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• Natalie Grinham Celebrates Triple Gold On Final Day In Melbourne
Australia's Natalie Grinham became the indisputable squash star of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne today after winning gold in the Mixed Doubles and Women's Doubles events – bring her total haul to a record three gold medals at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre after clinching the Women's Singles crown last week.
The 28-year-old from Toowoomba in Queensland became the first squash player to win three medals of any kind in a single Games – a feat which was later mirrored by fellow Aussies Rachael Grinham and David Palmer. Rachael was runner-up to her younger sister in the singles event, then shared gold with Natalie in the Women's Doubles and bronze with Palmer in the Mixed – Palmer also taking a bronze in the Men's Doubles to complement his silver in the singles.
Another Games record was achieved today by England's Lee Beachill & Peter Nicol, who became the first players to successfully defend a Commonwealth title after beating Australian favourites Stewart Boswell & Anthony Ricketts in a marathon 142-minute Men's Doubles final – the last, and longest, match of the Melbourne Games.
Furthermore, England's Vicky Botwright became the only player to win two doubles medals after missing out in the singles - picking up silver in the Mixed and bronze in the Women's.
Natalie Grinham began her hat-trick haul in the Mixed final when she and Joseph Kneipp, the third seeds, recovered from a game down to beat England's fourth seeds Vicky Botwright & James Willstrop 6-9, 9-6, 9-5, 9-6 in 65 minutes.
In the bronze medal play-off, sister Rachael & David Palmer beat second-seeded New Zealanders Shelley Kitchen & Glen Wilson 9-4, 9-6, 9-6 in what was expected to be the final.
After a short break, Natalie was back in action on the unique all-glass court at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre with Rachael - eager to prove the seeding committee correct in the women's final against second seeds Shelley Kitchen & Tamsyn Leevey, the New Zealand pair that won the World Doubles title on the same court in January.
The kiwis took the first game for the loss of just a single point, but the home pair struck back to clinch the title 1-9, 9-4, 9-3, 9-3 after 56 minutes.
"It’s unbelievable, I have no words," said Natalie afterwards. "After a shower and a break, it will sink in and I’ll probably be screaming from the rooftops."
Rachael added: "We know each other so well. We have an advantage over most teams as our communication is always there. It’s really great for us."
In the bronze medal play-off, England's Tania Bailey & Vicky Botwright defeated New Zealand's Louise Crome & Lara Petera 10-8, 4-9, 9-4, 9-6 in 81 minutes.
The men's final provided the most dramatic doubles battle of all – contained within four games, but spread over more than two hours, with the final game alone lasting just a minute less than an hour!
The top-seeded Australians Stewart Boswell & Anthony Ricketts opened up a one-game lead – but determined Englishmen Nicol and Beachill fought back to clinch an impressive 7-9, 9-7, 9-1, 10-8 triumph in 142 minutes!
“It was a hard brutal game,” said double gold medallist Nicol. “The final point was incredibly nerve-wracking. It’s just a game of attrition in doubles.
“This means everything to me. The singles final was the best game of my life, and this was the hardest.”
In the bronze medal play-off, Australians Dan Jenson & David Palmer beat New Zealanders Campbell Grayson & Martin Knight 9-2, 9-4, 6-9, 9-6.
Palmer said afterwards: "I'm really pleased with the effort, given that I had the worst preparation ever. Three medals given that I almost pulled out is a good result. Shame I came up against Peter Nicol who played unbelievably all tournament."
Hosts Australia top the final squash medals table,
with eight medals in total (3 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze),
followed by England with five (2 gold, 1 silver, 2
bronze) and New Zealand with two (1 silver, 1
bronze). |
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Sat 25th, Doubles Day FOUR:
Hosts To Contest All Three
As predicted by the seedings, hosts Australia will contest all three squash doubles finals in the Commonwealth Games after the completion of two long sessions of semi-final play today at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. For the second time in a week, Australian Natalie Grinham got the better of her older sister Rachael Grinham - in the Mixed Doubles semi-finals - and is now in line to become the first player in history to win three gold medals in a single Games.
