The highlight of the first round on Saturday morning was an amazing match between Jamie Henderson (recently capped for Scotland at U-19) and Colin Grant of Watsonians SC with the audience gasping at amazing retrievals
and shot-making. The youngster prevailed in four tight games. (Click on the pics to view in full resolution, compressed to save space)
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| Linda Murray lost out to her Dalgety Bay teammate Verity Whiteside in Ladies Plate. |
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Jonathan McBride(CCSC) defeated
a sweat-drenched Colin Grant
(Watsonians SC)in the Open plate
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The second round of matches on Saturday afternoon saw Henderson taking to the court again and lift his game another notch. He pushed second-seed Kevin Moran all the way in 3 tight games but Moran used all his experience as a full international to close out the last few points of each game and conserve energy for the final. Kenneth Boyle from Hamilton took on top seed Douglas Kempsell in another quality match full of breathtaking movement and shots. Again the experience of playing for Scotland showed as Kempsell kept his nose in front in all 3 games, in spite of Boyle throwing everything including the kitchen sink at him.
Sunday saw ladies semi-finals with Georgina Jamieson taking on Grange clubmate Donna Cruickshank, the two having never played each other before! Donna slowed down the pace while Ms Jamieson favoured faster rallying style, in then end Ms Cruickshank experience as an ex-international player showed and she got her clubmate off court in 4 games.
Helen Nicoll entered competiton facing Hayley Cooper of Dalgety Bay SC. Helen dominated the first game but as it went on, Hayley was getting more into it but too little, too late, Helen went through in straight games.
Helen Nicoll entered competiton facing Hayley Cooper of Dalgety Bay SC. Helen dominated the first game but as it went on, Hayley was getting more into it but too little, too late, Helen went through in straight games.
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| Gavin Fulton in his first tourney takes the C plate for The Grange |
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| Peter Cockburn also gets a home win in the C Div. |
The finals of the D, C and B grades saw wins from Stephen Litster of Tyne SC, Peter Cockburn of Grange SC, Gavin Fulton also of The Grange SC in the C plate and Jaime Balbuena from Sunday's Well SC (Cork, Ireland).
The finals reached a climax as the ladies took to court. Both players sought to control the T. Ms Cruickshank narrowly lost out in the first game and after that Ms Nicoll pulled away in impressive fashion. In the end, Ms Nicoll edged it in 3 straight games to take her the title on her first attempt.
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| Jaime Balbuena of Sunday's Well, Cork won in 5 games in B Div. final v Roddy Robinson(CCSC) |
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| Jaime takes a Titan bat back to Ireland after his B win |
The finals reached a climax as the ladies took to court. Both players sought to control the T. Ms Cruickshank narrowly lost out in the first game and after that Ms Nicoll pulled away in impressive fashion. In the end, Ms Nicoll edged it in 3 straight games to take her the title on her first attempt.
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| Helen Nicoll and Donna after their ladies fin |
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| Donna wins her 6th Titan Tiger bat, her 3rd consecutive GO final |
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| Jonathan McBride(Colinton) Open Plate Winner |
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| Ken Maxwell(David Lloyd Newhaven) B-plate winner |
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| Helen Nicoll(ASRC) takes the ladies cheque |
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| The balcony gathers for the finals |
The final saw the gallery packed with enthuasiasts eager to see Moran and Kempsell in action.
The rallying was brutal as both players pushed each other to the limits from the first serve. One Grange tennis member observed "they are just after playing 3 rallies of more than 100 shots, even Nadal doesn't do this." Kempsell edged the first game but Moran stormed back to take the second. The third went to extra points and Kempsell got the 2-clear points margin to take it. He took an early lead in the fourth game and held it all the way to the winning post. Douglas Kempsell took the winners cheque in his first attempt at the Grange Open.
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| Teammates on San Marcos Grange national league team? |
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| Results in The Scotsman |
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| Kevin does some product placement for Titan Sports |
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| Douglas takes the champions cheque |
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| Back: Pete Cockburn, Roddy Robinson, David Coutts(D Runner-up), Gavin Fulton, Stephen Litster(Tyne SC, D winner), Jonathan McBride Front: Ken Maxwell, Douglas Kempsell, Helen Nicoll, Donna Cruickshank, Kevin Moran, Jaime Balbuena |
A big thanks to the following:
- To the players who supported the tournament and were models of sportsmanship all weekend.
- Caroline Burns, Alan Stokes and Karen Kennedy fed everyone on both days.
- Mike Halpin on Sunday and Craig Pounder on super Saturday were the anchor referees on the balcony.
- Titan Sports who are the Santa Claus of squash in Edinburgh, having sponsored the tournament prizes for 8 years.
- Ross Anderson of The Dean for being deputy tournament director and keeping me right.
- And Helen down from Aberdeen, the Hamilton crew of Kenny, Devitt & Macca and Jaime over from Cork, Mike Perring who drove up from Bourne in Surrey, for travelling the extra miles and adding to the buzz on the balcony.
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