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Kent Open 2023
(Supported by 501 Fun Colin Payne) |
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Kent Open 2023
Men's Draw
11 - 14 Jan
Tunbridge Wells, England, $3k |
ROUND One
11 Jan |
QUARTERS
12 Jan |
SEMIS
13
Jan |
FINAL
14 Jan |
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1] Valentin Rapp (GER)
11-1, 11-3, 11-2 (24m)
Dariusz Filipowski (POL) |
Valentin Rapp
11-9, 11-5, 7-11, 11-3 (36m)
Alex Smith |
Valentin Rapp
10-12, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (51m)
Noah Meredith |
Noah Meredith
10-12, 11-6, 11-8,
10-12, 11-5 (67m)
Owain Taylor
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Alex Smith (IRL)
9-11, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-8 (62m)
[6] Lewis Doughty (ENG) |
[8] Noah Meredith (ENG)
11-5, 11-6, 11-13, 11-7 (32m)
Lowie Delbeke (BEL) |
Noah Meredith
11-8, 11-4, 3-11, 12-10 (33m)
Temwa Chileshe |
[3] Temwa Chileshe (NZL)
11-3, 11-7, 11-2 (25m)
Filip Jarota (POL) |
[4] Aqeel Rehman (AUT)
9-11, 12-10, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5 (63m)
Abdelrahman Abdelkhalek (EGY) |
Aqeel Rehman
11-9, 11-8, 13-11 (37m)
Perry Malik |
Perry Malik
11-5, 11-9, 11-9 (34m)
Owain Taylor |
[5] Perry Malik (ENG)
5-11, 11-4, 11-0, 11-8 (26m)
[WC] Bailey Malik (ENG) |
Will Salter (ENG)
11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-9 (72m)
[7] David Zeman (CZE) |
Will Salter
11-7, 11-8, 11-2 (44m)
Owain Taylor
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Jonah Bryant (ENG)
11-8, 17-15, 14-12 (54m)
[2] Owain Taylor (WAL) |
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Kent Open 2023
Women's Draw
11 - 14 Jan
Tunbridge Wells, England, $3k |
ROUND One
11 Jan |
QUARTERS
12 Jan |
SEMIS
13
Jan |
FINAL
14 Jan |
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[1] Torrie Malik (ENG)
10-12, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 (32m)
Isabel McCullough (ENG) |
Torrie Malik
11-6, 13-11, 11-3 (27m)
Polly Clark |
Torrie Malik
11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 10-12, 13-11 (42m)
Yasshmita Jadishkumar |
Torrie Malik
11-3, 11-4, 7-11,
12-10 (35m)
Alison Thomson |
[8] Polly Clark (ENG)
11-8, 11-6, 11-3 (15m)
Phoebe Colman (ENG) |
[6] Ella Galova (FRA)
11-7, 11-5, 11-4 (18m)
Mariana Ventura Martins (POR) |
Ella Galova
11-8, 12-10, 11-5 (23m)
Yasshmita Jadishkumar |
[4] Yasshmita Jadishkumar (MAS)
11-7, 11-3, 11-2 (15m)
Juliette Permentier (NED) |
[3] Ali Loke (WAL)
6-11, 11-7, 16-18, 11-6, 11-9 (43m)
Sofia Aveiro Pita (POR) |
Ali Loke
15-13, 11-9, 11-8 (29m)
Katriona Allen |
Ali Loke
11-9, 11-2, 11-2 (20m)
Alison Thomson |
[7] Katriona Allen (SCO)
9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 (40m)
Sanne Veldkamp (NED) |
[5] Alison Thomson (SCO)
11-7, 12-10, 11-5 (36m)
Katie Wells (ENG) |
Alison Thomson
8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 (33m)
Élise Romba |
Zi Fang Lee (SGP)
11-2, 11-4, 11-8 (22m)
[2] Élise Romba (FRA) |
Final
By ALAN THATCHER |
Owain Taylor and Torrie Malik take
Kent Open titles |
Owain Taylor and Torrie Malik are the 501 Fun Kent Open champions after
two high quality finals.