Natalie started her day partnering Rachael in the first Women's Doubles semi-final, where the top-seeded pair triumphed 5-9, 9-3, 9-3, 9-6 over England's third seeds Tania Bailey & Vicky Botwright in 65 minutes.
The Queenslanders will face Shelley Kitchen & Tamsyn Leevey after the second seeds fought back from 2/0 down to prevail 3-9, 8-10, 9-4, 9-6, 9-3 in 82 minutes in an all-New Zealand clash with fourth seeds Louise Crome & Lara Petera.
Later, 28-year-old Natalie teamed up with fellow Australian Joseph Kneipp to contrive a 9-7, 9-7, 3-9, 3-9, 9-7 upset in 78 minutes over Rachael and David Palmer, the top seeds in the Mixed Doubles.
Natalie, who beat higher-seeded Rachael to earn a surprise gold medal in last week's women's singles final, is already guaranteed to become the first player to win three medals in a Games. Her golden opportunity in the Mixed final will be against English pair Vicky Botwright & James Willstrop, the fourth seeds who staged one of the most impressive comebacks in Melbourne when they beat second-seeded New Zealanders Shelley Kitchen & Glen Wilson 3-9, 6-9, 13-11, 9-3, 9-3 in 78 minutes.
Wilson, winner of the title in 2002 with Leilani Joyce, will now hope for a bronze medal in 2006.
Peter Nicol and Lee Beachill are now one match away from becoming the first players to successfully defend a Commonwealth Games squash title. The Englishmen, who beat Stewart Boswell & Anthony Ricketts in the Manchester final, will meet the Australians again in the Melbourne Men's Doubles climax.
Boswell & Ricketts, the top seeds, beat surprise New Zealand opponents Campbell Grayson & Martin Knight, the fifth seeds, 9-6, 11-9, 11-9 in the opening semi-final, while later in the day, the second-seeded English pair recovered from a first game loss to defeat Australia's third seeds Dan Jenson & David Palmer 5-9, 9-4, 9-6, 9-4 in 102 minutes.
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Fri 24th, Doubles Day THREE: Three Countries Line Up For Doubles Medals In Melbourne
New Zealand, England and hosts Australia will contest the semi-finals in all three squash doubles events after a late conclusion to an packed day of Commonwealth Games action at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
England's defending champions Lee Beachill & Peter Nicol were taken to the wire in the last Men's Doubles quarter-final before triumphing 8-10, 9-2, 9-2, 3-9, 9-6 in 87 minutes over eighth-seeded Scots Harry Leitch & John White. The second seeds now face Australia's No3 seeds Dan Jenson & David Palmer for a place in their second successive final.
New Zealand secured an unexpected place in the other semi-final when Campbell Grayson & Martin Knight prevailed in a 123-minute marathon battle against England's fourth seeds Nick Matthew & James Willstrop. The kiwi pair, listed at 132 and 121, respectively, in the world (singles) rankings – but bronze medal winners in January's World Doubles Championships in Melbourne – beat the experienced Englishmen 9-4, 5-9, 9-5, 9-6.
Grayson & Knight will face top seeds Stewart Boswell & Anthony Ricketts in a repeat of the January semi-final. The Australian pair faced their first real battle in this event when they went 2/1 down to seventh seeds Rodney Durbach & Adrian Hansen. The event favourites ultimately took the upper hand, beating the South Africans 9-7, 6-9, 7-9, 9-7, 9-5 in 98 minutes.
The Women's event saw the conclusion of the qualifying matches in the two pools – with Australian sisters Natalie Grinham & Rachael Grinham, the favourites, beating New Zealand's fourth seeds Louise Crome & Lara Petera 9-4, 11-9, 7-9, 9-4, then Papa New Guineans Naluge Guy & Eli Webb 9-5, 9-3, 9-2 to take top position in Pool 1.
Top slot in the other pool went to the second-seeded pair Shelley Kitchen & Tamsyn Leevey – but only after the New Zealanders eked out a 6-9, 9-6, 9-6, 5-9, 9-5 victory in 75 minutes over England's third seeds Tania Bailey & Vicky Botwright.
