DAVID HARRIS reports from Wimbledon
Elise Lazarus led the way for Essex at last weekend’s England Squash Silver event at Wimbledon.
The number one ranked under-15 player in England from Redbridge Squash Club triumphed in the GU15 final beating Carys Jones from Gloucester 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 in a match controlled entirely by Elise. The match score does not reflect how much the Essex girl was in control of the final. Her constant pressure to Carys’ backhand forced a number of boasts from the back of the court where Elise was always on hand to finish the point with one of her many kill shots.
On her way to the final Elise played, what many considered to be the match of the GU15 tournament, against her Essex team mate Alice Green. The match between these two young ladies was of the highest quality. Elise took the first game 12-10 in a see-saw battle before Alice hit back in the second 11-3. Elise then closed out the match 12-10 and 11-9 but either game could have swung Alice’s way. A great match!
Alice went on to complete her highest finish in an ESR U15 event finishing fourth after losing another closely fought match to Amber Marshall 13-11, 9-11, 9-11, 8-11 in the 3 / 4 match.
Harry Kitchens receives his Plate runners-up trophy
In the Boys’ U15 our sole representative, Harry Kitchens, was beaten in the first round by William Smith 16-14, 4-11, 6-11, 8-11. Harry then put up a sterling fight to make it to the boys’ U15 plate final where he finally succumbed to Dominic Major in four, 13-11, 4-11, 0-11, 9-11.
Essex representation in the BU13 featured Joel Braddock, Oliver Green and Tim Bacon. Having won his first round match, Joel lost in the second round to Kian Howard from Suffolk 6-11, 6-11. 3-11. And following defeat in round three to Daniel Power, Joel finished 16th.
Tim Bacon and Oliver Green both made the third round before losing to Alhassan Khalil (3-2) and Louie Martin (3-0) respectively. Sadly for Timmy, a shoulder injury collected in his previous match resulted in withdrawal from the 7/8 match leaving him classified eigth, while Ollie lost his 5/6 playoff match to Ben Harrison 7-11, 11-8, 8-11,11-8,9-11 in what was another see saw match. Ollie was finally classified sixth.
In the Girl’s U13 competition, Essex had the two E’s competing alongside Amy Aspinall, Ellie Hewes and Eleanor White with all three three girls drawn in the same half. Unfortunately for Amy she had a tough weekend following a bout of tonsillitis losing in the firstt round. A fight back on the Saturday enabled her to make the semi final of the plate before losing out to Amy Pullen 0-3.
Following Eleanor’s first round win, she came up against a very determined Ellie Hewes. Despite a spirited fight back from Eleanor in games two and three, Ellie went on to win 11-3, 11-7, 11-8. Eleanor then defeated Olivia Beasant before going down to Varish 12-10, 8-11, 9-11, 9-11 in the 9/10 match. Eleanor finished 10.
Ellie won her third round match against Amelia Leslie 3-0 before falling to Torrie Malik in the semi final 0-3. In her 3 / 4 place match Katie Maliff provided stiff opposition, as she had done in the final of ESR Silver 1 in Exeter and despite a tremendous effort from Ellie she lolst 8-11, 9-11, 9-11. A terrific effort in only her second ever U13 silver event saw Ellie finish fourth.
In the BU17, Ben Richardson lost his opening round match to Sam McCoy 3-0. His run in the plate round robin saw him up against Jacob Coxon, Alexander Engstrom and George Sawry. Having won 1 and lost 2, Ben finished 3rd in the plate. Joe Blackmur sadly went down 0-3 to Adam Cochrane in round 2 and then 2-3 to Paul Broadberry before rallying to beat Hamish Gillams 3-0 to finish 13.
Aaron Allpress went on to win his second round match against Hasnaat Farooqui 3-1 before falling to Cameron Ward in round three 7-11, 4-11, 4-11. In the 5/8 play-off match Aaron came up against Sam Exelby and for three games the match could have gone either way. But in the 4th, Aaron’s opponent pulled away to complete a 3-1 victory 9-11, 11-8, 8-11. 4-11. Aaron finished 8th. Haydon Smith also competed finishing in the top 16.
An excellent weekend of junior squash sees another strong showing from the Essex contingent. We move on to the 3rd Silver event of the season in Pontefract at the end of December.
Our thanks go out to the staff and members of the Wimbledon Squash and Rackets Club who were as friendly and welcoming as ever and to Prince for sponsoring the whole event.