THE GC OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS CONTINUED their first round matches to meet in the quarter-finals, which also meant one English player was in each of the semi-finals, but that was as far as they went. for the first half of game 3, but Jack got a 2-hoop lead by running hoop 8 from 2 yards West of the peg, but later missed hoop 11 and 12 from 1, 2 and 3 yards and the game went to 13. Callum
soon returned to level with a 3-yard jump at hoop 4. Both players hit long clearances at hoop 5, but when Euan elected to play in, Reg smashed through to the North boundary. However, he was short with the return position, and Euan got another clearance to wire Reg and get himself near the next hoop, and so he was able to equalise. Reg’s positional play had improved since the start of the match, and he was starting to put the pressure on every aspect of Euan’s game. He was helped when Euan played the clearance from the North boundary but peeled Reg through hoop 7 by about 8 yards. Euan had a chance at hoop 8 to stay with Reg, but only flicked the West wire from 4 yards, and missed a long clearance to leave Reg to double his lead. Yet another clearance from Euan got Reg wired from his other ball in front of hoop 9, but this time he blobbed the hoop from 2 yards, and Reg then the hoop from 5 yards for a commanding lead. He very aggressively played to clear Euan out of the jaws of hoop 10 from the other side of the peg, but hit it spot on and he took control of the hoop, until Euan ran it from 10 yards. The clearance from 10 to 11 went wrong though, as he sent Reg’s ball into the wire and allowed him to keep control. Euan then hit his red side to side as he missed 2 clearances at blue, and when Reg got another wire of his own, clearing Euan to behind the hoop, he just had to tap his ball through to win 7-5, 7-4. In the other semi-final, Jack and Levi were shooting really well. Levi was so confident he had nailed a clearance at hoop 2, that when it missed, he said it must have quantum tunnelled through Jack’s ball. Hoop 6 was a real battle, as both players were clearing from virtually anywhere on the court. Jack missed a few longer hoops, whereas Continued on page 30
had a go from the boundary, which rejected with Jack 2 yards in front, which, this time, he converted. Levi managed to avoid losing another game on the Sunday morning, taking the first game against Mateo 7-6 from 6-1 up, before he switched on and won game 2 comfortably in their delayed quarter- final. Semi-Finals The first semi-final between Reg and Euan was a repeat of the final at Colchester earlier in the year, which Euan won. With an in-off at hoop 1 and a double clearance at hoop 2, Euan took an early lead, aided by poor positional shots from Reg. Euan missed several long hoop attempts, while most of Reg’s points were scored from close. Euan nailed a crucial shot when faced with Reg’s ball 2 yards in front of hoop 9 or taking on a 5-yard hoop, which sailed through the North boundary. Having played to 2 feet in front of hoop 11, Reg nailed the clearance to wired and ran the hoop nicely down to 2 yards in front of 12. Euan, having played to exactly halfway, cleared it with his partner also in front. But Reg responded and ran with his other ball from 2 yards to take the first game. In game 2, hoop 1 saw several misses by both players, but Euan scored it after an uncharacteristic missed 7-yard clearance from Reg. Euan missed two clearances from hoop 1 to 2, but Reg failed his 2-yard hoop anyway. He scored the hoop when Euan went for a 4-yard angled jump and peeled it through, though his ball went over to hoop 3. A good attempt by Euan from the boundary was rejected, and he then failed to clear Reg’s 2-foot position from corner 3, though he
Some of the first round matches were over in a flash. Stephen Mulliner and Euan Burridge won their matches and were into the third game of their quarter-final encounter while other first round matches were still going. Callum and Jack won their matches pretty quickly and decided not to wait for the shown lawn to play their quarter-final. Vojtech gave Reg a good battle but ultimately lost at hoop 12 in both games, as did Juan Ojeda against Sherif. The first 6 matches to finish were all won 2-0, and the winners all played another 2 or 3 games afterwards. However, the last two first round matches didn’t just go to 3 games, but they lasted until the end of the day, which meant that quarter-final hadn’t even started. Mateo Palazon knocked out one of the favourites, Mohamed Karem, and Jenny nearly did the same against Levi, as she was 6-4 up in game 3 and had shots to win, but in the end, taking the first game 7-6 was the last game that Levi would lose. Stephen and Euan may have only taken half an hour to play 2 games, but they had taken it in turns to win 7-1. In game 3, Stephen was 5-2 up having run hoop 7 from the boundary, and Euan described him as “unplayable”. He didn’t score another point, as Euan went on to win 7-5. Reg let Sherif get close in game 1 before he started playing properly in game 2, and won 7- 6, 7-1. Callum wouldn’t deny that he had all the luck in game 1 against Jack, which he won 7-2. After Callum missed an opportunity to level at 6-6, Jack won game 2 at hoop 12, and they decided to play the third game the next day, when the hoops had been set in new holes. They traded hoops
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