RESULTS: European Team Squash Championships, Aix-en-Provence, France
Men's Final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [2] FRANCE 4/0
James Willstrop bt Thierry Lincou 7-11, 11-1, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 (82m)
Nick Matthew bt Gregory Gaultier 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 (53m)
Daryl Selby bt Mathieu Castagnet 12-10, 11-7, 11-1 (35m)
Peter Barker bt Renan Lavigne 11-6, 11-5 (17m)
3rd place play-off:
[4] NETHERLANDS bt [3] WALES 3/0
Laurens Jan Anjema bt Jethro Binns 11-2, 11-2, 11-2 (31m)
Dylan Bennett bt Peter Creed 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 (54m)
Sebastian Weenink bt Alex Gough 11-5 ret. (15m)
5th place play-off:
[13] ITALY bt [5] GERMANY 4/0
Davide Bianchetti bt Jens Schoor 11-7, 11-7, 12-10 (48m)
Amr Swelim bt Rudi Rohrmuller 11-8, 11-4, 11-9 (33m)
Stephane Galifi bt Norman Junge 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7 (41m)
Marcus Berrett bt Andre Haschker 11-5, 11-2 (23m)
7th place play-off:
[6] SCOTLAND bt [15] CZECH REPUBLIC 2/2 (Scotland win 8-7 on games countback)
Alan Clyne lost to Jan Koukal 9-11, 9-11, 1-11 (46m)
Jamie MacAulay lost to Petr Martin 10-12, 12-14, 11-9, 11-1, 2-11 (60m)
Lyall Paterson bt Ondrej Ertl 11-9, 13-11, 11-9 (45m)
Stuart Crawford bt Lukas Jelinek 11-3, 7-11, 11-3, 11-5 (46m)
9th place play-off:
[9] SPAIN bt [8] FINLAND 2/2 (Spain win 9-7 on games countback)
Borja Golan lost to Olli Tuominen 11-9, 4-11, 6-11, 3-11 (44m)
Alejandro Garbi Caro bt Matias Tuomi 11-1, 11-9, 11-9 (39m)
Ivan Flores bt Hameed Ahmed 12-10, 6-11, 11-8, 12-10 (54m)
David Vidal lost to Henrik Mustonen 11-8, 11-6, 3-11, 10-12, 1-11 (34m)
11th place play-off:
[7] IRELAND bt [11] SWEDEN 2/2 (Ireland win 9-8 on games countback)
Arthur Gaskin lost to Rasmus Hult 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 2-11, 7-11 (44m)
Steve Richardson bt Carl-Johan Lofvenborg 14-12, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6 (46m)
Niall Rooney bt Sebastian Victor 5-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 (39m)
Derek Ryan lost to Christian Drakenberg 5-11, 11-8, 4-11, 4-11 (42m)
13th place play-off:
[12] SWITZERLAND bt [10] DENMARK 2/2 (Switzerland win 145-127 on points countback)
Nicolas Mueller lost to Kristian Frost Olesen 11-5, 11-3, 10-12, 6-11, 8-11 (64m)
Reiko Peter lost to Caspar Grauball Nielsen 7-11, 7-11, 9-11 (35m)
Benjamin Fischer bt Kim Povlsen 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (30m)
John Williams bt Rasmus Nielsen 1-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7 (54m)
15th place play-off:
[16] BELGIUM bt [14] HUNGARY 3/1
Stefan Casteleyn bt Mark Krajcsak 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6 (70m)
Sam van Brusselen bt Marton Szaboky 11-1, 11-2, 11-2 (24m)
Mark Burke bt Daniel Cseffalvay 16-14, 11-7, 11-6 (35m)
Gregory Lecerf lost to Sandor Fulop 11-13, 8-11, 11-8, 6-11 (42m)
17th place play-off:
[27] SLOVAKIA bt [20] UKRAINE 3/1
Tomas Toth bt Kostiantyn Rybalchenko 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-5 (52m)
Peter Kviecinsky bt Artem Shandybin 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8 (47m)
Marek Zvoncek bt Valeriy Fedoruk 11-9, 7-11, 11-7, 11-7 (34m)
Marek Manik lost to Ruslan Sorochinskiy 11-9, 7-11, 6-11, 8-11 (42m)
19th place play-off:
[18] AUSTRIA bt [17] ISRAEL 3/1
Aqeel Rehman bt Ido Avron 11-4, 13-11, 11-5 (25m)
Stefan Brauneis bt Nir Zisman 15-17, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9 (44m)
Rehan van der Merwe bt Avner Geva 11-7, 4-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8 (55m)
Jakob Dirnberger lost to Nir Arkin 8-11, 3-11, 7-11 (33m)
21st place play-off:
[19] LUXEMBOURG bt [21] GREECE 2/2 (Luxembourg win 8-5 on games countback)
Nathan Sneyd bt Fabian Kalaitzis 11-9, 12-10, 11-6 (29m)
Niall Woodger lost to Declan Christie 11-7, 7-11, 4-11, 11-8, 10-12 (40m)
Daniel Kaiser bt Konstantinos Kargiotis 11-8, 11-4, 11-9 (23m)
Sanjay Raval lost to Petros Tzamaloukas 8-11, 8-11 (19m)
