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28-Aug, Day ONE:
Qualifying under way
Women's Qualifying Round One:
Annelize Naude (Ned) bt Milja Dorenbos (Ned)
9/1, 9/2, 9/2 (24m)
Louise Crome (Nzl) bt Georgina Stoker (Eng)
9/1, 2/9, 9/3, 9/5 (38m)
Dominique
Lloyd-Walter (Eng) bt Lauren Siddall (Eng)
9/5, 9/5, 9/0 (21m)
Aisling Blake (Irl) bt Sarah Kippax (Eng)
9/7, 10/8, 9/5 (46m)
Latasha Khan (Usa)
bt Orla Noom (Ned)
10/8, 9/3, 9/4 (38m)
Lauren Briggs (Eng) bt Elise Ng (Hkg)
9/3, 9/6, 9/4 (40m)
Tricia Chuah (Mas) bt Milou Van Der Heijden (Ned)
9/0, 9/4, 9/1 (20m)
Isabelle Stoehr (Fra) bt Emma Beddoes (Eng)
9/1, 9/3, 9/5 (27m)
Men's Qualifying Round One:
Badr Abdel Aziz (Swe) bt Sander Kock (Ned)
11/9, 11/8, 7/11, 11/6 (45m)
Luca Mastrostefano (Ita) bt Romain Tenant (Fra)
9/11, 11/9, 11/9, 11/5 (49m)
Bradley Hindle (Aus) bt Ben Ford (Eng)
5/11, 11/8, 11/2, 11/6 (47m)
Lucas Buit (Ned) bt Darren Lewis (Eng)
11/6, 11/3, 11/8 (37m)
Piedro Schweertman (Ned) bt Neils Hoevenaars (Ned)
11/5, 11/7, 11/6 (30m)
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Stuart Crawford (Sco)
12/10, 9/11, 11/9, 11/2 (60m)
Jesse Engelbrecht (Rsa) bt Morten Sorenson (Den)
11/5, 11/2, 11/3 (22m)
Julien Balbo (Fra) bt Sebastiaan Weenink (Ned)
12/10, 11/9, 11/7 (34m)
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Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Stuart Crawford (Sco)
12/10, 9/11, 11/9, 11/2 (60m) |
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 "He
gets everything back, you just can't hit a winner. I don't have a
good winning shot and he has good combativity, so it was very hard.
"I had a tough tournament last week at Bishops Stortford and only
three days to prepare fort this one, so I hope to be fresher
tomorrow, but for now I'm very happy to win my first match."
"I played better today than I did last week, I was trying to take it
early and attack as much as I could but I couldn't hit enough
winners. The courts are hot and bouncy, and he's not exactly slow,
and it told on me in the end."
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Julien Balbo (Fra) bt Sebastiaan Weenink (Ned)
12/10, 11/9, 11/7 (34m) |
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 "I'm
a little tired, more mentally than in the legs, I struggled to keep
the intensity up.
"This is a high tin and I made five errors that were that close in
the first game, it took me a little while to adapt.
"He played well though, he was tired but pushed himself well.
"It's difficult to keep the motivation at the highest level when you
play two tournaments in a row, but it's our job after all …"
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 "Very
tough. She was moving me into all four corners very well, dominating
the T.
"But I got better in the last one, I tried to get her off the T a
bit more, getting a bit tighter.
"I managed to move her around a bit more, get a few more points, but
yeah, she's a bit good!"
"Its never easy. I'm glad I won in three games. The first two were
ok, I managed to control her and move her around the court. But at
the end in the third, she started to play better.
"I think that she was struggling a bit on court today because of the
glass court. In the third though, she got better and better. So I
was struggling a bit but I finally managed to finish in 3, so I'm
glad."
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"I don't think I played
very well today, my lengths were poor and I wasn't able to construct
the rallies very well at all. But a win's a win, first rounds are
never pretty but I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
 "I
was 6/1 up in the second game, made a silly mistake and lost my
concentration , but she played very well, she's really strong.
"I've been based here in Amsterdam since November, going back to
Hong Kong a few times for tournaments. It's great to have the
sponsorship from the Hong Kong federation to allow me to do this,
it's great to be able to train with a really good group they've got
here, and travelling to tournaments in Europe is so much better than
coming from Hong Kong every time.
"I feel I'm getting the benefits now, my ranking has risen into the
thirties which means I can get into qualifying for the big
tournaments, so I'm happy with how things are progressing."
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 "I
played him a lot in Dutch tournaments and I've always beaten him, so
although I had to pre-qualify it was a good draw for me. I train
here a lot with Lucas and LJ, mainly on this centre court, so I felt
comfortable on there.
"I'm studying at the Sports Academy in the Hague, there's no squash
involved though, but I keep up the fitness work and training, and I
get time off for important tournaments. When I've finished my
studies I'd like to try playing professionally to see how that goes
…"
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Lucas Buit (Ned) bt Darren Lewis
(Eng) 11/6, 11/3, 11/8 (37m) |
Lucas at home ...
Sima Pad-Bod reports
The first game started off with some
short rallies; but as it went on longer rallies with variety of
shots were produced. Buit played solid squash from the start and
Lewis tried to catch up with him, doing some amazing retrieving.