The Grinhams will take on Bailey and Botwright in one semi-final, while Kitchen & Leevey will face compatriots Crome & Petera in the other – which will guarantee at last a silver medal to New Zealand.
Top seeds Rachael Grinham & David Palmer clinched the last quarter-final slot in the mixed event minutes before midnight in the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. The Australians beat England's seventh seeds Alison Waters & Adrian Grant 9-1, 9-6, 11-9 and will now face fellow countrymen Natalie Grinham & Joseph Kneipp for a place in the final. It will be the second time in a few days that Rachael has had to battle against her sister since Natalie beat her older sibling in last week's women's singles final.
The other mixed semi-final will also feature two players who will also compete in the women's semi-finals. Second seeds Shelley Kitchen & Glen Wilson take on England's fourth seeds Vicky Botwright & James Willstrop – with New Zealander Glen Wilson aiming to repeat the gold medal success he achieved with Leilani Joyce in the 2002 Games in Manchester.
In the quarter-finals, Kitchen & Wilson beat South Africans
Diana Argyle & Craig van der Wath 9-4, 9-3, 9-5, while the
English pair put paid to an all-Kiwi semi by defeating sixth
seeds Lara
Petera & Callum O'Brien
6-9, 9-5, 9-7, 9-6.
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Men's semi-finals: |
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Thu 23rd,
Doubles Day TWO:
Seeds
Untroubled On Second Day
It took between 13 and 131 minutes to resolve the matches in today's (Thursday) second day of squash doubles qualifying action in the Commonwealth Games as all the leading seeded pairings progressed untroubled at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Australia.
Irish pair Madeline Perry & Steve Richardson claimed the swiftest win of the day, beating Norfolk Islands' Debby Adams & Gye Duncan 9-4, 9-3, 9-2 in just 13 minutes in the mixed doubles – only hours after losing out to Australians Natalie Grinham & Joseph Kneipp, the third seeds, 9-4, 12-10, 9-6 in 38 minutes.
But it took well over two hours to settle the women's doubles clash between New Zealand's fourth seeds Louise Crome & Lara Petera and the fifth seeds from England Jenny Duncalf & Alison Waters – both pairs desperate to finish in the top two of Pool 1 in order to qualify for the semi-finals. It was a protracted 'nip and tuck' affair which eventually went to the higher-seeded Kiwis 9-4, 8-10, 9-7, 7-9, 10-8 in 131 minutes.
Waters, who took part in four qualifying matches 24 hours earlier, went on to partner Duncalf to a 20-minute victory over Papua New Guinea pair Naluge Guy & Eli Webb, then teamed up with Adrian Grant to beat Zambia's Sharon Chimfwembe & Chiluba Chilufya 9-6, 9-5, 9-3 in their final mixed pairs qualifying match.
The top two seeds in the men's doubles event clinched their places in Friday's last sixteen play-offs in contrasting styles. Following the withdrawal of Guyana's Shawn Badrinath & Maxim Weithers, the Australian favourites Stewart Boswell & Anthony Ricketts played just one match to qualify as Pool 1 winners, beating unseeded Kenyans Hartaj Bains & Hardeep Reel 9-4, 9-0, 9-7 in 19 minutes.
England's second seeds Lee Beachill & Peter Nicol, however, clinched their third victory to make sure of finishing at the top of the Pool 2 table. Their 9-6, 9-5, 9-2 win over Norfolk Islanders Gye Duncan & Duncan Gray in 16 minutes takes the defending champions into the last sixteen where they receive a bye into the quarter-finals.