After a week of superb squash featuring players from 16 nations we ended
up with two all-British finals in front of a packed gallery at Tunbridge
Wells Squash Club.
Home hero Noah Meredith played superbly but was unable to deliver
another giant-killing act as Welsh international Taylor controlled the
fifth game of a pulsating battle to clinch victory with a scoreline of
10-12, 11-6, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5.
In a tournament sponsored by Meredith’s Tunbridge Wells team-mate Jonny
Powell, owner of 501 Fun, and dedicated to former Kent and England
player Colin Payne, Meredith had taken out top seed Valentin Rapp
(Germany) and No.3 seed Temwa Chileshe (New Zealand).
But despite Meredith showing plenty of the attacking skills that earned
him two enormous victories, Taylor’s solid control gradually wore down
his opponent’s resistance.
The two players are separated by more than 100 places in the world
rankings, with Taylor at 112 and Meredith 215, but the 21-year-old from
Brighton threatened another shock result as he hit back from 10-7 down
to win the opening game on a tiebreak.
Taylor dominated the second and won the crucial third game after being
6-4 down.
Meredith started the fourth game in positive fashion to lead 4-1 and
after a titanic tussle he won another tiebreak to take the match into a
fifth game.
This time there was to be no fairytale finale as Taylor controlled
proceedings with some precision squash to win it 11-5.
Afterwards, Taylor said: “It was a tough match which I feel like I
was in control of for the majority. I was disappointed not to take the
first after getting to 10-7 up, but credit to Noah – he played some good
squash to level it and then take the game.
“I always knew that I had put more work into him than he had to me
though in that first game so I was confident if I kept up that style of
play and stuck to my game plan then it would work eventually!
“Luckily I was right and the next two games I felt like I controlled and
managed to get through whilst still making Noah do most of the work.
“I wasn’t expecting him to come back so strong in the fourth and that
took me by surprise. I didn’t think he had it in his legs to be honest
but coupled with a few errors at key points from me and some great
retrieval from him he managed to just sneak it again.
“I knew going into the fifth if I could get a two-point lead early on
then I could maintain control of the game and continue to play the way I
wanted. This came true and I managed to slowly increase the point gap
towards the end of the game, setting myself up with all those match
balls. Once you’re at that point you’re always confident in yourself to
close it out.
“Overall I was really happy with how I played, and stuck to my game plan
despite dropping those two tight games in tie breaks. Having come out of
2022, a year full of mental and physical struggles for me, I’m glad to
start 2023 on the right path to being a great year for my squash!”
The women’s final was a triumph for top seed Torrie Malik’s hard-hitting
style against Scotland’s Alison Thomson.
Torrie Malik with Kent Open sponsor Jonny Powell of
501 Fun
Malik powered through the first two games but Thomson hit back in the
third with some intelligently structured rallies that moved her opponent
around the court.
Thomson threatened to take the match to a fifth game as she held game
ball at 10-9 but Malik finished strongly to win it 12-10 to take the
title.
Thomson said: “I was very pleased to reach my first PSA final after
coming back from injury but Torrie played very well.”
Malik added: “It’s lovely to win in a club that feels like home. It’s
not far from where we live and I want to thank the crowd for supporting
me all week.”
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Semi Finals
By ALAN THATCHER |
Giant-killer Noah Meredith downs top
seed Valentin Rapp to reach Kent Open final |
Alan Thatcher Introduces the players in the Pre-match
build-up
Royal Tunbridge Wells has a new Squash King after Noah Meredith toppled
top seed Valentin Rapp to reach the final of the Colin Payne Kent Open,
sponsored by 501 Fun.
Meredith, the 21-year-old from Brighton who plays number for the
Tunbridge Wells team, played brilliantly to win 10-12, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5
in 51 minutes of hugely entertaining squash.
The packed gallery roared with delight as No.8 seed Meredith, ranked 215
in the world, continued the attacking form that produced a similarly
stunning win the night before against New Zealand’s No.3 seed Temwa
Chileshe.
