2002 SquashTalk coverage will feature live
updates throughout the event from Martin Bronstein

October 18, 2002 from Martin Bronstein at the Herlev Club in Copenhagen

Carol Owens - Dominates Match against Charman (photo ©2002 Fritz Brochert

The brand new McWil glass court glistened in the Herlev Club situated in a dull suburb of Copenhagen. Steeply raked seats behind the court gave it a good spectator/court aspect and Wolfgang Deng, the McWil boss, was on the phone to the makers of the electronic scoreboard in Toronto (got him out of bed at 7 in the morning) to find out how he could put the names up on the scoreboard. He had no intention of wading through the 150 page manual. Over 4,000, miles through the miracle of electronics, Wolfgang was talked through the process and , at exactly1400 hrs local time, the words ‘England ‘and ‘New Zealand’ flashed up on the board as Tania Bailey and Shelley Kitchen walked on the court with its beautiful parquet red oak floor, and started the knock up.

England was expected to win this semi-final simply because of their depth and Tania Bailey started off in confident fashion while Kitchen showed nerves by careless shot selection and lack of a decent length. The first game was over very quickly 9-0 for England but Kitchen warmed up, lost her nerves and finally got into her stride trailing 8-4 in the second.

This now turned into some quality squash with both players hitting the ball with real pace and moving it all over the court.. Now Kitchen had the upper hand and she outplayed Bailey to pull all the way back to 8-all. Bailey wobbled a bit at this unexpected challenge but finally got hand in to get to game ball 9-8. Kitchen was still hitting some superb backhand cross court drives which left Bailey nothing play with and was again back on level terms at 9-9. But a backhand volley finally let her down and on the next rally Bailey finished it off with a fine forehand drive that left the New Zealander no chance, to win 10-9.
On this showing, we were in for a real battle and although the score doesn’t reflect this, it was another great game of all over squash, Shelley attacks the ball fearlessly, specially on the backhand and Bailey is strong all over the court. She has also had more international experience than Kitchen and she knew how to soak up the pressure that Kitchen’s constant volleying put her under. Bailey took some of the wind out of Kitchen’s sails by slotting four serves into the nick and finally emerged a 9-3 winner to end the 37 match and put England one up.

On this showing Kitchen, if she continues to develop, could become a very good number two to Carol Owens and perhaps even get them back as top seeds two years from now.

OWENS COMING INTO HER OWN
Owens has always had a bit of an image problem, feeling that she was always a bad number two to Sarah Fitz-Gerald. Now that she is receiving all sorts of recognition in New Zealand, her adopted country, and she is being recognised in the streets, that essential self belief is beginning to appear. She took on Linda Charman from the first ball, no sign of her former slow starting, nervous persona.

Charman can play superb squash in stretches, but can never seem to string the stretches together over a match when playing those ranked above her.
There was some damn good squash here, but curious lapses from Charman who would left standing waiting for the cross court while the ball was being whacked down the wall. Owens was totally concentrated and gave little away – making Charman earn every point with strategic play and well constructed rallies. Owens led all of the first game to get to 8-3 but gave away one of her few errors to allow Charman back in. The feisty former art student took every advantage and fought back to 6-8 with constant use of the boast to pull Owens around the court. But she got no further and Owens took the 11 minutes game 9-6.

The second game was slightly longer but less rewarding for Charman who could only manage two points due to lapses in concentration and Owens constant attack. The third was over in under nine minutes as Charman lost her length and Owens stepped in to gratefully take the points, winning 9-3. Owens looked good but has not been tested so far. She even had a warm up game against former British champion Paul Carter, now the assistant England coach, and she beat him in a best -of-three, resisting his pleadings for further games. Her final match will probably be against Omney Abdel Kawy in the fight for third place and I doubt whether she will be tested there either.

BRIND ENSURES THE WIN
Despite the match being tied at 1-1 England were fairly certain that they were solid at number three. Stephanie Brind is battle hardened while Lara Petara made more effrort speaking - moaning – at the referee. Brind did nearly fall over the edge at 6-1 when she allowed the Kiwi to comeback and level at 8-8 but she made sure of the next two points and then ran through the next two desultory games in under 15 minutes, 9-3, 9-0.
England will now bird themselves for tomorrow’s final, their opponents almost certainly will be Australia, who meet Egypt in the other semi-final later today.

McWil Courtwall World Team Championships
Semi-Final
ENGLAND 2 NEW ZELAND 1
Linda Charman lost to Carol Owens 6-9, 2-9, 3-9. 35 mins
Tania Bailey beat Shelley Kitchen 9-0, 10-9, 9-3 37 mins
Stephanie Cook beat Lara Petara 10-8, 9-3, 9-0 31minutes