MARTIN BRONSTEIN REPORTING FROM THE PALESTRE CLUB, MADRID
SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND OCTOBER 23

THE BATTLES BEGIN

This is not just any old  qualifying tournament with a tuppence  at stake; this is qualifying for the World Open and the last sixteen players in the draw let us all know it. There were some hectic battles, a couple of upsets and a few marathons that surely left the winners in no state for their main draw match  to be played within 24 hours.

England’s Suzie Pierrepoint is a big girl, at least six feet tall –“I’m built like a man” she told me, explaining the need for strength on the court. But she looks all woman and  after she had defeated Tricia Chuah of  Malaysia  in straight games, she was also very happy.  The rankings would have made Chuah a runaway favourite being ranked nearly twenty places higher than Pierrepoint -  26 against 45 – but Pierrepoint is another recovering patient having  suffered real damage to her foot  a year ago in Belfast. She only got back on court properly  after six months out during which she watched her ranking slide from 30  down to 45.   

This tournament is the start of her big climb back and she made no mistake in taking advantage of Chuah’s slightly below-par performance.  In just over half an hour  Pierrepoint had the match tied up. Chuah was hesitant and simply could not read Pierrepoint’s game, constantly finding herself stranded in the wrong part of the court.  
Pierrepoint gives Damen Brown, credit for her present fitness- she spent the summer in the US with him and is now awaiting a visa to  join him on permanent basis. Could Suzy join Natalie Grainger, another former Brit, in the US team in the not too distant future?

[By the way , don’t make any noose jokes while Suzie is around.  Pierrepoint was the official name of England’s hangman. No relation I hasten to add. Pierrepoint was made redundant when capital punishment was abolished 50 years ago].

NOOM CONTINUES RUN
Orla Noom of the Netherlands continued her run of good results with a solid performance  in beating England’s Sarah Kippax  who is ranked nine places above her. It was sixty one minutes of good, well paced squash, the first of the marathons.  Noom won the first two games after a bitty start, but Kippax  kept her composure and took the next two games, the fourth 9-1 as Noome took a breather. The fifth game was pretty convincing for  Noom  and she happily gave credit for her improved performance over the last six months to  fitness guru Alistair McCaw who has also worked with  Natalie Grinham and Elise Ng as well as LJ Anjema. This group, together with Tommy Berden and coach Liz Irving is beginning to make Amsterdam a bit of a squash hotbed. Well, maybe it already is.

CROME KEEPS ON KEEPING ON
Longest match of the day was the  88 minute grind between New Zealand’s Louise Crome and England’s Laura Hill.
There were not a lot of winners but there were also not a lot of mistakes and most of those came from Hill’s wayward forehand. Time after time, with the ball sitting up and she in perfect position to hit the ball anywhere she pleased, she  would crash it into the tin.  [Needs a technical coach badly]. Even so, the outcome was not predictable as the ball was pasted – not always to good length – up and down the court.

While Hill kept Crome behind her in the corners she had the upper hand, and Crome could not find good length when she had Hill out of position. Her coach, Liz Irving told her to get back to basics and get the length  before she mixed it up.

“That’s a bad part of my game, going short too early,” she admitted later.  She led 2/1 but again lost the game plan to lose the fourth and force a fifth. She finally did what her coach told her and ran away with the final game 9-0 to earn a place in the main draw, an accomplishment that lit up her face. (Later she found out that her opponent would be Rachael Grinham….I wasn’t around to see  the expression on her face.)

“I’m really happy – I have never qualified for a  World Open before. I was never comfortable out there because the ball is so bouncy you are always in the wrong position,” she explained.

This was her fourth tournament in four weeks, she said, Tired or sharp, I wondered. “Match sharp but the reserves are beginning to go,” she replied.

CANADIANS BATTLING 500
Runa Reta made her way into the main draw , but it took her 71 minutes to get the 3/1 decision over Elise Ng  of Hong Kong. Reta made a dreadful start losing the first game 9-0 before pulling herself together and getting her head on court together with the rest of her body. It wasn’t easy; Ng gets back some balls that Reta though were well put away,  and although the scoreline reads 0-9 , 9–4, 9-4, 9-3, it was a lot tougher than it looks with the service changing hands six or seven times before the score moved on. This was hard grinding squash and not the sort of preparation any player would want the day before the her main draw match. Reta has drawn Engy Kheirallah, which gives her 24 hours to recover.

“I want to be in the main draw – we all do. So I gave it my all her today and let tomorrow take care of itself,” she said philosophically after the match.

The other Canadian contender, Caroline Russell came out on the wrong end of a contentious 72 minute five game marathon against Ireland’s Aisling Blake.   Almost from the first game, there was argument – yes, argument, the belligerent Blake does not believe in polite debate – and I felt the referee should have put a stop to it, but it continued through the five games and Blake  just had that little more gas in the tank than Greene, whose effort waned in the final game. Black will face Australian Kasey Brown in the main draw, which will be a much harder task and one she will not win with her mouth.

Qualifying finals Results:
Suzie Pierrepont (ENG)  bt Tricia Chuah (MAS) 9-1, 9-6, 9-6 (34mins)
Orla Noom (NED) bt Sarah Kippax (ENG) 9-3, 9-6, 4-9, 1-9, 9-3 (61 mins)
Manuela Manetta (ITA) bt Laura Mylotte (IRL) 9-4, 9-6, 9-1 (34mins)
Louise Crome (NZL) bt Laura Hill (ENG) 9-6, 6-9, 9-, 3-9, 9-0 (88mins)
Runa Reta (CAN) bt  Elise Ng (HKG) 0-9,9-4,9-4,9-3 (71 mins)
Line Hansen (DEN) bt Margriet Huisman (NED) 9-2, 9-7, 9-3 (56mins)
Aisling Blake (IRL)  bt  Carolyn Russell (CAN) 9-0, 5-9, 7-9, 9-7, 9-2 (72mins)
Lauren Briggs (ENG) v Carla Khan (PAK) 7-9, 9-7, 9-3, 9-2 (55mins)