23rd place play-off:
[24] CROATIA bt [23] POLAND 2/2 (Croatia win 8-6 on games countback)
Filip Madaric lost to Wojciech Nowisz 5-11, 4-11, 10-12 (22m)
Petar Galekovic bt Kamil Dominiak 11-6, 11-8, 12-10 (27m)
Srdan Maksimovic lost to Tomasz Abramowski 13-11, 6-11, 11-13, 11-8, 11-13 (60m)
Vedran Svonja bt Marcin Kozik 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 (34m)
25th – 27th place play-off:
[26] CYPRUS bt [25] TURKEY 4/0
Panos Hadjiphilippou bt Ergul Yilmazel 11-5, 11-2, 11-3 (16m)
Joel Meletiou bt Sinan Salih 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 12-14, 11-9 (46m)
Stavros Eftychiou bt Huseyin Gumus 11-4, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7 (32m)
Andreas Koufetas bt Atilla Mustafaoglu 11-9, 11-4, 11-4 (28m)
Final positions: 25 Gibraltar; 26 Cyprus; 27 Turkey
Women's Final:
[2] NETHERLANDS bt [3] FRANCE 2/1
Vanessa Atkinson bt Camille Serme 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-5 (39m)
Annelize Naude lost to Isabelle Stoehr 11-9, 10-12, 11-9, 8-11, 8-11 (65m)
Orla Noom bt Maud Duplomb 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 (22m)
3rd place play-off:
[1] ENGLAND bt [4] IRELAND 2/1
Jenny Duncalf lost to Madeline Perry 11-7, 8-11, 4-11, 11-2, 5-11 (51m)
Tania Bailey bt Zoe Barr 11-2, 11-1, 11-2 (19m)
Sarah Kippax bt Aisling Blake 11-7, 11-3, 11-5 (31m)
5th place play-off:
[5] GERMANY bt [8] ITALY 2/1
Sina Wall lost to Manuela Manetta 6-11, 11-6, 10-12, 7-11 (41m)
Kathrin Rohrmueller bt Sonia Pasteris 11-4, 3-11, 11-8, 11-3 (26m)
Pamela Hathway bt Chiara Ferrari 12-10, 6-11, 11-4, 11-5 (35m)
7th place play-off:
[9] SCOTLAND bt [10] SPAIN 2/1
Frania Gillen-Buchert bt Xisela Aranda Nunez 11-8, 9-11, 3-11, 13-11, 11-9 (60m)
Lisa Aitken lost to Margaux Moros-Pitarch 2-11, 7-11, 13-15 (24m)
Lauren Gray bt Chantal Moros-Pitarch 11-6, 11-9, 11-3 (17m)
9th place play-off:
[7] SWITZERLAND bt [6] DENMARK 2/0
Gaby Schmohl bt Line Hansen 11-4, 13-15, 11-3, 3-11, 11-9 (55m)
Jasmin Ballman bt Marie-Louise Feddern 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (19m)
11th place play-off:
[11] WALES bt [13] AUSTRIA 2/1
Deon Saffery bt Birgit Coufal 11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 15-13 (30m)
Tesni Evans bt Sandra Polak 14-12, 11-9, 5-11, 16-14 (32m)
Stacey Preece lost to Pamela Pancis 9-11, 11-3, 8-11, 9-11 (29m)
13th place play-off:
[12] BELGIUM bt [15] FINLAND 3/0
Kim Hannes bt Saara Valtola 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 11-5 (19m)
Annabel Romedenne bt Elina Kononen 4-11, 13-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9 (50m)
Yara Delagrange bt Michaela Bjornstrom 11-3, 11-7 (12m)
15th place play-off:
[14] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [16] SWEDEN 2/1
Veronika Koukalova lost to Anna-Carin Forstadius 6-11, 5-11, 5-11 (20m)
Hana Vagnerova bt Lovisa Forstadius 11-8, 11-1, 8-11, 9-11, 13-11 (46m)
Anna Klimundova bt Jennie Lindstrom 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 (16m)
17th place play-off:
[18] LUXEMBOURG bt [17] POLAND 2/1
Sandra Denis bt Dominika Witkowska 11-4, 11-3, 15-13 (26m)
Claudia Mich lost to Anna Jurkun 9-11, 8-11, 7-11 (22m)
Francoise Donven bt Vanessa Geroska 11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7 (41m)
19th place play-off:
[19] GREECE bt [20] CYPRUS 3/0
Eliza Kargioti bt Antonia Aristodemou 11-8, 7-11, 11-3, 11-8 (28m)
Nikoleta Pozidi bt Christina Vrahimi 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 14-12 (27m)
Zeta Tzamalouka bt Helen Vrahimis 11-1, 7-11, 11-7 (15m)
21st place: [21] TURKEY
While hosts France suffered double disappointment at finishing as runners-up in both European Team Squash Championships' finals before a packed crowd at the Val de L'Arc sports centre in Aix-en-Provence, there was joy for Netherlands after winning the women's crown for the first time - and delight for England who won the men's title in the premier European Squash Federation event for the 18th successive year.
