RESULTS: British National Squash Championships, National Squash Centre,
Sportcity, Manchester
Men's quarter-finals (1st day):
[1] Peter Nicol (Yorks) bt [7] Simon Parke (Yorks) 15-7, 15-11, 15-8 (50m)
[15] James Willstrop (Yorks) bt [8] Nick Taylor (Lancs) 15-7, 10-15, 9-15,
17-15, 15-9 (87m)
Women's quarter-finals (1st day):
[1] Linda Charman (Sussex) bt Jenny Tranfield (Yorks) 9-3, 9-5, 9-0 (36m)
[4] Rebecca Macree (Essex) bt [8] Pamela Nimmo (Scotland) 9-6, 9-3, 9-1
(34m)
TEENAGER WILLSTROP SURGES ON TO REACH SEMI-FINALS
Yorkshire teenager James Willstrop pulled off another formidable display in
today's (Thursday) quarter-finals of the British National Squash
Championships at the National Squash Centre in Manchester when he fought back
from 2-1 down - and saved a matchball in the fourth - to beat local hero and
eighth seed Nick Taylor.
It was the second successive upset by the 19-year-old World Junior Champion
from Pontefract who beat fourth seed Martin Heath, the world No10 from
Scotland, in the previous round. In tonight's first men's quarter-final on
the all-glass showcourt which staged the Commonwealth Games action last
summer, Willstrop beat Taylor 15-7 10-15 9-15 17-15 15-9 in 87 minutes after
almost throwing the match away in the third and fourth with a succession of
unforced errors.
"The third game was just horrendous," said the delighted 6' 5" tall youngster
after his triumph in the longest match in the competition. "Nick managed to
contain it all in the early part of the match. After the third, I decided to
change my tactic and stay forward - I knew I just had to get back to playing
my own game and when I did, things started to go right for me again."
A disconsolate Taylor, a semi-finalist for the last three years who was
playing his team-mate in the Manchester-Pontefract National League side for
the first time, said: "I was really disappointed with my game - I got the
tactics completely wrong and I felt the whole match was scrappy. But I can't
take anything away from James - he played really well."
Willstrop will meet top seed Peter Nicol in Saturday's semi-finals after the
London-based world No1 beat 1998 champion Simon Parke in an all-Yorkshire
clash. "I put Simon under a lot of pressure in the first game and, though he
pushed forward in the second, I think I had done enough by then," said Nicol
after his 15-7 15-11 15-8 victory in 50 minutes.
"James and I have never played each other before so I'm looking forward to
meeting him - even though I'm giving him ten years!" added the 1996 British
National champion on the prospects of his semi-final encounter.
Sussex's top seed Linda Charman and Essex's No4 seed Rebecca Macree will
renew their rivalry in Saturday's semi-finals after straight games victories
in tonight's women's quarter-final clashes. Charman, the 31-year-old world
No4 from Eastbourne who is bidding to win her first title after three
appearances in the final, ended unseeded Jenny Tranfield's run in the event,
beating the world No13 from Yorkshire 9-3 9-5 9-0 in 36 minutes. Londoner
Macree, boasting a career-high world No9 ranking, defeated Scottish No1
Pamela Nimmo, the world No16 from Edinburgh, 9-6 9-3 9-1 in 34 minutes.
The remaining quarter-final matches will take place on Friday, starting at
6.00pm - featuring Lee Beachill (Yorkshire) v David Evans (Wales); John White
(Scotland) v Alex Gough (Wales); Cassie Jackman (Norfolk) v Stephanie Brind
(Kent); and Tania Bailey (Lincs) v Suzanne Horner (Yorks)
Official website: www.nationalsquashchamps.co.uk