The opening game was even all the way through until Rapp, ranked 117,
pushed through from 6-7 down to win on a tiebreak.
The players were evenly matched, with some brilliantly skilful exchanges
at the front of the court.
Meredith conjured up a sustained spell of magical squash in the second
game to win five consecutive points to lead 8-3. Rapp fought back but
Meredith hit a stylish winner to take the game.
With his confidence sky high, Meredith dominated the third and fourth
games as the winners flowed from his racket, winning each one 11-5.
He said: “Valentin is such a good player but I was very pleased with how
I played tonight. I was focused and more patient than usual.
“Winning the second game was very important. I could hear Valentin
breathing harder and that was a sign for me to prolong the rallies,
which is not my normal game!”
Noah Meredith celebrates victory over Valentin Rapp
Meredith faces No.2 seed Owain Taylor in the final and he will be aiming
to achieve another upset having beaten the Welshman last time they
played in the Ostrava Open in Czech Republic last year.
Taylor overpowered No.5 seed Perry Malik in the other semi-final,
winning an ill-tempered match 11-5, 11-7, 11-9.
Malik’s sister, top seed Torrie, squeezed through to the women’s final,
beating Malaysia’s No.4 seed Yasshmita Jadishkumar on a fifth game
tiebreak.
Malik started strongly, winning the first two games, but she lost
concentration as her opponent began to dominate.
Jadishkumar wasted two match balls in the fifth as Malik won the final
three points to triumph 11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 10-12, 13-11.
Malik meets Scotland’s Alison Thomson in the final. Thomson, who took
out No.2 seed Elise Romba in the quarter-finals, has looked stronger
every day this week.
Against No.3 seed Ali Loke of Wales she won a tough opening game after
being 6-3 down, and then powered through the next two to win 11-9, 11-2,
11-2.
For more information on the event, Where available see the
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Quarter Finals
By ALAN THATCHER
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Home hero Noah Meredith stuns No.3 seed Temwa Chileshe
to reach Kent Open semi-finals |
Home hero Noah Meredith sprang a huge surprise by ousting No.3 seed
Temwa Chileshe to reach the semi-finals of the Colin Payne Kent Open
sponsored by 501 Fun.
Meredith, the 21-year-old from Brighton who plays No.1 for tournament
host club Tunbridge Wells, produced a sparkling display of skilful,
attacking squash to win 11-8, 11-4, 3-11, 12-10.
Noah Meredith clinches victory over Temwa
Chileshe
Cheered on by a packed gallery, Meredith fought back from 8-5 down in
the first game to win six points in a row with a mixture of deadly
accurate drops and volleys.
He dominated the second game with a sustained spell of positive play but
later admitted that he tried to force the pace in the third game only to
lose it quickly after a flurry of errors.
New Zealander Chileshe, who has moved to the UK to be coached by
three-times world champion Nick Matthew, powered through that third game
and seemed to be gaining the ascendancy.
Chileshe looked set to take the match to a decider as he edged ahead in
the fourth and he was first to game ball at 10-8. However, Meredith
finished strongly to win the final four points to book his place in the
semi-finals against top seed Valentin Rapp from Germany.
Afterwards, Meredith revealed: “My coach Ben Hutton used to call me
‘Hollywood’ because I was always looking to finish rallies as quickly as
possible.
“But I have been able to play a lot more PSA tournaments this season
thanks to the generous support of some of the members here at Tunbridge
Wells.
“I had a good spell of results followed by a bit of a lull, but this
season a few things have clicked into place mentally and I have been
playing more patiently and waiting for the opportunity to go for the
winner.
“Those tactics paid off for me tonight and I was really pleased with how
I recovered after making so many errors in the third game.
“I was trying to force the issue and look for the win rather than build
the rally to create the opening.
“It’s been great to have the home crowd cheering me on but I want to
thank Temwa for such a clean and fair game.”
Number one seed Rapp dropped a game against 19-year-old Irishman Alex
Smith before wrapping up a 3-1 win in 36 minutes.