At two all, the Dutch man collected four consecutive points to reach
6-2 up, but then Darren's retrieving efforts paid off and he managed
to grab four more points. However a couple of clean forehand drop
shots from the front right corner and Darren's mistakes let Buit win
the first game 11/6.
The second game was quite short. However Buit didn't have to do much
as Lewis' racket found the tin seven times during the game. When
Buit was up 4/0, Lewis grabbed two points with a nice backhand drop
from the left front corner following a lovely smash to the opposite
corner. Buit finished off the second game 11/3 giving Lewis one more
point on a stroke.
In the third Lewis made very few errors. Both players coming up neck
to neck until the Dutchman went up 9/8. Lewis couldn't get more
points as Buit's ball died at the forehand back corner to give him
match balls, then his forehand drop shot finally got him through to
the next round. |
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 "I'd
better win on this court, I give a lot of coaching on it, so I'm
very used to the bounce, the lighting, which players who aren't used
to playing on the glass court can take a while to get used to. This
one bounces, it's not dead like some of the all-glass courts, but
it's obviously an advantage for me to play on it.
"I'd never played him before, but I knew he was handy with the
racket, so I got a few rallies going and managed to contain him. He
got better in the third, but I managed to hold on and I was glad to
get through in three.
 "It's
Bradley next, who I'm coaching. We play three or four sessions a
week on this court, so we're both used to it and each other. It
should be close, depends who plays well on the day, but he's a lot
stronger now, he's working with a fitness coach here too …
"Still, not bad for someone who's just turned 40. I'm peaking for
the British Open in Manchester, coaching Natalie mainly, but I
thought I should play the Over 40s there – I should have a
reasonable chance but I'm just enjoying still playing at the
moment."
"Everything … awful !!!"
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Latasha Khan bt. Orla Noom 10/8 9/3 9/4
Khan too steady
Sima Pod-Bod reports
Noom started the first game solidly, reaching 6/2 up shortly after
the match started. But then Khan began to get into her game, hitting
some lovely boasts and trickles that Noom couldn't retrieve to get
three more points.
Noom managed to take another couple of points and save a game ball,
but Khan didn't give up, keeping Noom at the back corners with her
good lengths, forcing her to make a few errors, so that she could
level it at 8 all. Khan won the next couple of points as the ball
hit the tin and the out line to her favour.
Again in the second Noom started off strongly getting 3/0 up, but
she didn't manage to collect any more points as Khan began to play
firmly, taking control of the T and grabbing strings of points to
finish the second 9/3. In the third Khan soon reached 5/0 up,
getting four of her points with her lethal forehand winners.
Noom fought back, winning four points all at the forehand side. But
Khan's steady game didn't let her take aby more and she concluded
the match with a 9/4 win in the third. |
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27-Aug:
Getting Ready:
It's a big job organising events like this, and Tournament Director
Tommy Berden and his team have been busy putting the
finishing touches to the event today.
Here's a few shots of the final venue preparations from Jos Aarts
...
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Birthday bonus
for
Weenink
26-Aug, Pre-Qualifying Finals:
The final places in the qualifying events for the Forexx Dutch Open
were taken up in the pre-qualifying competition held on 26th Aug at
Frans Otten Stadion.
Milja Dorenbos went straight into the women's draw, where she
plays Dutch number two Annelize Naude, when her opponent Dagmar
Vermuelen withdrew ill at the last minute.
In the men's event Sebastiaan Weenink - whose 21st birthday
it is today - and Piedro Schweertman claimed the final two
places.
The men's qualification draw takes place on Tue 28th.
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MEN'S SEMIS:
Sebastiaan Weenink
bye
Bastiaan Meulenbelt bt Frank Hartkoren
11/8, 11/1, 11/7
Piedro Schweertman bt Martijn Kock
11/8, 12/10, 11/7
Rene Mijs bt Bart Ravelli
11/5, 11/7, 11/6
MEN'S FINALS:
Weenink bt Meulenbelt
11/6, 11/9, 11/5
Schweertman bt Mijs
6/11, 11/6, 20/18, 11/7
WOMEN'S FINAL:
Milja Dorenbos bt Dagmar Vermuelen
w/o |
Sebastiaan Weenink |
Piedro Schweertman |
Milja Dorenbos |
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"I
haven’t played a tournament for three months, so that was my first
match back and I felt quite nervous. I have been training really
hard and I wanted to put everything I had been practising into my
game. I felt alright on there but I feel like I need to be even
better tomorrow. 
"He
was injured half way through the first game. When I saw that, I
upped the pace and hit it fast and hard. He wasn’t able to move."
"My
back was stiff, so I couldn’t move. There was nothing I could do.
Everything was alright an hour ago but it just suddenly stuck. 
"Actually
I started well…but in the middle got a bit tired, so I just kept the
pressure on him and won the big points…
"I
started off alright, the first game was fairly low pace which suited
me, as I didn’t have much energy in my legs. After that he gradually
got used that and sped up the pace. I coped pretty well but I was
just too weak. I felt good hitting the ball, but my legs just went."
"In
the first game I was way too nervous, all my shots were loose and
she was showing me to the corners.
"It
was a good game, he played really well, pushing me all over the
court. It's good to get a hard match in to start tournament play
after a long lay-off. 
