WSA/BSPA Women’s Quarter-Finals:
[1] Carrie Ramsey (Eng) 3-0 Jessica Davis (Eng) 11/9, 11/5, 11/9 (32m)
Taylor Flavell (Aus) 3-1 Maria Bainbridge 11/6, 11/6, 9/11, 11/6 (29m)
Sarah Dowson (Eng) 3-0 Emily Ison (Eng) 11/4, 13/11, 11/5 (25m)
[2] Tory Temple-Murray (Eng) 3-0 Georgia Webster (Eng) 11/3, 11/4, 11/0 (18m)
Semis:
[1] Carrie Ramsey (Eng) 3-0 Taylor Flavell (Aus) 11/9, 11/3, 11/3 (23m)
[2] Tory Temple-Murray (Eng) 3-0 Sarah Dowson (Eng) 11/2, 11/6, 11/3 (19m)
PSA Semi-Finals:
[1] Shaun Le Roux (Rsa) 3-0 [5] Geoffrey Demont (Fra) 11/7, 12/10, 11/4 (38m)
[3] Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind) 3-2 [2] Kristian Frost (Den) 11/13, 8/11, 11/6, 11/3, 11/3 (102m)
Mahesh’s Monster Comeback
Semi-finals evening of the Northumbria Open at the Northumberland Club kicked off with the women’s WSA/BSPA event, with top seed Carrie Ramsey coming from 6/8 down in the first to complete an ultimately comfortable 11/9, 11/3, 11/3 against Australia’s Taylor Flavell.
Second seed Tory Temple-Murray then beat Northumberland’s own Sarah Dowson 11/2, 11/6, 11/3 to set up the expected final.
The first men’s semi-final pitted top seeded South African Shaun Le Roux against Geoffrey Demont, the Frenchman who caused a minor upset in beating fourth seed Peter Creed in the quarters.
The players were smiling as Le Roux found four rolling nicks in the first five points, and although it became more serious after that, the early lead was enough to see Shaun home 11/7 in the opening game. The second was tough all the way, Demont generally a point or two ahead, but he couldn’t convert a 10/8 advantage as four points in a row doubled Le Roux’s lead 12/10.
Both players had been getting a little agitated with the referee’s decisions during the second game, Demont more so, and when Le Roux established a quick lead 5/1 in the third the Frenchman’s challenge faded as the top seed advanced to 9/2 before taking the match 11/4.
”Those nicks early on gave me a nice little cushion,” admitted the winner, “I had a lead in the second but started going too short and he got ahead. I managed to regroup and save that game and carried on in the third.”
In the second semi Mahesh Mangaonkar completed a phenomenal comeback from two games and 5/1 down against second seed Kristian Frost, finally winning after 102 minutes of intense play.
The young Indian made a good start, but the Dane settled into the match and worked his way back from 3/9 to 8/9, with the rallies becoming longer and tougher. Mahesh got two game balls as Frost tinned, but couldn’t capitalise as Frost took a long opener 13/11.
Frost always had the slight edge in the second, but the rallies were brutal and the stoppages frequent – it wasn’t until over 50 minutes of play that the Dane went two nil up 11/8. After 72 minutes it was two one, Mangaonkar recovering from a 5/1 deficit to pull a game back 11/6.
The young Indian was in command now, although Frost never, ever, gave up, and it still took another 30 minutes for Mahesh to take the final two games 11/3, 11/3, but there was only going to be one winner.
”I had a good lead in the first and got a bit complacent,” he admitted,” I was going for shots instead of working him like I had been. I got back to a more solid game, making him work hard, and even though I lost the second I could see he was getting tired. So I kept on keeping it straight, putting in working drives, working volleys, and it paid off.”
Graded finals start at 14.00 on Sunday, with the main men’s and women’s finals from 16.00.
Leave a Comment