Friday's action sees the Men's and Mixed events move into the
knockout stage, with the last sixteen rounds featuring four
matches, with the top four seeds receiving byes through to the
quarter-finals. Meanwhile, the Women's event continues to
complete the qualifying matches in the two Pools, with pairs
fighting for places in the semi-finals on Saturday. |
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Wed 22nd, Doubles Day ONE: Gold Medallists Nicol & Grinham Maintain Winning Momentum In Doubles
After a rest day following the singles finals, Commonwealth Games squash action turned to doubles as competition for further sets of medals in the men's, women's and mixed doubles got underway today (Wednesday) at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
The two singles gold medallists Peter Nicol and Natalie Grinham maintained their winning ways in all three events. Nicol partnered fellow Englishman Lee Beachill to two victories as they begun the defence of their men's doubles title – taking less than an hour to beat both Nicholas Kyme & James Stout, the 11th seeds from Bermuda, and then Zambians O'Neil Chilambwe & Chiluba Chilufya in qualifying matches in Pool 2.
Australian Natalie Grinham paired up with older sister Rachael Grinham, whom she beat in the women's singles final, to beat English pair Jenny Duncalf & Alison Waters 11-9, 9-3, 10-8 in a tough 55-minute opening match in Pool 1 of the women's doubles.
Later, with Joseph Kneipp in the mixed doubles, Natalie despatched Norfolk Islands pair Debby Adams & Gye Duncan 9-2, 9-1, 9-0 in a mere 12 minutes.
England's Alison Waters had perhaps the most demanding schedule on the opening day of doubles action. Rested during the singles – during which the Londoner celebrated her 22nd birthday – Waters spent more than three hours on court competing in four matches!
With Yorkshire's Jenny Duncalf in the women's doubles qualifiers, Waters beat Jamaica's Karen Anderson & Marlene West 9-1, 9-1, 9-3 before losing in just an hour to the Australian favourites Natalie & Rachael Grinham.
In the
mixed doubles, Waters teamed up with fellow Londoner Adrian Grant.
After enduring a losing five-game 88-minute battle against New
Zealand's sixth seeds Lara Petera & Callum O'Brien, Waters and
Grant rounded off the day with a 9-6 9-3 9-4 victory over Mauritians
Vanessa Florens & Nadeem Hosenbux. |
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Day FIVE:
Peter Nicol & Natalie Grinham
England's Peter Nicol and Australia's Natalie Grinham struck gold in the squash singles finals today (Monday) at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne – Nicol beating top-seeded Australian David Palmer in his third successive singles final to reclaim the title he won eight years ago in Malaysia, and Natalie Grinham upsetting her higher-seeded older sister Rachael Grinham to win the women's crown for the first time.
In the bronze medal play-offs, Lee Beachill beat his England team-mate Nick Matthew in straight games and New Zealand's ninth seed Shelley Kitchen pulled off her third upset in the event by overcoming Malaysia's top seed Nicol David.
In a marathon men's final before a sell-out crowd at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Peter Nicol clinched his third successive Games gold medal with a sensational 9-5, 10-8, 4-9, 9-2 victory over the Australian favourite.
"I am in shock. I can’t believe I have won it," said the 32-year-old from London after his dramatic win over the world No2 in 109 minutes – the longest match of the tournament.
"I was overcome with emotion and I have never felt that before in my entire squash career. I wanted to win so desperately, and I wanted to make amends for Manchester.
"This is everything I have been working for, for the last sixteen months, and for my whole career really," added Nicol, one of the oldest players in the tournament, who won gold in the men’s singles for Scotland in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, and gold for England in the men’s doubles in Manchester. He also took silver in the men’s singles in 2002.
“During that last game, I was so tired - but it was the best game of squash I have ever played. It was a constant mental battle. I knew he was tired and was giving it everything he had to get back in the third game. I knew that if I could get ahead it would be very hard for him.”
“I almost felt that it was my destiny win,” he added, after winning his 52nd major international title.
After taking the first game, Nicol led throughout the second but needed four game balls from 8-5 before finally securing the long energy-sapping game 10-8. Palmer took the upper hand against the increasingly tired-looking Englishman in the third and, after a brief break while a cut to a finger on Nicol's left hand was treated, the Australian reduced the deficit by winning the game.
However, it was a rejuvenated Nicol that returned for the fourth and, in a single hand from 5-2 up, took the game and the match with a sensational display of the highest-quality squash.
Lee Beachill, the fifth seed from Pontefract, beat seventh-seeded Nick Matthew 9-3, 9-7, 9-3 for the men’s bronze medal.
