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• TODAY • Day D4 • Day D3 • Day D2 • Day D1 • FINALS • SEMIS • QUARTERS • Day 2 • Day 1 • Update •
TODAY AT THE GAMES
Thu 23rd, Doubles Day Two:
Day two of doubles action saw
the completion of the pool stages in the Men's and Mixed events. All of
the top seeds are safely through to the play-offs, with the top four in
each event receiving byes in the first round, ready for Friday evening's
quarter-finals.
The women's event still has one round to play on Friday morning, followed
by the semi-finals in the evening.
Selected Reports from Framboise:
MD: Willstrop/Matthew (Eng) bt
Giuffre/DeLierre (Can) 8-10,
9-4, 9-5, 9-4
MD: Grayson/Knight (Nzl) bt White/Leitch (Sco)
2/9, 9/6, 9/3, 5/9 11/9
MD: Gough/Evans (Wal) bt Durbach/Hansen (Rsa)
10/8, 9/7, 10/8
XD: Kneipp/Grinham N (Aus) bt
Richardson/Perry (Irl) 9/4, 12/10, 9/6
XD: Palmer/Grinham R (Aus) bt Leeuw/Swartz
(Rsa) 9/2, 9/4, 9/3
MD: Kyme/Stout (Ber) bt Chilambwe/Chilufya
(Zam)
10/8, 3/9,
13/11, 9/11, 9/3 (85m)
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Framboise in Melbourne
EN BREF #6
BBC coverage
from Howard Harding |
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Men's
Pool F:
Gough/Evans (Wal) bt Durbach/Hansen (Rsa)
10/8, 9/7, 10/8 (49m) Left, David and
Rodney |
COULD HAVE GONE EITHER WAY…
A pretty good match that one was, with David Evans playing most of the
rallies, and Alex just getting a few but decisive shots in, an Adrian
in shape, placing some lovely backhand cross courts, and a Rodney on
fire, bombarding David’s backhand with some superb backhand drop shots
that found the nick too many times for luck..
The three games were pretty close, tie break in the 1st and 3d, with a
few game balls that the South African couldn’t convert, and a second a
bit more comfortable, with the Welsh getting game ball at 8/5, but who
still needed three shots to be leading 9/7…
They both get through, and it will be interesting to see what their
results will be tomorrow, as we play two rounds in one day, last 16
and quarters….
"Our set up is made to suit us, as Rodney’s backhand is better
than mine, so we just choose the set up that will be good for us…
And it seems to work fine like that…
"We worked hard in preparation for these Games, we went back to
South Africa and train with Richard Castle, our national coach…
"We are not out, we still have got a chance, as we are through…
We’ve got to make sure that we play the important points well, and
especially that we finish rallies off when it counts…"
Rodney Durbach / Adrian
Hansen |
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"We are trying to keep the little
fellow (Alex) in shape for tomorrow… No, they really seemed to
play a lot on me, and I was having trouble getting Alex into the
game, to take advantage of his speed..
"As far as our game plan is concerned, we see how the game
develops, and just try and play.
"We are so happy to win in three. We played them last year in
South Africa, and they have worked hard, it was much more
difficult to beat them this time round… Rodney in particular
played all his backhand very well, and his tight drives set it up
beautifully for his backhand drop shots…
"But when it came to the big points, we actually finished them
off, and that made the difference, in particular David was able to
play some great winner at the crucial times…
"Melbourne is a good spot, we came here in 2001 for the Word
Teams, and it seems it has even got better. But we need to ignore
it for a little bit longer…"
David Evans /
Alex Gough |
Last 16:
Gough/Evans v
Giuffre/DeLierre (Can)
Durbach/Hansen v
Kyme/Stout (Ber) |
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Mixed
Pool C:
Kneipp/Grinham N (Aus) bt Richardson/Perry (Irl)
9/4, 12/10, 9/6 (34m) Steve left, Australians changed |
SHORT BUT INTENSE
 As in normal singles games, there is always a turning point, and for
Ireland today, it was from 8/5 in the second, when they got four game
points that they unfortunately couldn’t convert...
