ECC European Club Championships, REPORTS


Daily Reports from Paderborn
Thu 21st, Day ONE Mr Whippy's Diary
Hectic day at the Sportpark The championship got under way with a frantic day of action in the pool stages. The women's pools were decided, and the top men's seeds all won the victories expected of them. There were a lot of easy wins (Andrew Whipp dropped just one point in two matches, although we did have one 10-9 in the fifth) as some semi and ex pros took on some of the top names of world squash. So today we just picked some interesting-looking matches and followed them ... Day two woll see the women's quarter and semi-finals, while the men finalise group positions in the morning and move into semi-finals and play-offs in the evening.

Top Women into Semis
Daniel Zilic rounds off Day One with the women

To finish off the day I was able to catch a glimpse of the women's action, my particular focus was on the two top-seeded teams, which are ISC Bordesholm and Pontefract Squash & Leisure Club.

Pontefract 3 Mikkeli 0

Pontefract is fielding, as they do every year, a very young team of home-grown players. Against Mikkeli Squash Club they rested Kirsty McPhee, so Deon Saffery played Marianna Vanahaanen.

This match was pretty much the same as the other matches (at one Rebecca Botwright took on Jutta Tuunanen, at two Lauren Siddal beat Saara Valtola): the Finnish girls putting on a brave fight, but the English girl just playing at a higher level. Rebecca Botwright was particularly impressive with her very good court coverage.

Bordesholm 3 Antibes 3

Top seeds Bordesholm also rested their player at third string Daniela Schumann, so that Jessica Reese jumped in to play Virginie Fribourg. Reese started off rather nervously but prevailed 3:0 after 30 minutes of good squash. The best match was between Holland's Annelize Naude, the tournament´s highest ranked female player, and former WISPA player Annabel Romedenne of Belgium.

To finish off Katharina Witt wrapped up the victory with a harder than expected win over Emillie Bouzeza. Bouzeza plays a double-handed backhand, making things a little tricky at first for Witt. All in all it was a bit of a scrappy match, so I think Katharina was just happy to get it over and done with in the end.

Antibes still make it through to the quarter-finals, where they SAS Wien - the winner to play Pontefract in the semis.

Pick a Winner if you can ...

Pontefract and Bordesholm are through to the semis now, where they are likely to play Odense of Denmark and SAS Wien Energie of Austria if these two teams get through their quarterfinals tomorrow morning. I would say there is no definite favourite so a potential Pontefract v Bordesholm final could go right to the wire.

“Annabelle is a very smart player and I enjoyed the match. I really needed a good runaround as this morning´s match was a bit short. It is a bit of a pity some of the top female players have pulled out, but I guess that increases our chances of winning the title. Last year I finished fourth playing for my Dutch team, but this year I am pretty certain we will do better than that.”

Annelize Naude
Bordesholm, Germany

Antibes happy to be through

Crowds turn out for
Nicol & Paderborn

Paderbord 4 Wien Neudorf 0

The home team had to wait until the final session to get into action, but had the advantage of all four matches on the showcourt, a big crowd, many of whom had never watched competitive squash before, and opponents who pretty much knew their places.

The Paderborners, led by Peter Nicol, despatched the Austrian outfit for the loss of just 23 points, to the delight of the crowd, who will be back with a vengeance for tomorrow's semi-finals, which Paderborn condifently expect to reach.

The Nicol match summed it up. The Boss was never out of second gear, moving Leopold Czaska mercilessly around the court until an error of a simple winner presented itself. Some entertaining rallies, but the result was never in doubt.

Some of the squash newcomers (compere for the evening Norman Farthing asked for a show of hands, and a good few were raised) might have thought a shock was on the cards when Czaska moved into a 3-1 lead in the first ... but he never got another point.

So for Paderborn another runout in the morning against Newlands, then the serious stuff, probably against Denmark's Herlev/Hjerten, but Gothenburg may spring a surprise in the Scandinavian duel.

The other favoured men's teams, Razsadombi of Hungary and England's Colets, weren't stretched today and will almost certainly meet tomorrow evening.

"I'm dying!

I used to be a pro until two years ago, but I'm not playing so much now, and the pace that he plays at is just killing.

I could keep up for the first few points, but after that it was just torture.

We've got Paderborn II tomorrow in the 9/12 play-offs, so we should win that. It might have been different if we'd had Lee [Beachill] and Andreas Fuchs playing ..."

Leopold Czaska
Wien Neudorf, Austria

Marcus the Sacrificial Lamb ?

Speculation is rife here at to how many times the highest-ranked man in the event, France's Gregory Gaultier, will get to play.

His Razsadombi team, the top seeds from Hungary, are points-laden, meaning that if Gregory, a 30-point man, plays then they will need to field a weakened lower order to stay within the 60-point limit. So Marcus Berrett, who was rested in their one match yesterday, may end up playing one should they reach the final stages, to make the team stronger lower down.

All will be revealed on Friday ...

Hi Fram,

All is well in Germany, no problems so far… The club is huge, which is not the case of our hotel rooms a bit on the small side…

The tournament is now at his cruising speed, but at the moment, the group matches are not too difficult…

Speak with you soon,

Grégory Gaultier

Men's Pool B:
Newlands 4-0 Wiener Neudorf
Daniel Zilic on session two

Many of today's matches featured one of the top seeded teams playing a lower ranked team, so I chose to follow the Newlands Lawn Tennis Club (7th seed) v Volksbank Squash Union Wiener Neudorf (10th seed) match up, which promised to be a bit closer.