"I came off the court last night, having lost the semi-finals, and didn’t really feel that I had done anything wrong, so I was hoping to get back on the court today and just pick up where I had left off," said Beachill afterwards.
“After my operation at Christmas, the Commonwealth Games were a big target for me. I would have been devastated to miss it. To come here and get a singles medal is brilliant."
For Nick Matthew, from Sheffield, it was the third all-England clash that he had battled and the second he had lost. Afterwards he revealed: "Motivation wasn’t a problem - I just felt mentally drained. It was definitely hard to be at 100% level, but Lee deserved to win.
“I have slightly mixed emotions. I am delighted with the way I performed here. I have played some of the best squash of my career and came incredibly close to the finals. But I'm disappointed that I have ended up with nothing.”
Queenslander Natalie Grinham, the third seed, reached the final after a stunning upset over Malaysian favourite Nicol David, the world No1, in the semi-finals. Clearly buoyed by her eve-of-event wedding to Dutch international Tommy Berden, and her 28th birthday on the opening day of competition, Natalie maintained her excellent form to defeat her second-seeded sister Rachael 2-9, 9-6, 9-1, 9-6 in 49 minutes.
Despite both having played on the WISPA World Tour for more than ten years, the pair have only faced each other ten times since their first meeting in 2001 in the KL Open in Malaysia – their only other meeting in a final. This was also Natalie's first win over 29-year-old Rachael for two years.
"I was pretty high on winning yesterday – actually I got the feeling I'd won the gold medal when I beat the world number one," said Natalie later to www.cgsquash.com. "It's a shock for us this week as our Mum was there during the whole event – and normally when she comes, we have an awful tournament.
"Who does she support? Me, of course, I'm the youngest - she feels sorry for me!"
Rachael, who maintained a 17-month hold on the world number one ranking until last December, admitted that Natalie is playing well at the moment, and that she found it difficult motivating herself to beat her younger sister in the final – "I guess it felt like we already won, just in reaching the final."
"I didn't have my sister in my corner to coach me – that's what went wrong today!" joked Grinham senior.
Nicol David started strongly in the women's bronze medal play-off, winning the opening game against Kitchen.
But the 26-year-old from Auckland rebounded in the second game to draw level, then kept her momentum going to close out a memorable 5-9, 9-6, 9-5, 9-2 victory in 53 minutes.
"This was a tough game for me,” commented Kitchen after her first win in nine meetings since 2003.
“From the very start I knew it was going to be tough but I slowly found my rhythm towards the end of the second game."
David was full of praise for the performance of her opponent.
“She always gives it her best, she played a great game," said David. "Yesterday really took it out of me and to come back and play my best was difficult."
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Day FOUR:
Hosts Dominate Games
Hosts Australia are in line to win double gold in the squash singles events at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne after men's favourite David Palmer fought through to the men's final - where he will meet England's former champion Peter Nicol - and Queensland sisters Rachael Grinham and Natalie Grinham will play out a surprise all-Australian women's final after third seed Natalie knocked out Malaysian favourite Nicol David.
The younger Grinham sister caused the biggest semi-finals day shock when she ousted David, the 22-year-old from Penang who arrived in Melbourne as World Champion, Asian champion and world number one – and was widely tipped to win her first Commonwealth Games gold medal.
Despite regularly training together in Amsterdam, the younger Grinham sister had not beaten David since 2004. But clearly inspired by her eve-of-Games wedding to Dutch squash international Tommy Berden, and her 28th birthday on the opening day of the event, Natalie twice came from behind to defeat the top-seeded Malaysian 9-10, 9-7, 4-9, 9-6, 9-3 in 85 minutes.
"I did my best and tried to take control of the match but she just took advantage of everything," said Nicol David later.
Natalie Grinham agreed that the conditions suited her well: "The crowd really helped me," said the world No4 from Toowoomba.
In the other women's semi-final, Rachael Grinham stopped New Zealand giant-killer Shelley Kitchen 10-8, 9-4, 9-2 in 41 minutes. The No9 seed from Auckland had reached the semis after two successive upsets over higher-seeded English opponents, but 29-year-old Grinham senior was just too strong, leaving the Kiwi to fight for a bronze medal against Nicol David.
