WISPA Irish Squash Open 2003

SquashTalk >News >WISPA Irish Open 1st Round - Afternoon

CURRENT EVENTS
St Louis Open
Kolkata PSA
Seattle WISPA
POF WISPA

RECENT EVENTS
CAS Islamabad
English Open
SquashWorks

CONTENT
Hall of Fame
News Index
RSS Version
Club Links
Gear Links
E-boast Newsletter
(sign up now free)

www.princesquash.com

Irish Open 1st Round - afternoon
By Martin Bronstein in Dublin © 2003 SquashTalk; all rights of reproduction reserved.
April 3, 2003 [full draw/results]

SQUASHTALK PRO SQUASH HEADLINES
	Recent Events: Garrard St Louis Heliopolis Quito Seattle Other info: Audi interviews Video recordings Player profiles Rankings Calendar

MACREE FOILS MALIK

Rebecca Macree does not have the best of reputations among the players and today in the first round of the Irish Open sponsored by Nivea Body ("I Love My Body" posters all over the club) she demonstrated why she is not universally loved like those Nivea bodies. There were more lets and arguments in her match against Tegwen Malik than in all the previous matches combined. She argued every decision, but worse, went fishing for strokes at the slightest opportunity and got madder and madder as referee Jack Allen said 'Let' rather than 'Stroke'. I thought Mr Allen was in a very good mood today, or that he exhibited a sort of sexism: he would never allow a PSA player to get away with so much arguing. If he gives Macree some latitude because of her deafness, then he shouldn't. She wants to be treated exactly the same as the other players.

He did tell her many times to play the ball rather than hold her stroke, but old habits die hard: the new rules regarding minimum interference have yet to sink into many players.

Malik was her usual sublime self, exhibiting incredible speed around the court and picking up shots that looked certain winners. It must be said the Macree, despite suffering from jet lag after her journey back from Dallas, was playing very well, and was making Malik work hard. I have never seen Macree produce so many fine drops. In one rally she put in six wonderful near-winners but Malik picked them all up only to lose the point on tinned boast.

Malik won the first game but it was in the second game that the appeals started coming. The game stalled at 3-3 for about six minutes - which is sometimes as long as whole game - while the service went back and forth, interrupted by constant calls for lets. Finally Macree broke the impasse and went on to win the game 6-9 after 22 minutes of frustrating squash..

Malik was obviously put off by it all (because she makes every effort to go around her opponent to play the ball) and the third game got away from her, 9-1 in five minutes. She was still off her game for the fourth and soon found herself facing match ball at 3-8. But she was determined not to give in and gradually worked her way back into form, managing to ignore Macree's histrionics and face-pulling at the referee and gradually eating at the lead, saving eight match balls until she had pulled level at 8-all. After five changes of service Macree tinned a backhand drop and Malik now had game ball. More lets, more drama until Macree levelled at 9-all when Malik saved another three match balls before succumbing 10-9 in a game that had lasted a ridiculous 39 minutes.

Malik had kept her cool for all the 75 minutes and knew that Macree had to play well to beat her. I have not changed my opinion of the little girl from Wales: she will be a force to reckon with.

TRY TO FORGET THE THONG, WATCH HER PLAY SQUASH

Qualifier Wendy Maitland was giving away 15 ranking place to Vicky Botwright and it showed . Botwright is shaking off 'the thong' incident and is showing that she has improved over the last two years. He shots were sharp, tight and intelligent. Maitland on the other hand could not find length and her bad width allowed Botwright to cut off too many shots for winners. Botwright won the first game and led most of the second game but lost it when Maitland finally put together a string of good rallies, putting pressure on her opponent rather than being on the receiving end. A lucky nick gave her the game ball 10-9, but that would be all her rewards.

The third game was scrappy; short rallies with constant errors from both players. Botwright loves to attack the serve and hit some fine winners, but she also gave away a lot of points. It was a game of little suspense which Botwright won 9-7. Maitland could mount no challenge at all in the fourth which was all over in five minutes, 9-0 for Botwright who will now have the dubious pleasure of meeting Macree in the second round.

IMPECCABLE JACKMAN

Cassie Jackman, who is now the top seed with the withdrawal of Linda Charman, was quite stunning in dismissing Laura Lengthorn in 24 minutes for the loss of just five points. She was quite ruthless and near faultless in her shot making; I cannot remember Cassie hitting so many drops into the nick: she now has a presence and a confidence which she lacked before and I really can't see anyone in the draw making a dent in her very experienced armour. She told me that the little back flare-up that she had in New York was sorted out in a couple of days and now she is fit and raring to go. She looks it too. She will be meeting Jenny Tranfield in the second round and I cannot see Tranfield even taking a game. She beat Shelley Kitchen of New Zealand 3/0 in the first round and although they looked quite even in the first two games, Tranfield had the edge in consistency to win them 9-9 and 9-7. Kitchen had no fight left for the third and Tranfield went straight through 9-0 in four minutes.
There is a lot of potential in the tall New Zealander and I just hope she puts it all together soon to use that potential.

FIRST ROUND RESULTS

[8] Vicky Botwright (Eng) bt [Q]Wendy Maitland 9-5, 9-10, 9-7, 9-0. (47 mins)
[4] Rebecca Macree (Eng) bt [Q] Tegwen Malik (Wal) 6-9, 9-6, 9-1, 10-9. (75 mins)
[6] Jenny Tanfield (Eng) bt Shelley Kitchen (NZ) 9-7, 9-7, 9-0. (37 mins)
[2] Cassie Jackman (Eng) bt [Q] Laura Lengthorn (Eng) 9-0, 9-1, 9-4. (24 mins)



	Schedules/Results Team previews


	Latest news Tournament Calendar Bronstein Global Gallery Videos History Pakistan Squash Camp Index Features Index Player Profiles Worldwide Clubs Worldwide Links Rankings Opinion/Perspective


	About Squash Just starting Books Letters to editor Job Exchange Improve Yourself Find a player Guestbook Advertise on SquashTalk Editorial Staff About Squashtalk

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2005. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 102, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2005 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.