Aisling Blake Pushes Past Vicky Hynes

Margriet Huisman tried to slow things down against Orla Noom. (photo ©Ron Beck )

The Sunday matinee at Squash Almere on a sparkling-sunny-and-warm afternoon was in two acts, one graceful and suspenseful, the other brute force and sharp talk. Act one, in 72 minutes, ended with Margriet Huisman just barely edging past Orla Noom. Act two, in 37 minutes, was closer than it should have been, as Vicky Hynes enticed her opponent Aisling Blake into a pushing and shoving match, accompanied by a cacaphony of entreaties to the increasingly unsettled referee.

The matchup between Margriet Huisman and Orla Noom, a matchup of familar foes, is above all a contrast in styles, but each with equal determination.

Margriet is more of a finished, controlled package of energy while Orla presents a work in progress.

Orla, the southpaw, was content to let Margriet work her backhand, and so much of the match transpired on the right side of the court. Noom can bring forth a formidable set of weapons, the most devastating of which is her overhead volley kill shot, which she usally unleashes from her forehand (partly explaining Margriet's reticence to work that side of the court) but she did unleash one fine volley kill from the backhand in game three. Accompanying that devastating volley, Noom produces a variety of hard driving shots, which are strong weapons unless she is lured into overhitting. And that was really the story of this match — when Orla Noom kept her hard game measured and under control, it was a powerful weapon which Huisman was unable to counter with anything but defense and running — but when Noom got too wound up, her hard game got her into trouble, creating open balls and strokes.

Orla Noom - ready to unleash another offensive flurry. (photo ©Ron Beck )

And Noom's third weapon, her extraordinary quickness and reach, was the one which almost brought her the match — certainly her reach and occasional touch were the element of surprise and contrast which gave her games one and three and almost the match.

But Margriet Huisman isn't without weapons of her own — in particular a wonderfully effective attacking boast and an offensive lob which died particularly well on these Almere courts.

And Margriet's ability to take the speed off of Orla's drives proved the equalizer that made this match a true battle of equals and a fascinating contest.

The entire contest could easily be summed out as a see-saw contest of momentum shifts and streaks.

Huisman took a lead in the first, only to see it whittled away by a suddenly tighened up series of ferocious drives by Noom.

After Noom won the first at six, Huisman came back in the second carefully reducing the pace whenever and wherever possible. In particular she punished Noom in the back left corner with some soft length that died there time after time - and giving her game two.

Margriet Huisman started off in game three in similar fashion, building a 7-3 lead, and it looked as if she would run away with the match. But again Noom showed the value of her explosive offensive potential, putting together a string of all-court strong points which stymied Huimsan and gave Noom game three and a 2-1 lead.

Margriet Huisman had to do more of the running but came away with the win. (photo ©Ron Beck )

At which juncture, Orla inexplicably produced her only bad patch of errors - namely the entire fourth game. But she impressively regroups, appeared unfatigiuged after an hour of squash, and she came out charging in the fifth, taking a strong 3-0 fifth game lead. At this point, the ball broke, changing everything. Though Orla took the next point, and 4-0 lead, she had lost her momentum if not her full confidence, and Huisman was able to battle her way all the way back to match ball at 8-5. Noom, as we had seen her do all afternoon, once again assumed better control over her power and equalized things at 8-8. It was anyone's match now. But today it was Huisman's as Noom's power got the better of her and she produced two final mistakes, the last a hard drive that came out into herself.

"I find it much harder to play an event in Holland." Orla said. "For whatever reason, it is much easier for me to play and focus when I travel to a tournament rather than when I am at home."

For her competitors, the range of weapons she brings to bear, not to mentioned the lack of fatigue after 75 minutes of hard squash, will make Orla an increasingly difficult opponent at any venue as she gains further control over her power.

NO PEACE ON THE SQUASH COURT

A Battle of Words: Vicky Hynes and Aisling Blake. (photo ©Ron Beck )

The other semi finals was Vicky Hynes versus Aisling Blake, or one more edition of Ireland versus England.

Vicky Hynes was very much the underdog, at eighth seed. She played with the determination of an equal though. While Blake seemed to have a court-coverage advantage, Hynes is deceptively quick around the court and began to gave Blake increasing fits. As the match became closer in the third game, the undercurrent of blocking, pushing and maneuvering came out into the open, with both players shoving each other and Blake accusing Hynes of going for her instead of the ball.

Hynes succeeded in getting Blake involved in this word game and stole the third game. She was actually very much in the fourth for a few points, but then Blake regained a razor-focus on ball movement and produced a series of accurately played points that moved her into the finals after less than forty minutes.

Huisman, who arrived at Almere immediately after a series of tournaments in Malaysia, has been on court for many more minutes than Blake recently, and will have to be ready to run to give Blake a fight in the finals.

Herubo Almere WISPA Open
RESULTS
Semi finals
[1] Aisling Blake (IRL) bt.[8] Vicky Hynes (ENG) 9-4 9-2 8-10 9-3 (37 min)
[3] Margriet Huisman (NL) bt. [2] Orla Noom (NL) 7-9 9-3 7-9 9-1 10-8 (72 min)

Orla Noom looks for the magic answer against Margriet Huisman. (photo ©Ron Beck )