"Tomorrow, Natalie and I won't care who'll win, we'll be happy for the other one if we lose – we're just going to have a great day, it's everything we could hope for and we couldn't wish for a better result," second seed Rachael, a bronze medallist in 2002, told www.cgsquash.com.
The pair's meeting will ensure that the women's title will remain in Australian hands for the third successive Games after wins by Michelle Martin in 1998 and Sarah Fitz-Gerald in 2002.
The first men's semi-finals at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre produced an epic battle between English team-mates Peter Nicol and Nick Matthew, with fourth seed Nicol prevailing 3-9, 9-5, 9-4, 9-5 in 85 minutes against his seventh-seeded compatriot to reach the final for the third successive year.
Nicol, the singles gold medallist in 1998, will face David Palmer after the top-seeded Australian despatched England's fifth seed Lee Beachill 9-0, 9-4, 9-4 in 59 minutes.
"It was definitely my best performance so far. It was amazing having the crowd on my side," said Palmer, a bronze medallist in the Manchester Games.
Nicol beat Palmer in
the semi-finals in Manchester and currently boasts a 10-6 lead over
the Australian in their head-to-head tally since 2001. But the
Australian was victorious in their most recent meeting, in the
Kuwait Open in March last year. |
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Day THREE:
Matthew & Kitchen Claim Shock
New Zealander Shelley Kitchen and Englishman
Nick Matthew both secured surprise places in the squash
semi-finals in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne after
significant upsets in today's (Saturday) quarter-finals
at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
Matthew staged a dramatic and courageous fight-back
against second-seeded compatriot James Willstrop. Down 1/2 in
games and facing match-ball at 2-8 in the fourth, the seventh seed
from Sheffield refused to give up – saving five match-balls in all
before winning the game 10-8 to draw level, then maintaining his
incredible momentum through the fifth to earn a remarkable 9-3, 3-9,
8-10, 10-8, 9-5 victory in 82 minutes.
”It’s fantastic, I’m in with a medal chance," said
an ecstatic Matthew afterwards. "I think anyone who gets through to
the semis has a good chance of winning. This shows just how strong
English squash is at the moment,” added the recently-crowned British
national champion.
A dejected Willstrop, who goes on to partner
Matthew in the men's doubles, said: “It was a massive scrap out
there. I spilled blood out there, and that’s what I came to do. I
didn’t win it and I’m absolutely devastated.
“It ended for me in the fourth,” said the
22-year-old from Pontefract. “I just didn’t have the energy and I
couldn’t push my legs any more.”
Matthew's success guarantees England at least a
silver medal in the men's event as he will meet team-mate Peter
Nicol in the semi-finals. In the shortest men's quarter-final of
the day, Nicol kept alive his hopes of a third successive appearance
in the final with a confident 9-5, 9-1, 9-3 win over Canada's 12th
seed Graham Ryding in 48 minutes.
Remarkably, the 1998 champion's meeting with
Matthew will mark the third unexpected opponent in a row he has had to
face, as all the expected seeds in his half of the draw made early
exits.
The other men's semi-final will feature top-seeded
Australian David Palmer and England's fifth seed Lee
Beachill. Palmer, the world No2 from Lithgow in New South Wales,
recovered from a game down to beat Scotland's Australian-born sixth
seed John White 2-9, 10-8, 9-6, 9-0 in 79 minutes to reach the
last four for the second successive time.
Beachill put paid to an all-Australian semi-final
when he beat tenth seed Stewart Boswell – the surprise third
round winner over his doubles partner and third seed Anthony
Ricketts - 9-4, 9-3, 9-3 in 73 minutes to make the last four in
the Games for the first time.
Shelley Kitchen has become the giant-killer of the
women's event. The 26-year-old ninth seed from Auckland followed her
shock second round victory over England's fifth seed Jenny Duncalf
by defeating another Team England player, fourth seed Vicky
Botwright, 10-8, 9-5, 9-1 in 42 minutes.
