10/8, and Philip, the Scottish number three, recovered from a 10/9 first-game loss against Susannah King to win in four.

French interest was doubled as Charlotte Delsinne had a little too much power for England's Jenny Tamblin, winning in three close games. Charlotte now meets second seed Laura Lengthorn.

French contingent in Edinburgh

Quickest win of the round was by Jenny Wright, dropping just a single point as she went through to an interesting-looking meeting with 5/8 seed Fiona Moverley.

DRAWS & RESULTS
 

"I tried to change my tactics in the third, but it  didn't work so I went back to what I was doing before. "I played for the French team last year, and I'm hoping to do so again, I'm working towards that goal. "Tournaments like this are good for us, good practice, and I'm hoping to play some more of them, maybe in London." Laurence Bois beat Katie Wilson 3/1

"It was a faster pace than I'm used to, I found I was missing the ball early on. I got used to it as the match went on, but in the fourth although we had some good rallies I just couldn't win the points. "I haven't played many tournaments recently, just clubs and Inter-Counties for Ulster ... maybe I should play more of them ..." Katie Wilson

"That was hard, we had long rallies right from the start and it just carried on right through the match. "I haven't played many tournaments recently, but because his is my club I thought I should. I'm pretty pleased to win a game, but the number one seed is pretty close in the draw so I don't expect to get too far." Helen Macfie beat Selina Sinclair 3/0