Drew Dashes Ross's Hopes In Wolverhampton Open
Men's semi-finals:
[3] Borja Golan (ESP) bt Scott Handley (ENG) 11-10 (2-0), 8-11, 11-4, 11-8
[Q] Lee Drew (ENG) bt [7] Stacey Ross (ENG) 11-9, 7-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-7
Women's semi-finals:
[1] Vicky Botwright (ENG) bt [Q] Laura Hill (ENG) 9-0, 10-8, 9-4
[2] Laura-Jane Lengthorn (ENG) bt [3] Shelley Kitchen (NZL) 9-6, 4-9, 9-2, 9-4
English qualifier Lee Drew reached his first PSA Tour final for more than four years when he upset seventh-seeded compatriot Stacey Ross in the semi-finals of the inaugural Wolverhampton Open at the Wolverhampton LT&SC in the West Midlands city.
Continuing his giant-killing run in the UK’s largest club-based event, the 30-year-old from Colchester beat his Surrey opponent 11-9, 7-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-7.
"Today was very hard and I had to dig really deep to win," said Drew. "I’m just looking forward to giving it a good go tomorrow. The club has a great feel and atmosphere which really suits my game. My focus tomorrow will again be on enjoying the occasion.”
In the fourth PSA final of his career, Drew will face Borja Golan, the third seed from Spain who defeated England’s unseeded Scott Handley 11-10 (2-0), 8-11, 11-4, 11-8 to reach his fourth World Tour final of the year.
The young Spaniard, who has helped add a real international flavour to the event in which a total of seventeen nationalities have been represented, faced an inspired challenge from his Oxfordshire opponent. Handley played an integral part in the host club winning the 2005 English Premier League title - and received vocal support from a capacity crowd which helped raise his game.
However, after defeating No1 seed Alex Gough in a tough five-game quarter-final, Handley eventually showed signs of fatigue which allowed Golan to become increasingly dominant as the match progressed.
"The match was very hard from the first point until the last,” said the Spaniard, now celebrating the 15th Tour final of his career. “Scott is a very attacking player and I had to be very alert. I tried to balance defence with attack to make long rallies, and tomorrow I think I need to play a very similar game. I’m confident in my fitness and I don’t mind if it is a long match.”
Top English seeds Vicky Botwright and Laura-Jane Lengthorn were both made to battle to reach the women's final, with tough wins over Laura Hill and Shelley Kitchen, respectively.
Botwright, England’s highest ranked women’s squash player who is competing in the event as part of her final preparations for next week's World Open Championships in Belfast, was made to fight against Derbyshire qualifier Laura Hill, before registering a 45-minute 9-0 10-8 9-4 victory.
“I’ve never played Laura before and the way that she has played this week, she is playing to at least world top 20 standard,” said the top-seeded world No5 from Manchester. “The second game was particularly tough. I had to work really hard and I’m just so pleased to have made it to the final.”
Lengthorn, the second seed, also found the going tough against a determined Shelley Kitchen of New Zealand, who captured the second game before eventually losing 9-6 4-9 9-2 9-4 to her 23-year-old opponent from Preston in Lancashire
"The pace that Shelley plays at is just astonishing and it can get on top of you if you are not careful,” said Lengthorn. “I’m now looking forward to playing Vicky in tomorrow's final and hopefully I can raise my game even further.”