In the semi-finals, Kitchen will face Australia's
second seed Rachael Grinham, who made the last four for the
second time when she ended England's medal hopes with a 1-9, 9-5, 9-5,
9-3 win in 43 minutes over sixth seed Linda Elriani.
Earlier, Malaysian favourite Nicol David
took 44 minutes to overcome England's eighth seed Tania Bailey
9-6, 10-9, 9-3 to set up a semi-final clash with third seed Natalie
Grinham. Rachael's younger sister, from Toowoomba in Queensland,
beat Ireland's No7 seed Madeline Perry 9-1, 9-7, 4-9, 9-3 in 57
minutes.
The squash action has attracted significant crowds
– including HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh - to the
Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. Capacity crowds of more than
2,000 are reported for the quarter-finals through to Monday's finals. |
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England Quartet Dominate Men's Quarter-Finals In Melbourne
England's men celebrated a historic first in today's (Friday) squash action in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne when all four members of the squad secured berths in the quarter-finals at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. Team England narrowly missed out on the same feat in the women's event when New Zealander Shelley Kitchen upset England's fifth seed Jenny Duncalf to take an unexpected place in the last eight.
Fourth seed Peter Nicol confidently progressed towards his third successive appearance in the men's final after a 9-2, 9-2, 9-0 third round defeat of unseeded Canadian Matthew Giuffre. For the second successive time in the event, Nicol's next opponent will be a surprise one, as Canada's Graham Ryding pulled off a shock win over eighth seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar, beating the Malaysian 9-10, 9-1, 9-0, 9-5 in 54 minutes.
Remarkably, it will be Nicol and Ryding's third meeting in a row in the Games after clashing both in Kuala Lumpur and Manchester.
Lee Beachill maintained England's lone presence in the top half of the draw after a 9-1, 9-0, 9-1 victory over Welshman Alex Gough, the 13th seed, in 39 minutes.
"This is the only competition where they use the old scoring system, so some of the score lines here are a bit misleading," said Beachill afterwards. "I felt on top throughout the match and didn’t give him a chance to play his game. I was injured at the end of last year and lost to him just before Christmas. However, I have done a lot of work since then, and I feel that I am getting back to normal.
"I am playing and moving well, and when I do those things right I am pretty tough to beat,” added the fifth seed.
Like Nicol, Beachill also meets a surprise opponent next after tenth seed Stewart Boswell caused the biggest shock in the men's event so far by beating fellow Aussie – and also his doubles partner - Anthony Ricketts, the No3 seed, 10-8, 9-2, 9-7 in 65 minutes.
In the women's event, the top two seeds Nicol David and Rachael Grinham made their debuts after first round byes. Favourite David, the world No1 from Malaysia, cruised to a 9-0, 9-0, 9-3 win in just 21 minutes over Canada's Runa Reta, while Grinham, the second-seeded Queenslander who leads local hopes in the women's event, beat fellow Aussie Kasey Brown 9-3, 9-1, 9-2.
Tennille Swartz, the 18-year-old South African who claimed an unexpected place in the last sixteen after upsetting New Zealand seed Tamsyn Leevey in the opening round, went down bravely to England's Vicky Botwright 9-4, 9-7, 9-7 in 43 minutes.
The No4 seed from Manchester goes on to meet Shelley Kitchen, the 26-year-old ninth seed from Auckland who secured the 9-6, 4-9, 9-6, 9-1 upset over England's Jenny Duncalf in 54 minutes. |
Day ONE:
Jones & Giuffre Jettison
Pakistanis To Reach Last
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Second-seeded
Yorkshireman James Willstrop led the English rout in Melbourne,
beating unseeded Welshman Gavin Jones 9-0, 9-7, 9-1 in 34
minutes. The 22-year-old world No5 from Pontefract will now face his
doubles partner and fellow Yorkshireman Nick Matthew in
Saturday's quarter-finals after the seventh seed from Sheffield overcame
Malaysia's Asian champion Ong Beng Hee, the ninth seed, 9-4 9-2
9-7 in just over an hour.