Day TWO, Wed 5th Sep
 
As the time for the qualifying finals drew near, with most of the players watching the England v India one-day cricket international in the lounge, news came through that sixth seed Stewart Boswell had withdrawn through injury.

Alex Gough moved into Boswell's slot, while the wily Welshman's old slot against James Willstrop was filled by a lucky loser.

Qualifying Finals:

Jan Koukal (Cze) bt  Alex Stait (Eng)              4/11, 2/11, 12/10, 11/1, 11/7 (53m)
                                                                     plays Beachill
Tarek Momen (Egy) bt Bradley Ball (Eng) LL   11/8, 11/4, 5/11, 12/14, 11/9 (63m)
                                                                     plays Gaultier
Davide Bianchetti (Ita) bt Chris Ryder (Eng)  11/6, 11/3, 11/3 (40m)
                                                                     plays Gough
Daryl Selby (Eng) bt Shaun Le Roux (Eng)      11/9, 11/4, 11/3 (37m)
                                                                     plays Palmer

Comeback time at Priory

The first two qualifying finals were both five-setters featuring comebacks - one that succeeded and one that narrowly failed.

Czech Jan Koukal looked all at sea for two games against Alex Stait, and when the Englishman reached 10/8 match ball in the third it looked all over for 'Kouki'. When Jan extended the match by taking that third 12/10 Alex's annoyance was obvious, and he wasn't there for the fourth game. He recovered to contest the fifth strongly, but the Czech drew ahead from 5-all to claim the first main draw place on offer.

Bradley Ball had beaten Tarek Momen last week in Amsterdam, but tonight was surprised by the speed of the young Egyptian, losing an 8/2 lead in the first as he went two down. A comfortable third followed by a 10/5 lead in the fourth suggested he was about to level, but Tarek was having none of it. From that first game ball the pair of them went at it hammer and tong with no letup until the very end.

Momen levelled, earned a match ball at 11/10 which he tinned tamely then did the same at 12/11, and Bradley finally did level it 14/12. The pace never let up as the decider went point for point to 8-all, but Bradley's comeback ultimately fell just short, not helped by three strokes given away in the critical part of the game by hitting the ball back to himself in the middle. Consolation was to come later, as the Lucky Loser spot fell Bradley's way.

The final two matches were much quieter affairs as Davide Bianchetti and Daryl Selby fulfilled their seedings with straight-game wins over Chris Ryder and Shaun Le Roux.  Despite being represented in all four qualifying finals, England had to wait until the last to augment their quota in the main draw as Selby and Ball joined six of their compatriots.

So, qualifying is over and the first five-star tournament of the season begins in earnest tomorrow, still at the Priory Club. If you haven't already, take a look at the court being prepared in the Great Hall ready for the quarter-finals on ...
 

Edgbaston Quote Box
"I'm struggling with my back, I know how far I can push it, but in the first two games he was playing the right game to take advantage of that. "Fortunately he let me in in the third, then took a rest in the fourth to give it a big push in the last, but I managed to hold on …"	"This one was really tough. The first two were incredible for me, all my shots were going in, but I started to get a bit tired in the third and started to play too many shots at the front. "In the fourth he played really well to get to 10/5 and I told myself then to just go for it, go for my shots as there was nothing to lose. It was going fine until I got to match ball – twice – and then he won the game. "I just told myself to hold on in the fifth, I'd lost to Bradley last week, and I lost in Malaysia when I had four match balls, I just wanted to win this one …"

"We play similar games, he is just better at it. I needed to do something, he was just too good. "I think I went on with the wrong attitude, playing a bit too safe, a game that doesn’t necessarily suit me. "It’s so difficult to get matches in against those top guys, I train a lot with people of my level, and we just don’t know how break in in that top barrier. "I’m doing good training, I know I can get close to those guys, that’s why I was so unhappy today. I was keeping up 2/2, 3/3, and suddenly he would break away, and that was what was so disheartening. "So, not happy, but it’s the first hard match of the season…"

"Daryl picks up just everything, he gets that extra ball, not a winner necessarily, but a shot that is good enough to put me under pressure, and he doesn’t make any mistakes, that’s the thing. Just too good. "I made a big effort in the first, he kept on going, and he broke me, more mentally than physically. I need to work on keeping the pressure on, not giving up, I need to learn to push harder.

"An old rib injury flared up two weeks ago during training back home in Australia, and I was hoping it would have cleared in time for me to play - but it hasn't. "I love playing in England and was looking forward to being back in Birmingham after such a long time."