The Austrian team are missing some of their top players, so the Scottish team went in as slight favourites. At fourth string Barry Sutherland gave Nick Gould a good run-around winning 3:0. It needs to be said that Nick basically has given up playing and only played due to players missing, nevertheless it was quite a pleasure to watch Barry Sutherland flick the ball around the court. Next door Chris Small was able to beat Ivan Djordjeivic in four.

Hadrian Stiff, a former PSA top 60 player and certainly still one of the most talented players around here, had no trouble with Austrian number two Leopold Czaska, who could not make his mind up whether to try really hard or simply give up. There were a couple of good rallies (the ones where Czaska really tried and Hadrian used his great deception) but it was a clear-cut win for Hadrian in the end.

Despite being a dead rubber at second string, Mark Ford and Andreas Freudensprung really battled it out. It was the most intense match featuring some great retrieving and all-out-attacking squash, with Ford getting through in four in the end. A good win for the Scottish team, who could possibly do better than their seeding suggests.

Daniel Zilic

"It seems that being good and going to bed early yesterday really paid out, as we all played pretty well today. We are aiming for the top 5, which I guess would be quite an achievement for us. Tomorrow we are playing Paderborn and I think they are going to rest Peter (Nicol), so that is good news for me.

"Unfortunately Mark is leaving for a friend's wedding tomorrow, but we have a handy back-up player in reserve."

Hadrian Stiff

Men's Pool C:
Herlev/Hjorten 3
Paderborn II 1

Daniel Zilic watches the men's action

Luckily enough I was able to witness one of the best matches of the day, which was between Herlev / Horten Squash Klub fron Denmark and Paderborn´s second team.

Things on the glass court went pretty smoothly, especially for Andrew Whipp who dished out a 27:0 against Paderborn´s Felix Lobert, who was playing well below par however.

As I walked over from the glass court to center court after those two matches, the fourth string match was not anywhere near over.

Mikkel Kragholm and Germany´s under 19 player Marco Beer were battling out an epic match, which was full of diving, scrambling, great shots and a very enthusiastic crowd.

Germany´s Marco Beer won 3:1 in the end and received a very long applause by the home crowd. Lennart Othoff tried his best against Mads Korsbjerg, who looks more like an Olympic rower than a squash player.

Mads was too sharp and displayed some fine shots especially to the front of the court. Still: good & exciting squash.

I was pretty sure that Mads was a junior rowing or swimming prodigy, but he assured me that all he ever did when he was young was play football and that he was just naturally a strong guy. Must be something they eat over in Denmark.

Dan Zilic

“Back at my home club in Denmark we have a permanent 4-wall glass court so I am not too bothered playing on one. The only trouble I experienced here was the sweat on the ground, which made things a bit slippery. I've been injured for five months so this is one of my first bigger tournaments again and I am happy to be back on the scene. As for the seeding I think we can give Paderborn a hard time in the semis and perhaps get a draw.”

Morten Sorensen
Herlev/Hjorten, Denmark

“I was happy with my game and it was a very positive way to start off the tournament. I think glass courts in general really highlight your game. If you are playing well you play really well and if you play badly it is just awful. Well, today was one of those good days”

Whippy was still deeply impressed by the rope-skipping he had seen in yesterday evening´s presentation, saying it was one of the best things he had ever seen. He even demonstrated how “this guy even kept on skipping while sitting on the floor – absolutely amazing! And believe me, I have seen a lot of things!”

Andrew Whipp
Herlev/Hjorten, Denmark

"It really is silly to lose the third game after winning the first two love and one, but sometimes, when you play weaker players, you lose concentration. Suddenly my length was bad and I couldn't get the ball to the back. I am not that fit at the moment which doesn't help things.

"The semifinal against Paderborn could be tough, especially if I have to play Ben Garner. Maybe I can sneak the first game but after that…

Mikkel Korsbjerg
Herlev/Hjorten, Denmark

Danes in sight
of semis ...

Later in the day Herlev/Hjorten followed up with another win against Borderline - with Whippy notching up his sixth 9-0 game of the day.

Sorensen and Jonas Knigge read
about themselves in the local press

"It was a good match, and I'm pleased to have got two matches on the glass court for the semi-final, hopefully, against Paderborn tomorrow.

"We play Sweden in the morning, a win and we're through, a tie may be enough.

"It's always good to play the home team, especially Paderborn, there should be a good crowd. I'll probably play Stefan Liefels and I'm happy with that."

Morten Sorensen

Women's Pool A:
ISC Bordesholm 3
Edinburgh Sports Club 0

Annelize Naude bt Ashley Mears 9/4, 9/1, 9/0
Katharina Witt bt Moira Atkinson 9/1, 9/2, 9/0
Daniela Schumann bt Joanna Rae 9/2, 9/3, 9/1

The Scottish team knew they were in for a tough time in their first match against top-seeded German outfit ISC Bordeshelm.

News that Bordeshelm's number one Vanessa Atkinson wasn't here (she's on the re-arranged WISPA tour to Jordan and Turkey) didn't help much, as this still left Annelize Naude at the top of the order.

Plus, Edinburgh's top two, Senga Macfie and Lisa McKenna were resting themselves from this match ready for the afternoon clash with Antibes.

So, a predictable 3-0 win for the Germans, but Edinburgh's stand-in number one Ashley Mears was delighted to have the chance to play a world-class opponent.

An American Abroad: Ashley Mears Portrait