A few beautiful shots from Natalie on one hand, a non welcome errors
from the Irish on the other hand, a few great rallies, and the
Australian forced a tie-break to finally clinch the game 12/10.
A bit disheartened, the Irish took an awful start in the third, 4/0,
clawed back at 4/3 then 5/5, 6/6, but Natalie showed herself worthy of
the gold medal she got only a few hours away, placing two some
excellent irretrievable shots to secure a 3/0 win upon a tricky pair…
Last 16:
Kneipp/Grinham v
David/Ong (Mas) or Malik/Jones (Wa)
 "No offence to Stevie, but we all
knew that Madeline was going to get 90% of the hits, and with the
way she’s been playing at the moment, this was going to be a tough
match…
"As we are expecting to win those pool matches, we get a bit edgy,
it’s like the first round in the big tournament… We haven’t had
the chance to play much together, that’s what there are a few
shots in the middle we didn’t play, so 3/0 is a good result…"
Joe Kneipp |
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 "We should have taken the first
game, that would have made all the difference…
"But they kept
changing sides, and that means they showed respect to our team, as
obviously they were not happy with their set-up…
"It was a close match, and played in the right spirit, both teams
attacking, as sometimes, it can get a bit dull… And our game plan
was simple: win!
"We’ve been playing together for a long time, but we don’t get to
practice much because Madeline is always on tour…
"It was a tough match to start the competition with, but it was
close…
"Happy with our performance…"
Steve Richardson |
Last 16:
Richardson/Perry v Petera/O'Brien (Nzl)
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Mixed Pool A:
Palmer/Grinham R (Aus) bt Leeuw/Swartz
(Rsa)
9/2, 9/4, 9/3 (20m) |
 "Playing David and Rachael was going
to be very tough, we knew that, they did put us under a lot of
pressure, and there were patches where we let the pressure get to us,
but other patches where we were able to control it.
"The important thing was to stay calm. And the thing is we both
believe we belong to that stage, we both are very ambitious single
players, and we want to go out there and play at that level, and not
make silly decision…
"So in patches, we held it pretty well, but we were not consistent
enough… Still, I feel we are a team of the future, and don’t be
surprised if we get a medal next games…"
Clinton Leeuw |
Men's
Pool B:
Kyme/Stout (Ber) bt Chilambwe/Chilufya (Zam)
10/8, 3/9, 13/11, 9/11, 9/3 (85m) |
 It was not our finest hour… All credit
to the Zambians, they played very well, and hardly made any errors.
But on the other hand, James and I couldn’t do anything right!
We didn’t play at our best, far from it, and we are lucky to get
through…
Nick Kyme
Last 16:
Kyme/Stout v Durbach/Hansen (Rsa)
Palmer/Grinham bye
Leeuw/Swartz v Argyle/Van Der Wath (Rsa) |
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Men's
Pool E:
Grayson/Knight (Nzl)bt White/Leitch (Sco)
2/9, 9/6, 9/3, 5/9 11/9 (96m) Martin and John on left |
WEATHERING THE SCOTTISH STORMS…
Guys, I actually was able to see a match on the back courts!!!!! Yes,
quite miraculous really...
Well, it was the first match of the evening session, and as I finished
working at 5.45pm on my reports from the first session, zoom I went
before the big rush, and got myself just behind the barrier at 5.50
for a 6.00pm start. Standing still, but at least I saw the show…
And what a show that was, ladies and gentlemen, lots of dramas, played
in good spirit, and fool who would have predicted the outcome at 8/8
in the fifth…
But let’s go back to square one. White and Leitch just blasted it off,
5/0 in the first game, both of them nicking their shots as if there
was no tomorrow, then 7/1 to take it 9/2.
