Selby & Harford Keep England Flag Flying In Bishop's Stortford Festival
1st round:
[1] Daryl Selby (ENG) bt [Q] Robbie Temple (ENG) 11-5, 11-5, 11-8
[8] Jesse Engelbrecht (ZIM) bt [Q] Jens Schoor (GER) 11-5, 11-8, 11-4
[3] Jonathan Harford (ENG) bt Niels Hoevenaars (NED) 11-9, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8
[7] Luca Mastrostefano (ITA) bt Neil Hitchens (ENG) 11-7, 11-4, 11-5
[6] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt Darren Lewis (ENG) 11-7, 11-5, 11-9
[4] Jan Koukal (CZE) bt David Barnett (ENG) 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4
[5] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt [Q] Ben Ford (ENG) 10-11 (1-3), 11-10 (2-0), 7-11, 11-3, 11-10 (3-1)
[Q] Romain Tenant (FRA) bt [2] Scott Handley (ENG) 9-6 ret.
Local hero Daryl Selby and Gloucestershire's Jonathan Harford kept English hopes alive in the BAA Bishop's Stortford Squash Festival after scoring straight games wins in the first round of the inaugural PSA Tour event at the Bishop's Stortford Squash Club in Bishop's Stortford.
A packed house at England's '2007 Club of the Year' was treated to a feast of excellent squash on the opening day of the new event. Third seed Harford opened proceedings with an 11-9, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8 victory over Dutchman Niels Hoevenaars.
The Leeds-based 24-year-old will now meet Luca Mastrostefano after the seventh-seeded Italian made short work of Neil Hitchens - romping to an 11-7, 11-4, 11-5 win over the wild-carded Englishman.
Looking a little rusty in his first competitive match of the new season, Daryl Selby was still too strong for compatriot Robbie Temple, a slightly jaded opponent who had endured an emotive five-game epic qualifying final the previous evening. Temple often allows his emotions to boil over against what he deems as unfair decisions against him by the referee and this was the case in the second game when he received a conduct warning - and pushed his luck too far before being awarded a conduct stroke against him.
Showing improved maturity in the third game, the London-based 21-year-old began to play better and pushed Selby more than in the first two games. But club and event favourite Selby responded appropriately and ran out a comfortable 11-5, 11-5, 11-8 winner.
It was a disastrous session for home players in the bottom half of the draw where all four English players made their exits.
Unseeded Northumbrian David Barnett exposed the inconsistency of fourth seed Jan Koukal when he took a two-game lead over the Czech Republic number one. Barnett, who recently enjoyed success in winning the third Harrow Challenger tournament at the Broxbourne club, looked likely to go through - but Koukal finally got his game together, coming back strongly to win 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.
The only shock of the day took place when second seed Scott Handley was forced to retire after only half a game. 9-6 down against French qualifier Romain Tenant, the experienced Englishman from Oxfordshire decided to stop before doing too much damage to a hamstring strain that will now keep him out of the forthcoming Dutch Open.
The final match proved to be the most dramatic - and longest! Julien Balbo from France had the narrowest of victories against English qualifier Ben Ford. The experienced Ford was close to taking a 2/0 lead until Balbo pinched a second game tie break 12-10 to level the score. Each player then shared the spoils in the next two games only for the full drama to unfold late in the fifth game decider.
An increasingly tense affair raised the temperature even more after Balbo was given a no let after slipping over when he had match ball at 10-9. Frustration boiled over and he had a conduct stroke awarded against him to dramatically go match ball down at 10-11. Impressively, the fifth seed from Chambery managed to galvanise himself and win the next three points to finally beat Ford into weary submission 10-11 (1-3), 11-10 (2-0), 7-11, 11-3, 11-10 (3-1).
Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Daryl Selby (ENG) v [8] Jesse Engelbrecht (ZIM)
[3] Jonathan Harford (ENG) v [7] Luca Mastrostefano (ITA)
[4] Jan Koukal (CZE) v [6] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
[Q] Romain Tenant (FRA) v [5] Julien Balbo (FRA)