Flying Scot Dougie Kempsell takes out top seed
By ALEC LIVINGSTONE – Squash Mad Reporter
Top seed Joey Kemp is out of the Christchurch Vets Ipswich Open, knocked out in five games in front of his home crowd by young Scot Dougie Kempsell.
Kempsell well remembered the previous very one-sided encounter between the two and knew exactly what to expect. The game plan was clearly to make a fast start, and it worked.
Off to an early lead in the first, and although he was pegged back and even faced a game ball, the impetus was with Kempsell as he took the first.
He was almost playing a Kemp-like match, lots of drops and volley drops, but in the early stages it was the Scot who was less error prone and quickly had a two game lead. A bit of a breather in the third and Kemp was back in it.
The fourth was very tight and at 9-9 Kempsell (right) had a chance at a winning straight drive that would have given him a match ball.
Instead, he tinned it and Kemp had a game ball that he quickly converted. Into the fifth, but by now the younger legs had the edge, Kempsell winning a controlled game 11-5 to take the match.
In Sunday’s final Kempsell will face Ben Coleman, the tournament 2nd seed, who was runner up in this event in 2013.
Coleman played James Earles, the 5th seed in the first of the semi finals and they played a very tight first game in front of a crowd that wasn’t quite warmed up.
That changed after Coleman won the first and then began to stretch his opponent with raking cross courts.
The second quickly went to Coleman 11-3 and although Earles dug in in the third, Coleman kept the pressure up and eased to the final 11-6 in the third.
Earles grabs an early finish finish against Phillips
The Christchurch Vets Ipswich Open reached the quarter final stage on Friday night. The first quarter final of the evening promised to be a close affair between Reuben Phillips and James Earles, ranked 132 and 137 respectively and fourth and fifth seeds for the tournament.
However, the first meeting between the two since 2011 was not as close as anticipated with Earles earning a comfortable 3-0 victory over the higher ranked Phillips. Earles put on a solid display of accurate squash with some great length and nice touch in the front.
Earles’ court coverage was impressive and that mixed in with his error free squash ultimately frustrated his opponent. He now faces his fellow countryman Ben Coleman for a spot in Sundays final.
Coleman’s win over Harry Leach was comfortable despite the strenuous efforts of the Scot who covered a lot of court but was always chasing the game. However, a good effort by Leach who, as a doctor in Cambridge, is only a part-time squash player in this company.
The other semi will be between Jonathan Kemp and Douglas Kempsell. Kemp played youngster Joshua Masters who wasn’t overawed by the occasion; playing someone with Kemp’s reputation in front of his home crowd.
Despite not playing a huge amount of competitive squash these days, Kemp’s touch and agility are still a treat to watch. Although Kemp won comfortably, Masters can be pleased with his week’s work.
Kempsell played Daniel Hockborn who had played an epic struggle the night before and Kempsell quickly set out his stall – hard attacking play with quick reactions to constantly keep Hockborn under pressure.
The combination of the pressure, and maybe a bit of tiredness from the night before, was enough to produce errors from Hockborn, giving Kempsell a 3-0 passage to a semi-final against Kemp.
Lucky Loser Leitch beats fellow Scot
The first round of the Christchurch Vets Ipswich Open produced a few surprises although all the top seeds are safely through. Top seed Jonathan Kemp saw off a spirited performance from Tristan Eysele. Eysele looked out of it at 2-0 down but exploded into action at the beginning of the third to take a 7-1 lead on a string of nicks. But it takes more than that to ruffle Kemp who calmly pegged the South African back to take the match in only 22 minutes.
The other top seeds are also safely through and it was in the lower order that the tougher matches took place. Steve London [6] lost 3-1 to qualifier Daniel Hockburn in a match that always threatened to get ugly but never did.
Another qualifier, Joshua Masters, did for 7th seed Youssef Abdalla. Masters had worked very hard to get the upper hand but at 8-7 in the 4th it looked as if Abdalla might be about to level the match. But having got that close Masters wasn’t going to be denied and steadied the ship to run out a 3-1 winner.
The biggest winner so far has been the Lucky Loser, Harry Leitch. Having lost his Qualifier Final to Daniel Hockborn he made it to the main draw as the Lucky Loser and beat fellow Scot Jonathan Geekie to make it to the quarter finals where he will meet Ben Coleman. Maybe his luck has run out!
Christchurch Vets Ipswich Open
Final, May 25
Douglas Kempsell [3] v Ben Coleman [2] 15:00
Semi Finals, May 24
Douglas Kempsell [3] bt Jonathan Kemp [1] 3-2; 13/11, 11/8, 6/11, 9/11, 11/7 (67mins)
Ben Coleman [2] bt James Earles [5] 3-0; 12/10, 11/3, 11/6 (38mins)
Quarter Finals, May 23
Jonathan Kemp [1] bt Joshua Masters 3-0; 11/8, 11/8, 11/5 (24mins)
Douglas Kempsell [3] bt Daniel Hockborn 3-0; 11/7, 11/3, 11/6 (35mins)
James Earles [5] bt Reuben Phillips [4] 3-0; 12/10, 11/6, 11/5 (35mins)
Ben Coleman [2] bt Harry Leach 3-0; 11/4, 11/5, 11/5 (23mins)
1st Round, May 22
Jonathan Kemp [1] bt Tristan Eysele 3-0; 11/7, 11/7, 11/7 (22mins)
Joshua Masters bt Youseff Abdallah [7] 3-1; 9/11, 11/9, 11/4, 11/9 (45mins)
Daniel Hockborn bt Steven London [6] 3-1; 4/11, 12/10, 11/7, 11/7 (65mins)
Douglas Kempsell [3] bt Anthony Brindle 3-0; 11/5, 11/7, 11/3 (33mins)
Reuben Phillips [4] bt Joshua Turmel 3-0; 11/4, 11/3, 11/1 (26mins)
James Earles [5] bt Joe Green 3-0; 11/8, 11/5, 11/8 (35mins)
Harry Leitch bt Jonathan Geekie [8] 3-0; 11/7, 11/5, 11/2 (35mins)
Ben Coleman [2] bt George Parker 3-0; 11/7, 11/8, 11/4 (41mins)
Pictures courtesy of Ipswich Squash Club