But slowly, taking advantage of a little drop of energy and a few
errors in the Scottish camp, the New Zealanders concentrated on their
basic game, nice length, in particular on the forehand, as in Campbell
Grayson, and took the second 9/6 then the third 9/3…
But the Scots dug in, took a perfect start, 6/1, and equalised in a
superb fashion, 9/5 in 24 minutes. “All the way” said John White as he
left the court…
But the New Zealanders didn’t let their opponents breathe, and in no
time, they were up 7/0 in the decider, thanks to a few superb drives
glued to the wall yet again from Campbell, and helped by a few
unforced errors from the Tall Man.
Oh this is so finished, we thought. But no. Patiently, quietly,
relentlessly, John and Harry clawed their way back into the game, and
the New-Zealander pair, totally uncharacteristically, strung mistake
after mistake.
Incredibly, the Scots were back in the match, 8/8, thanks to a few out
of this world nicks (one on John’s serve) and even won the rally of
the tournament to set up a match ball… that John tinned, followed by
another tin from Harry…
And a fourth match ball for the New-Zealanders… A nail-biting rally,
nobody is moving around the court. Nobody even dares exhaling… And
once again, Mr Grayson finds a perfect drive, a perfect length, Harry
goes for it, hesitates, goes for the rebound, asks for a let… refused…
After 1 hour and 36 minutes, the Kiwis have defeated the Scots… And
they’ve got to do it all over tomorrow…
Yeah…..!!!!!!!!!
Last 16:
Grayson/Knight v Khan/Khan (Pak)
White/Leitch v Bains/Reel (Ken)
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"John played some pretty good shots and anything I could pick up,
I would go for it."
Harry Leitch
"I can’t believe it, coming back from 7/0, playing perfectly, and
then, making two stupid errors just in the end… We really thought
we were going to win that one, so very disappointed… but we still
have a shot for the quarters..
"We are starting to get there, more settled, a bit more relaxed, a
bit more patient… And it’s nice to have your family around when
you are playing probably the most important event of our lives…
Win or lose, they are always on your side.."
John White |
"They played at a furious pace, John was hitting the ball at a
million miles an hour! He creates so much pace, so much speed, he
is so dangerous…
"In the second, we settled down, got some length in, and they
started to make a few errors. But still, we were lucky to get that
game, from 6/6, because we would have been in a lot of trouble if
we had lost it…"
Campbell Grayson
"What happened in the 5th? I choked! I started playing on John too
much and went off the game plan, as in keeping the length in, and
forced a few shots. But we kept on saying to each other, be
patient, just keep the rallies going, and make them as long as
possible, you can’t be losing this…
"When we went off court, our coach told us congratulations, but
you went off the game plan, I hope you’ll learn from that, and it
cannot happen again…"
Martin Knight |
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Men's
Pool D:
Willstrop/Matthew (Eng) bt Giuffre/DeLierre (Can)
8-10, 9-4, 9-5, 9-4 (47m)
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GOOD INTENSITY…
You could feel that James and Nick were quite at their ease on the
glass court, and to start with, the Canadian pair seemed to enjoy
themselves quite a lot.
But the speed and nicks that the two Englishmen imposed on there was
quite impressive really, especially James, not that he was playing
better than Nick, but he was getting a lot of attention from the
Canadians!
The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the show, they cheered, the kids lined up
to salute the players, and the queue to get an autograph is getting
longer by the minute…
I’m pretty sure that all the players enjoy this event immensely, as
they get treated with the attention and respect they so deserve…
 "We played well, we actually
wanted to be pushed, we needed an intense encounter, and that’s
exactly what we got. And we played better and better as the match
progressed.
"We never underestimate a pair just because they don’t have a top
world ranking. If you do, you get into all sorts of trouble.."
James/Nick |
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 "We got to a very good start,
because we didn’t have anything to lose, and didn’t think we had a
chance, so we were enjoying ourselves, and going for shots.
"And then, we realised that we did have a chance to win, and we
froze, and made mistakes…
"The most difficult when you play Nick and James, is to fight for
the space, as they are both quite tall…"
Matt/Shawn |
Last 16:
Willstrop/Matthew v
Grayson/Knight (Nzl) or Khan/Khan (Pak)
Giuffre/DeLierre v Gough/Evans (Wal)
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