2005 St. Louis MPM Open
LJ goes Double Dutch

Laurens Jan Anjema  bt Dylan Bennett
   11/8, 11/10(4-2), 11/8 (37m)

The only two Dutchmen in the tournament were drawn to face each other in the first round, with the more experienced Laurens Jan Anjema, fresh from some fine performances in Egypt, getting the better of his young compatriot Dylan Bennett, who celebrates his 21st birthday on Saturday.

"I thought that Dylan played really well, he’s got some great disguise at the front. And I’m really happy that I won the second, because when you’re a bit tired and you lead 2/0, it’s easy to give it a last push, whereas if you are 1/1, it can be very tricky…

"Dylan takes the ball very early, he volleys extremely well. Today, I was not moving well, and as Peter Nicol always says “you only play as well as you move”…"

Laurens Jan Anjema

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"This is probably my first big tournament, so far I’ve only played small ones. I felt good since I’ve been here. I thought I was maybe going to be tired, as I just played five tournaments in a row, and I didn’t know what to expect really. But I felt good…

"In the third, I was always behind, he is such a great player, it was always going to be tough for me to get back into the match. It’s the first time I've played LJ, I didn’t know what to expect, as although we are both from Holland, he lives in England, so we see each other, but we never played …

"I saw he was struggling a bit physically, but so was I… Maybe it would have been another match if I had succeeded to squeeze the second in, but I just couldn’t finish…"

Dylan Bennett

 

Jenson Suffers St Louis Blues

Australia's world No21 Dan Jenson suffered a shock defeat in the MPM St Louis Open Squash Championship when he was beaten in four games by unranked South African Gregory la Mude in the first qualifying round in St Louis, in the US state of Missouri.

La Mude, who represented his country in the 2003 Men's World Team Championships, is now a coach at the Missouri Athletic Club – and last played on the PSA Tour exactly a year ago, in his first appearance in the St Louis Open at his club base.

The South African recovered from a game down to beat Jenson, a former world No5, 3-11 11-5 11-9 11-5 in 35 minutes to set up a meeting with Australia's Raj Nanda for a place in the five-star PSA event's main draw.

The hottest battle for a place in the first round is likely to be the qualifying final between former world top five stars Simon Parke and Stewart Boswell.  Parke, a former world No3 from Yorkshire in England, took four games to overcome Bermuda's Nicholas Kyme 11-3 6-11 11-8 11-6, while Canberra-born Australian Boswell brushed aside local player Dylan Patterson 11-3 11-9 11-3 in 22 minutes.

Both players are fighting back to former form – and will be eager to make their mark on the $61,000 event on the growing US PSA Tour.

Dutchman Dylan Bennett will have hoped for a better way to celebrate his 21st birthday tomorrow (Saturday).  The former European Junior Champion from Eindhoven faced compatriot Laurens Jan Anjema in the first qualifying round – and went down 11-8 11-10 11-8.

RESULTS:        MPM St Louis Open Squash Championship, St Louis, Missouri, USA

1st qualifying round:
Simon Parke (ENG) bt Nicholas Kyme (BER)                                       11-3, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6 (43m)
Stewart Boswell (AUS) bt Dylan Patterson (USA)                             11-3, 11-9, 11-3 (22m)
Scott Handley (ENG) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS)                                  11-9, 11-8, 11-10 (2-0) (36m)
Matthew Giuffre (CAN) bt Beau River (USA)                                    11-4, 11-7, 11-9 (23m)
Eric Galvez (MEX) bt Julian Illingworth (USA)                                 11-3, 11-1, 8-11, 11-7 (31m)
Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Dylan Bennett (NED)                           11-8, 11-10 (4-2), 11-8 (37m)
Raj Nanda (AUS) bt Ian Power (CAN)                                               11-7, 11-6, 11-9 (29m)
Gregory la Mude (RSA) bt Dan Jenson (AUS)                                    3-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (35m)