Cornett rebounds to take Tasmanian title
Canada’s Samantha Cornett picked up her second title of the year this week at the Tour 4 Tasmanian Open in Hobart.
The 20 year old, from Dunrobin, Ontario, was able to shake off the disappointment of being dumped out of the Victorian Open second round the previous week, to play what she described as, ‘really really well all week!’.
Cornett would have felt she was unlucky having received the toughest first match possible against Wales’ Deon Saffrey. Saffrey, a semi finalist last week in Victoria, beat Cornett in the final of the Delaware State Open in straight games earlier this year. She wasn’t about to lose in the second round two weeks in a row though, as Cornett moved surprisingly easily past an out of sorts Saffrey. In other second round matches, second seed Olga Ertlova was sent packing in her first match in Australia. The Czech number two, lost out in four games to Scotland’s Lisa Aitken. Korea’s Ahn Eun Chan continued to show her credentials as she upset the seedings to knock out fifth seed Elise Ng from Hong Kong.
The quarter finals saw two contrasting halves of the draw. The top half went to the form books, with Cornett and New Zealand’s top seed Kylie Lindsay both moving through to the semi final with relative ease, over Aussie’s Maggy Marshall andSamantha Davies respectively. The bottom half saw two tightly contested matches. Lisa Aitken continued her good run by beating Hong Kong’s Liu Tsz-Ling in five games, to reach her first ever tour semi final. Ahn Eun Chan once again upset the seedings and sent Sarah Cardwell, the last Australian in the draw, home in four closely fought games.
Chan made it a second final in two weeks when she fought off Lisa Aitken in five games, after almost an hour on court. She was joined in the final by Cornett who got the better of top seed Lindsay. After storming through the first game, Cornett fought off Lindsay as the Kiwi started to find her range. Cornett held on and took the match in four games.
The final was a high quality affair between two players on their way up in the game and rankings. It was the tall and rangy Canadian though who managed to control the majority of the match and gain some revenge on Chan after her loss to her last week. Cornett took the match 3-1 and picked up her second title of the year after her win in Guatemala back in May.
After the match she said, “I changed my game plan this time, everyone told me to play slow against her, but that obviously didn’t work, so I changed it up and found playing faster worked must better this time.”
The hard work has been paying off for her, as she has been training under former world number one Jonathan Power at the National Squash Academy in Toronto.
She now has a week off before she plays the New South Wales Open in Sydney.
Final:
[3] S Cornett (CAN) bt [11] A Eun Chan (KOR) 11-6 11-7 9-11 11-8 (33m)
Semi Final:
[3] S Cornett (CAN) bt [1] K Lindsey (NZL) 11-1 15-13 7-11 11-9 (34m)
[11] A Eun Chan (KOR) bt [12] L Aitken (SCO) 11-8 4-11 11-4 8-11 11-7 (56m)
Quarter Final:
[1] K Lindsey (NZL) bt [7] M Marshall (AUS) 11-4 11-4 11-6 (18m)
[3] S Cornett (CAN) bt [6] S Davies (AUS) 11-2 12-10 11-3 (16m)
[11] A Eun Chan (KOR) bt [4] S Cardwell (AUS) 11-8 8-11 15-13 11-7 (40m)
[12] L Aitken (SCO) bt [8] L Tsz-Ling (HKG) 5-11 11-7 11-9 4-11 11-8 (40m)
2nd Round:
[1] K Lindsey (NZL) bt [13] K Siu (HKG) 4-11 11-8 11-4 11-5 (29m)
[7] M Marshall (AUS) bt C Sierveld (NED) 16-14 11-7 6-11 11-9 (32m)
[3] S Cornett (CAN) bt [10] D Saffrey (WAL) 11-5 11-3 13-11 (21m)
[6] S Davies (AUS) bt [16] V Pickerd (AUS) 12-10 11-7 11-7 (13m)
[11] A Eun Chan (KOR) bt [5] E Ng (HKG) 11-5 11-3 10-12 11-6 (29m)
[4] S Cardwell (AUS) bt [14] S Skaarenborg (DEN) 11-5 11-8 11-5 (21m)
[8] L Tsz-Ling (HKG) bt [9] A Landers-Murphy (NZL) 8-11 11-5 11-9 7-11 11-7 (44m)
[12] L Aitken (SCO) bt [2] O Ertlova (CZE) 11-4 11-8 7-11 11-8 (48m)
1st Round
[1] K Lindsey (NZL) bye
[13] K Siu (HKG) bt H Rackman (AUS) 11-4 11-3 11-7
[7] M Marshall (AUS) bye
C Sierveld (NED) bt [15] C Nunn (AUS) 11-5 9-11 11-7 11-8 (26m)
[3] S Cornett (CAN) bye
[10] D Saffrey (WAL) bt B Malund Lind (DEN) 10-12 9-11 11-9 11-0 11-5 (42m)
[6] S Davies (AUS) bye
[16] V Pickerd (AUS) bt K Lindsay (AUS) 11-4 11-4 11-1
[11] A Eun Chan (KOR) bt M Dunn (AUS) 11-1 11-8 11-6
[5] E Ng (HKG) bye
[14] S Skaarenborg (DEN) bt B Chan Mi (KOR) 11-6 11-5 4-11 11-7
[4] S Cardwell (AUS) bye
[9] A Landers-Murphy (NZL) bt E O’Connor (AUS) 11-0 11-1 11-2 (12m)
[12] L Aitken (SCO) bt C Ward (AUS) 11-3 11-2 11-2 (10m)
[2] O Ertlova (CZE) bye