In the bottom half of the draw, Perry Malik made it a great night for
Sussex by beating No.4 seed Aqeel Rehman in three close games.
The vastly experienced Rehman hoped his short game would win it for him
but the mobile Malik produced some outstanding retrieving matched by
some high quality attacking shots of his own.
No.5 seed Malik made a powerful start to the opening game, quickly
building up a 7-1 lead, and withstood a late surge from Rehman to win it
11-9.
He led 4-1 in the second before Rehman turned the tables to move ahead
at 6-5, only for Malik to win five points in a row to reach game ball.
Again, he survived a late flurry from the 16-times Austrian national
champion before winning 11-8.
Rehman led 6-3 in the third and held game ball at 10-9 but Malik dug
deep to win 13-11 to reach the semi-finals against No.2 seed Owain
Taylor.
The Welshman wore down the resistance of England’s Will Salter to win
11-7, 11-8, 11-2 in 44 minutes and looks a solid contender for the title
after two wins in straight games.
In the women’s competition, Scotland’s Alison Thomson hit back after
losing the opening game to take out No.2 seed Elise Romba of France,
winning 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 in 33 minutes.
Thomson improved as the match went on and dominated the second and third
games. She built a strong lead in the fourth but Romba hit back to draw
level at 7-7. Thomson reeled off three points in a row to hold match
ball and she survived a late fightback from her opponent to seal a
victory that takes her into the last four against Ali Loke of Wales.
Loke won three very close games against Scotland’s Katriona Allen, who
held game ball at 12-11 in the first game before Loke took control to
win 15-13, 11-9, 11-8.
Torrie Malik and Polly Clark
In the top half of the draw, number one seed Torrie Malik completed a
Sussex hat-trick by beating Polly Clark in straight games, but Malik
looked far from comfortable for the majority of the first two games
before winning 11-6, 13-11, 11-3.
Malik’s semi-final opponent will be Malaysia’s impressive No.4 seed
Yasshmita Jadishkumar, who won in straight games against French opponent
Ella Galova.
For more information on the event, Where available see the
PSA Live Scores page, or follow
on
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events will also be streamed live on
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Round 1
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By ALAN THATCHER
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Alex Smith and Will Salter battle back to knock out seeds
on day one of the Colin Payne Kent Open |
Ireland’s Alex Smith and England’s Will Salter produced storming
comeback wins against seeded opponents to win through to the
quarter-finals of the Colin Payne Kent Open sponsored by 501 Fun at
Tunbridge Wells Squash Club.
The 19-year-old Dubliner Smith trailed by two games to No.6 seed Lewis
Doughty before raising his game to power home 9-11, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10,
11-8.
Smith said: “The first two games didn’t go well but in the third I
started hitting my targets and things picked up from there.”Doughty
appeared to have the upper hand in multiple rallies in the final two
games but Smith’s phenomenal retrieving, coupled with accurate hitting
while under pressure, saw him win through to a last-eight clash with top
seed Valentin Rapp of Germany, who eased past Poland’s Dariusz
Filipowski in straight games.
Salter faces No.2 seed Owain Taylor after fighting back from 7-3 down in
the fifth to beat No.7 seed David Zeman of the Czech Republic.
It was a high quality match throughout, with the lead seesawing from
game to game. Zeman roared through the fourth, dropping only three
points, and seemed to have the upper hand in the fifth before Salter
tightened up to win 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-9 in 72 minutes, the
longest match of a busy day in front of a packed gallery at the
Tunbridge Wells club.
Welsh international Taylor produced a solid display to halt the hopes of
Jonah Bryant, who finished runner-up in Sunday’s British Junior Open
Under-19 final.
Bryant squandered an 8-5 lead in the opening game and the second was a
brutal affair before Taylor won a long tiebreak. The third was almost as
long but Taylor finished strongly in each game to win 11-8, 17-15, 14-12
in 54 minutes.
Local hero Noah Meredith, the Tunbridge Wells No.1, played superbly to
beat Lowie Delbeke of Belgium 11-5, 11-6, 11-13, 11-7.
