Summer Open

SUMMER OPEN 2011 – EVANS REGAINS TITLE.

The 18th Summer Open saw reigning club champion Jon Evans recapture a title he first won in the early days of the event (the OTT Summer Open, remember that?) with a thrilling 3-2 win over top seed Liam Gutcher in the A final.

In truth it looked unlikely that Evans, the former Welsh International, would even make the final when he found himself 5-0 down in the fifth in his semi-final against Adam Oliver, who had taken out second seed Matt Hardy in the quarter-finals earlier that day.

But Oliver, making a welcome return to competitive action after a few fallow seasons, had spent his energies getting that far and had nothing left. “I tried to play Jon at his own game, getting everything back and taking out his batteries,” revealed Oliver, who went on to beat James CHB Wilson in the third/fourth playoff. “But he just wouldn’t die, and after I’d hit a few winners at the start of the fifth I knew I was gone.”

Gutcher had beaten Wilson 3-1 in another tough semi-final – although when the Northern youngster used his double-handed backhand to great effect as he streaked into a 9-0 lead in the first it threatened to be over quickly – and in the final faced someone 30 years his elder.

“To be honest my first goal was to play a decent game and not get annihilated,” admitted Evans after the final. “After that I was hoping to get a game, but I didn’t expect any more than that since I know that Steve [Calvert, who plays above Evans on the Tynemouth first team] can’t get close to Liam.”

The Welsh Wizard’s fears looked like coming true as Gutcher looked very sharp in taking the first game 11/5, but Evans never knows when he’s beaten, and he came back to take the next game with the same scoreline before getting the better of three competitive games to take the title.

That was Tynemouth’s only title as Steve Robertson lost an entertaining B final, 11/9 in the fifth against Newbiggin’s Dave Jackson, Kevin Jackson was comprehensively outplayed by Consett youngster Matthew Youngman in the C final and Steve Cubbins lost 3/2 to Ashington’s Paul Bell in the D climax.

A good tournament, with a few less entries than usual possibly due to the later scheduling – it wasn’t really Summer was it, despite the MCs attempt to liven up proceedings with a canary yellow shirt – but the draws were nicely rounded, all went well and finals night featured a decent crowd and an entertaining series of matches.

Thanks to everyone who entered and helped out, see you next year for the 19th edition, hopefully on the traditional August Bank Holiday weekend.

Report from Steve Cubbins

SUMMER OPEN 2010 REPORT

David Barnett became the Summer Open Champion for the umpteenth time after a busy weekend at the club which saw just short of 50 players compete in 80-odd matches, resulting in 1-8 finishes in the A, B, C, D, E and F events and five entertaining sessions of squash.

It was a pleasingly strong entry, both in numbers and quality, with a gaggle of young county players vying to challenge Barnett’s domination of the event. Many were looking forward to a challenge from Paul Lord, but the former US Open and Proctor finalist tested out a niggling injury in his first match on Saturday and decided not to risk it further.

This left the field open for the young guns, and Matt Sampson, Matt Prior, Richard Shellam, Liam Gutcher and Michael McIntyre all provided great entertainment in a series of quality matches. They couldn’t, however, prevent Barnett and Peter Kullar setting up a repeat of last year’s all-Jesmond final, which saw the same result as Barnett ran out the 3-0 winner. Third place went to Shellam as he completed a thrilling 3-2 win over Gutcher just seconds before the main final concluded.

The B event featured a home winner as James Wilson, dispensing with the flowing locks for the final session, saw off a spirited challenge from Consett’s Darren Watson to take the title, with Steve Elwick finishing third.

The C event was dominated by the women with both semi-finals being all-Female. Lucy Beecroft scored a fine win over Laura Setterfield in the first semi, while Carole Page – a multiple national masters champion – powered he way past Hannah Cliff and proved too strong for Lucy in the final.

Erik Mok collected the D title with an assured win over enthusiast marker Phil Warwick in the final, John Gallagher taking third.

In the E event it was an all-Junior final, Hexham’s much-improved Simon Graham beating Dean Follin in the final with Paul Albone claiming the third spot on the podium.

Dramatic action in the later stages of the E event saw a popular home winner and a new phrase coined.

In the semi-finals Steve Cruz somehow contrived to lose after being 2-1 and 10-4 ahead, squandering seven match balls as Simon Ho levelled the match 13-11. Steve then went 6-0 up in the decider before capitulating again as Simon completed a remarkable two-stage comeback, taking the fifth 11-9.

Henceforth when someone snatches defeat from the jaws of victory, it shall be termed “doing a Cruzy”.

Simon’s luck and/or energy ran out in the final though as Dave Sundin came from 2-1 down to take the title, Cruzy trailing home in third place.

Thanks to everyone who entered, helped out and reffed … see you for the Club Championships in November.