Day ONE, Tue 4th Sep

Qualifying Round One:

[1] Bradley Ball (ENG) bt Lewis Walters (ENG)             11/2, 11/2, 11/5 (22m)
[5] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Tom Hoevenaars (NED)      11/9, 11/6, 11/4 (22m)

Jan Koukal (CZE) bt [4] Saurav Ghosal (IND       11/4, 4/11, 11/3, 11/6 (55m)
Alex Stait (ENG) bt [7] Mark Krajcsak (HUN)        11/8, 11/7, 9/11, 8/11, 11/3 (60m)

Shaun Le Roux (ENG) bt [6] Aaron Frankcomb (AUS)   11/6, 11/8, 11/7 (46m)
[3] Daryl Selby (ENG) bt Tom Pashley (ENG)               11/4, 12/10, 11/6 (36m)

[8] Chris Ryder (ENG) bt Chris Fuller (ENG)                  11/7, 11/5, 11/9 (45m)
[2] Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bt Jesse Engelbrecht (RSA)  11/5, 11/4, 11/4 (30m)
   

English excel at Edgbaston

With the qualification draw taking place at noon, the sixteen hopefuls had the chance to rest, practice or see the sights of Birmingham while waiting for the 6pm start at the Edgbaston Priory Club in the heart of England's second city.

The Priory Club will host the qualifying and round one of the new five-star PSA event, as well as the Junior competitions, with the quarter-finals onward plus the Masters events taking place at Birmingham University's Munrow Centre and Great Hall.

Tonight it was the English who shone, providing five of the eight winners who will contest tomorrow's qualifying finals.

Shaun Le Roux, who performed well in the British Grad Prix which offered a wildcard spot into tis event (won by ex-Birmingham student Jonny Harford), resumed his fine form in beating Australian Aaron Frankcomb in straight games for one of his best-ever wins.

Alex Stait saw a two-game lead over Hungarian champion Mark Krajcsak disappear, but eased through in the fifth when Krajcsak took exception to a 'no let' call early in the decider.

Daryl Selby, winner in Bishops Stortford two weeks ago, and World University champion Chris Ryder won comfortably enough against English youngsters Tom Pashley and Chris Fuller - although Selby struggles to win the second 12/10 after being 8/1 up.

Qualifying top seed Bradley Ball, who reached the quarter-finals in Amsterdam at the weekend, was the fifth Englishman through as he too took on one of England's rising stars in Lewis Walters, and he too won in straight games. Ball now faces Tarek Momen - who he met last week in Amsterdam - after the young Egyptian eased pat Tom Hoevenaars.

Another Amsterdam quarter-finalist Davide Bianchetti, seeded two in this draw, beat an out-of-sorts Jesse Engelbrecht to set up a meeting with Ryder for a place in the main draw, while Czech champion Jan Koukal eased through against Indian champion Saurav Ghosal who was not fully recovered from a recent injury.
 

Edgbaston Quote Box

"I was probably a bit nervous to start with, I lost a few points at the start but managed to come back to win the first. After that I felt good all the way through. "I expected it to be long as he's one of the fittest players around, I was ready to be on court for at least an hour. "In terms of rankings that's my best win and I'm really happy to get through to tomorrow."

"It was a bit of a scrappy game, quite close all the way through. I fell behind quickly in the third and fourth, played well after that but couldn't stop him winning them. He got upset he didn't get a let on a close call early in the fifth and it was quite comfortable for me after that. "Apart from the Andy Gill last week it's my first tournament of the season, I haven't played much over the Summer so it's good to get back into it."

"He played well, I wasn't expecting it to be as hard as that, especially as it was my first match of the season. "I played Davide last year on a glass court, lost in three quite close games. I'm keen to start beating these top guys, and I've got a couple of opportunities coming up over the next few weeks …"

"I was a bit uncomfortable at the start of the match, I wasn't sure if the floor would be slippy, but it was fine and I felt good once my shots started to come to me. "I played Tom several times in juniors so I knew what to expect. I played Bradley last week in Amsterdam and lost 3/1 so I'm looking to do better tomorrow. "I can't stay for the other tournaments coming up, I have to be back at school next week. My next tournament after this will probably be Qatar …"

"I haven't played for weeks, I had an injury to my calf and I couldn't even walk properly a week ago. It's getting better fast, I just hope it clears up completely in time for the British."

"That's one of my quickest matches! Jesse wasn't playing at his best which made it quite easy for me. "I played a couple of good matches in Holland, I'm feeling fit and I like these courts, it's warm but the ball dies at the front and the back, so let's see how far I can go …"

"He hits the ball so hard and he's so strong. He got on top from the start and dominated. "I was in lots of the rallies but couldn't finish them off, but I'm not unhappy with how I played, he was just too strong."

• TODAY • SEMIS • QUARTERS • Round ONE • QUALIFYING •