His reward is a quarter-final tie against No.3 seed Temwa Chileshe of
New Zealand, who produced a consistently accurate display of powerful
squash to beat Filip Jarota of Poland 11-3, 11-7, 11-2.
No.4 seed Aqeel Rehman scrapped his way through a fractious encounter
with Egypt’s Abdelrahman Abdelkhalek before winning 9-11, 12-10, 11-4,
9-11, 11-5. The Austrian No.1 now meets England’s Perry Malik, who beat
his younger brother Bailey Malik 5-11, 11-4, 11-0, 11-8.
Their sister, women’s top seed Torrie Malik, was made to work
hard by Kent’s rapidly improving Isabel McCullough before winning in
four games. She now meets No.8 seed Polly Clark, who overcame Phoebe
Colman, one of the junior coaches at Tunbridge Wells, in 15 minutes.
Ella Galova (France) and Yasshmita Jadishkumar (Malaysia) meet in the
quarter-finals after enjoying similarly rapid results against Mariana
Ventura Martins (Portugal) and Juliette Permentier (Netherlands).
In the bottom half of the draw, Scots Alison Thomson and Katriona Allen,
seeded five and seven, both looked in strong form as they battled past
Katie Wells (England) and Sanne Veldkamp (Netherlands) respectively.
Thomson meets France’s No.2 seed Elise Romba, who beat Leia Lee Zi Fang
of Singapore in straight games. Allen tackles No.3 seed Ali Loke of
Wales, who was taken the distance by Portugal’s Sofia Pita before
winning 6-11, 11-7, 16-18, 11-6, 11-9.
For more information on the event, Where available see the
PSA Live Scores page, or
follow on
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events will also be streamed live on
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Preview
The sole event on the Challenger Tour this week is the 501 Fun Colin
Payne Kent Open, which begins on Wednesday, January 11 in Tunbridge
Wells, England.
The Challenger 3 level competition features strong men’s and women’s
draws and is dedicated to former Tunbridge Wells No.1 Colin Payne, a
former professional player and England Masters National Champion, who
died in tragic circumstances in 2016.
England’s Torrie Malik is the top seed for the women’s event. She was
runner-up to Japanese No.1 Satomi Watanabe in last year’s final, and she
will be aiming to go one better this week.
The Malik Family (Bailey, Torrie & Perry) will compete
for honours in Kent
Following the Englishwoman is France’s Elise Romba, who will be the No.2
seed. Welshwoman Ali Loke and Malaysia’s Yasshmita Jadishkumar will make
up the rest of the top four seeds. Two Scots, in Alison Thomson and
Katriona Allen, along with France’s Ella Galova and England’s Polly
Clark will also be seeded.
Three more English women will be in action in the 16-strong women’s
draw. Katie Wells, Phoebe Colman and Isabel McCullough, who will take on
top seed Malik in the opening round, will all feature.
Germany’s Valentin Rapp is the men’s top seed, with Welshman Owain
Taylor, New Zealand’s Temwa Chileshe and Aqeel Rehman, the Austrian
No.1, making up the rest of the top four.
England’s Perry Malik will be aiming to follow in older brother Curtis’
footsteps, after the now-World No.61 won last year’s event. He will take
on younger brother Bailey, who will be the tournament’s wildcard.
Meanwhile, Tunbridge Wells first team star Noah Meredith will be the
No.8 seed, while British Junior Open finalist Jonah Bryant will also be
among those featuring. Will Salter and Lewis Doughty will be the other
English players in action.
The Kent Open is sponsored by Tunbridge Wells first teamer Jonny Powell,
whose 501 Fun company is transforming the hospitality industry by using
technology to update traditional pub games like darts and shuffleboard
in a fast-growing sector known as competitive socialising.
For more information on the event, Where available see the
PSA Live Scores page, or
follow on
PSAChallengerTourLivestreams,
Facebook,
Twitter,
Instagram
&
TikTok. Selected
events will also be streamed live on
SQUASHTV.
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