A surprise loss to third seeds France in the final women's qualifying round put Netherlands, the second seeds, into an unexpected semi-final against England, the favourites who had beaten them in the previous seven finals. But an inspired Dutch performance led to England's first defeat in the 33-year history of the event – and an eighth successive appearance in the climax, against first-time finalists France.
And Dutch stalwart Vanessa Atkinson, the 34-year-old former world number one and world champion who is making her 18th successive appearance in the event since 1993, played a sensational opener – avenging her earlier loss to Camille Serme by beating the young French number one and new world No10 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-5 in 39 minutes.
But, to the delight of the partisan crowd, record 11-time French national champion Isabelle Stoehr battled back to beat Dutch number two Annelize Naude 9-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8 in 65 minutes to bring the hosts back into contention.
However, it was Dutch player Orla Noom who prevailed in the decider, beating Maud Duplomb 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 to give Netherlands their historic maiden win in their 32nd appearance in the championships.
"That sort of match, playing for your country, was more nerve-wracking than my World Open final," admitted Atkinson to www.squashsite.co.uk afterwards. "The crowd were so noisy, I just had to try to block them out and play my game - but playing in such an atmosphere has to lift you.
"In the end I think it came down to my experience against an up-and-coming player just out of juniors. She played the same sort of game as the other day, but hitting it low and hard doesn't work as well on a glass court, and I was finding the corners better than last time.
"She was making errors too, when I was feeling it physically. She'd give me a couple of points which gave me a lift."
France's hopes of fortunes in the men's final were dashed when top seeds England defeated the second seeds 4/0 in the tenth final clash between the two countries in the past 11 years! The win gives England the title for the 18th year in row – the run beginning in the same French city in 1993.
The opening encounter was a brutal match between the countries' second strings – England's former world number two James Willstrop and France's 34-year-old ex-world number one Thierry Lincou. Clearly spurred on by the home crowd, Lincou twice led his long-time European rival.
But Willstrop – whose last defeat in the championships was to Lincou in 2006 – held his nerve to survive 7-11, 11-1, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 after 82 minutes.
In the second match, world No6 Gregory Gaultier – playing in his home town – was unable to dent the determined play of England number one Nick Matthew. It took 53 minutes, with world number two Matthew prevailing 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 to put the visitors 2/0 ahead.
Convincing England wins followed, however, as fourth string Daryl Selby beat Mathieu Castagnet 12-10, 11-7, 11-1, and Peter Barker despatched veteran French campaigner Renan Lavigne in his farewell match for France 11-6, 11-5.
"I was pleased with that," said Willstrop after his opening win. "His level seemed to drop after those tough first and third games - I could feel it as soon as we went back on court. I was pretty consistent throughout. If you beat Thierry in front of a crowd like that you know you've played well."
In the play-offs for third place, former champions England beat Ireland 2/1 in the women's championship, and Netherlands defeated Wales 3/0 in the men's event.
There were some outstanding performances in the play-offs for the lower places – none more so than by Italy. 13th seeds in the men's event, Italy made sure of inclusion in the top eight next year by finishing in fifth place, beating fifth seeds Germany 4/0 in the play-off to record their best result ever. The Italian women's team also earned a best-ever sixth place finish after losing 2/1 to Germany in the play-off for fifth place.
After four years out of the top eight in the women's event, Scotland earned a return to the elite group by beating Spain 2/1 in the play-off for seventh place.
Czech Republic made their debut in the men's championship in 1994 – and have now established themselves in the top eight for the first time after finishing in eighth place, narrowly losing the play-off for seventh place to Scotland after a countback in games.
Lower in the hierarchy, Slovakia and Ukraine will also leave Aix-en-Provence with their best-ever results: The teams met in the play-off for 17th place – with Slovakia winning 3/1 to record their best finish in five appearances, with Ukraine's 18th place their highest finish in their sixth successive appearance.