Canada, Holland Crash Land
Sept 29, 2004, Martin Bronstein; SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004;

MARTIN BRONSTEIN REPORTING FROM THE FRANS OTTEN STADION IN THE SUBURBS OF AMSTERDAM      [pools draw]    [pools detailed results]

Wednesday Final Pools Report    [Wednesday report 1]

Vanessa has a tough day against New Zealand photo © 2004 Fritz Borchert

NETHERLANDS LOSE TO KIWIS NOW FACE ENGLAND
Some sportsmen put on their national shirt and play above themselves while others crumble under the nationalistic pressure. Sadly for the Netherlands Vanessa Atkinson falls in the latter group and today lost to Shelley Kitchen, whom she beat in their last two meetings in WISPA tournaments.

After Annelize Naude had taken a quick 3/0 victory over Tamsyn Leevey, the victory for Netherlands was a foregone conclusion with Atkinson, on the top of her form, facing New Zealand’s number one Shelley Kitchen, ranked ten places below here in the WISPA rankings.

It was a strange match with the first game fought almost point for point to 8-8 and Atkinson showing flashes of vast superiority over her opponent. But Shelley would not be intimidated and leading 9-8 hit a tight shot down the left wall which Atkinson could not scrape off and New Zealand were ahead.

The second game saw an astonishing and puzzling change of pace and fortune. Suddenly Atkinson was hitting drops and unexpected boasts that left Shelley standing on the T and the game was over in five minutes, 9-1 to Atkinson. On this form she would destroy Shelley in no time flat, but as quickly as that magic spell appeared, it disappeared and she never recovered that form again. Despite leading the third game 6-4, she was now the victim of well timed boasts - as well as her own badly played backhand boasts.

Shelley won the game 9-7 and in doing so did a lot of damage to Atkinson’s confidence. This showed in the fourth game - a tale of errors and wrong shots. Seriously errors of judgment arose when she was 3-6 down and she tried risky shots when she should have been playing pure percentage squash and letting her opponent make the errors. At 3-8 down there was no way back and Shelley finished with a flourish - an overhead volley into the nick to win 9-3 for a famous personal victory and glorious win for New Zealand and the national coach Dave Clarke.

The match was tied 1/1 but Louise Crome had too much experience for the young Margiet Huisman who has yet to learn the value of consistency. It wasn’t Crome outplayed her opponent as much as outlasted her in the rallies. So it was 2/1 for New Zealand who now play USA in the quarter-finals, while Netherlands face England. Neither of these matches are foregone conclusions and for the USA team they picked one of the softer options and avoided the top four teams. Netherlands too are not necessarily going to lose to England – Atkinson and Naude are a tough, experienced pair and could cause England some problems.

CANADA LOSE A SQUEAKER
Canada lost a heartbreakingly close match to Ireland and in doing so drop out of the top eight. The drama started with a very strange five setter between Melanie Jans Burke and Aisling Blake. Blake took the first two games 10-8 and 9-0 which would lead anyone to believe that it was all over. But she regained her form and took the next two games for the loss of two points. The fifth game was a nailbiter that went point for point with Jans Burke always playing catchup. She kept her cool throughout while Blake was getting a trifle upset by some of the referee’s decisions – silly really because there were no really bad decisions being made. The Canadian only went short when the shot was truly on while Blake would go for the flashy winner and lose the point. It was Jans Burke’s unruffled demeanour that tipped the balance and she took the game 9-7 for a fine 71 minute victory.

Runa Ruta was on next and simply does not have the world experience that Madeline Perry has gained from years on the circuit. Perry won in 21 minutes losing just five points in the process. This left the number threes to fight for glory and Alana Miller seemed to have the measure of Anna McGeever in winning the first two games, her enormous reach and lovely delayed short boasts helping to achieve dominance. But it was now Ireland’s turn to stage a recovery and McGeever dug in and took advantage of Miller’s fatigue towards the end of the games to win 3/2 after 77 minutes of long rallies.

Canada, seeded eight will now have to beat France tomorrow in the hope of finishing at least ninth. France lost to South Africa today, resting Isabelle Stoehr, which means they will be at full strength.

QUARTER FINALS MATCHUPS:
Australia vs Malaysia
Egypt vs Ireland
USA vs New Zealand
Netherlands vs England

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