Newcomers Subdued In PSL Debuts
But St George's Hill debutante Sarah Fitz-Gerald, the record five-times world champion from Australia making her return after a two-season absence from the league, put the home team ahead with a confident 9-2 9-3 9-0 win over the Croydon club's Lauren Briggs, the Mamut English Open champion who is ranked 23 in the world.
It was downhill for the hosts thereafter, however, as visitors Surrey Health & Racquets took charge to record a 4/1 win which takes them to top of the Group B points table.
The Croydon club's most decisive victory was delivered by Peter Nicol, the distinguished four-times Commonwealth Games gold medallist who retired from the professional circuit last month. On the day that he chalked up an incredible and unparalleled 150 successive months (more than 12 years) in the world's top ten rankings, Nicol crushed Daryl Selby 9-4, 9-6, 9-2.
The other Group B tie saw league veterans UniSport Guildford clinch a 3/2 win over long-time south coast rivals Tinos Homes Chichester. Londoner Alison Waters, who has just returned from Canada where she played a significant part in England's triumphant win in the Women's World Team Championships in Edmonton, put the Surrey visitors ahead with a 9-7, 9-7, 9-4 win over Chichester's Danish debutante Line Hansen.
Team veteran Stephen Meads clinched victory for Guildford with a 15-13, 9-6, 4-9, 9-5 victory over Ben Garner, the Chichester stalwart playing his last match for the club before taking up a coaching role in Baltimore in the USA.
Welsh No1 Alex Gough, the newly-crowned British Open Over-35 champion making his Chichester debut, scored a late consolation point for the hosts when he beat the Guildford No1 Stacey Ross 3-9, 9-5, 9-5, 9-3.
It was a less-than-full-strength Esporta Oxford which arrived in Birmingham to take on the University team in their second season in the PSL. Lancashire's Laura-Jane Lengthorn put the student squad in the driving seat with a 9-1, 9-4, 9-3 win over the visitors' Deon Saffery.
Later, Jonathan Harford and Joel Hinds – members of the title-winning Great Britain squad in last month's World University Championships - beat Rob Sutherland and Kristen Johnson, respectively, to extend the Birmingham team's lead, before Joey Barrington made it maximum points for the hosts with a 9-4, 9-3, 9-6 victory in the top string clash with Scott Handley. The whitewash takes University of Birmingham to top of the Group A points table.
Elsewhere in the Group, Nottingham achieved something they failed to do all last season – win a tie! The East Midlands team visited Pontefract, the Yorkshire club playing in the PSL for the first without their previous seasons' 'partners' Manchester. New Zealand No1 Shelley Kitchen, now based in Pontefract, score the home club's sole point by beating England's Dominique Lloyd-Walter 9-4, 9-4, 9-0.
Nottingham newcomer Hardeep Reel, the Kenyan No1, began the recovery for the visitors with a 9-6 9-3, 9-3 win over Pontefract's Andrew Cross. Nottingham stalwart Simon Parke took 65 minutes to earn another valuable point for his club with a hard-fought 7-9, 9-5, 11-9, 6-9, 9-4 over Leeds University student Saurav Ghosal, the new Indian national champion.
But Nottingham's standout result was at top string where Malaysian Ong Beng Hee, making his first PSL appearance for the club, beat Pontefract-based world No5 James Willstrop 9-5, 7-9, 10-8, 9-6 in 44 minutes. It was the Yorkshireman's first competitive match since undergoing surgery on his racket hand following his appearance in the Dunlop British Open last month.
1st round results:
Group A:
Pontefract 1 Nottingham 4
James Willstrop lost to Ong Beng Hee 5-9, 9-7, 8-10, 6-9 (44m)
Saurav Ghosal lost to Simon Parke 9-7, 5-9, 9-11, 9-6, 4-9 (65m)
Stuart Crawford lost to Jethro Binns 4-9, 6-9, 11-9, 4-9 (37m)
Andrew Cross lost to Hardeep Reel 6-9, 3-9, 3-9 (33m)
Shelley Kitchen bt Dominique Lloyd-Walter 9-4, 9-4, 9-0 (33m)
University of Birmingham 5 Esporta Oxford 0
Joey Barrington bt Scott Handley 9-4, 9-3, 9-6 (39m)
Jonathan Harford bt Rob Sutherland 6-9, 10-8, 9-5, 9-4 (45m)
Joel Hinds bt Kristen Johnson 10-8, 9-6, 9-3 (34m)
Stephen Coppinger bt Dominic Hamilton 9-4, 9-7, 9-2 (20m)
Laura-Jane Lengthorn bt Deon Saffery 9-1, 9-4, 9-3 (23m)
Group B:
Tinos Homes Chichester 2 UniSport Guildford 3
Alex Gough bt Stacey Ross 3-9, 9-5, 9-5, 9-3
Ben Garner lost to Stephen Meads 13-15, 6-9, 9-4, 5-9
Peter Genever lost to Jesse Engelbrecht 7-9, 6-9, 12-10, 6-9
Tim Vail bt Alex Ingham 9-2, 9-3, 9-6
Line Hansen lost to Alison Waters 7-9, 7-9, 4-9
Luxfords St George's Hill 1 Surrey H&RC Croydon 4
Alister Walker lost to Anthony Ricketts 8-10, 7-9, 7-9 (46m)
Daryl Selby lost to Peter Nicol 4-9, 6-9, 2-9 (30m)
Tom Richards lost to Davide Bianchetti 1-9, 9-7, 3-9, 8-10 (50m)
Joe Lee lost to Chris Simpson 6-9, 9-3, 4-9, 6-9 (48m)
Sarah Fitz-Gerald bt Lauren Briggs 9-2, 9-3, 9-0 (32m)
PSL TABLES (after 1st round)
(best viewed in ‘Courier New’ font)
Ties Matches Games Pts
P W L W L W L
Group A:
University of Birmingham 1 1 0 5 0 15 1 20
Nottingham 1 1 0 4 1 12 7 17
Pontefract 1 0 1 1 4 7 12 7
Esporta Oxford 1 0 1 0 5 1 15 1
Duffield 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Group B:
Surrey H&RC Croydon 1 1 0 4 1 12 5 17
UniSport Guildford 1 1 0 3 2 10 8 15
Tinos Homes Chichester 1 0 1 2 3 8 10 8
Luxfords St George's Hill 1 0 1 1 4 5 12 5
Probuild Bristol 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0