King and Coll Look To Secure North Island Championships Title

Joelle King and Paul Coll will both be looking to add another trophy to their cabinets tomorrow when they compete in the finals of the North Island Championships at Havelock North. Paul Coll will need to take out Lance Beddoes in the final whilst Joelle King will have to beat Megan Craig.

In the Men's Open Quarter-Finals the first game saw top seed Paul Coll play fellow SquashWays mate Johnny Barnett in the first match of the morning. Barnett and Coll had an epic game where Barnett managed to pull off some great shots and he pushed Coll to five. Coll however made sure to retain his top seeding and won the match proceeding into the semi-finals. Ben Grindrod and local player Cameron Jamieson also had a tough battle. Grindrod took a 2-1 lead but Jamieson fought hard pushing the match to five but it was not to be his day and Grindrod won the match in five. Grindrod and Coll would be set to face off in the semi-finals.

Lance Beddoes played Jamie Oakley in his quarter final game and whilst Oakley made Beddoes work hard in the first game and he took the early lead Beddoes managed to show his dominance on court and stepped the match up another level to round out his match in four. Evan Williams played Scott Galloway and these Wellingtonian players were out to prove to each other who was better. Williams however proved too strong for his younger counterpart and took the match in three and would have Beddoes in the second men's semi-final.

In the Women's Open draw Joelle King was first on court for the day against Abbie Palmer. King was ready to show her strength over her younger opponent and whilst Palmer played some great shots it was not enough and King sealed the match in three. Amanda Landers-Murphy was next on court against Ellie Epke. Epke has been training in the UK since late in 2015 and it was anticipated to be an exciting game to see how her training has gone. Amanda was able to show her strength on court and whilst Epke managed to claim the second game this wasn't enough and Landers-Murphy eventually won in four. Landers-Murphy and King would face each other in the Women's semi-final.

Megan Craig played Danielle Fourie in their quarter final battle and whilst they had a tight first game with Fourie pushing Craig to the end it wasn't enough and Craig eventually sealed the match in three. The final Women's Quarter final was between Nele Gillis and Kaitlyn Watts. Watts having come off a strong win the night before knew today's first match would always be a step up and whilst she battled hard throughout the whole match Gillis proved to be another level herself and Gillis sealed the match in three to play Craig in the semi-finals.

Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy were the first semi-final on for the night. The first game saw King dominate the court and Landers-Murphy put a number of her shots into the tin and King took the first game convincingly. In the second game King took a strong lead early on but some uncharacteristic errors from King and good working shots from Landers-Murphy saw Landers-Murphy close the gap but it wasn't enough and King took the second game. The third game saw some great grit and determination from both players and with the game was going long and both players had their chance to finish it, Landers-Murphy was able to seal the game and take King to a fourth. King came out in the fourth and reduced her error rates and stepped the level up eventually sealing the match in four.

The first men's open semi-final was between Ben Grindrod and top seed Paul Coll. Coll and Grindrod had some strong rallies in the first game but Coll was able to clinch the first game. Coll came out firing in the second game and dominated Grindrod around the court with Grindrod not able to match the pace and Coll claimed the first 11-0 of the Men's Open and the second game. Coll showed dominating power in the third and never looked back sealing his place in the final in dominating fashion.

The second Women's semi-final between Megan Craig and Nele Gillis had some high intensity rallies but the good working shots from Craig forced the errors from Gillis and Craig took the first game in convincing style. The second game saw some high intensity rallies with both players dominating the centre of the court but Craig managed to keep forward and retrieve some great shots and eventually she claimed the second game in a hard fought battle. The third game saw Craig never looking back and Gillis was just not able to settle and eventually Craig claimed the match and her spot in the final against Joelle King.

The last semi-final in the Men's open between Lance Beddoes and Evan Williams saw Beddoes take an early lead but Williams clawed back with some quick errors from Beddoes. The players continued to fight hard and went point for point making the first a hard long game but it eventually went Beddoes way and he claimed the first game. The second game saw Williams come out strong and he controlled the match and made Beddoes work and Williams levelled the games 1-1. Beddoes fought hard in the third and managed to work Williams around the court and play some great deceptive shots and Beddoes claimed the third game. Williams took a good lead in the fourth but an unfortunate shot saw Williams jam his racket in the back corner and he needed to take injury time. Williams claimed the fourth but the pain could be seen in the fifth and Williams eventually had to retire. Beddoes taking the last spot in the final to play Paul Coll.

The Women’s Final is at 3pm and the Men’s Final at 3:40pm. All Open games will be streamed from 9:40am on Court 4. Games can be viewed here http://livestream.com/NZSportTV/events/5741824

Full Men's (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GUcXQFNzLyej_TvfBHcaR_m3fO-39kIkCX4QviaikHE/pubhtml) and Women's (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1C2KN9Wq-RCIUfEJgS1Lrv6MXha6vae_qQj9UjBiLPDI/pubhtml) draws for the event can be found on Squash Eastern (http://squasheastern.co.nz/) and Havelock North Squash Clubs (http://www.sportsground.co.nz/hnsquash/15267/) pages

Women’s Open – Quarter-Finals

(1) Joelle King bt Abbie Palmer - 11/8, 11/8, 11/3

(4) Amanda Landers-Murphy bt (5) Ellie Epke - 11/7, 7/11, 11/7, 11/9

(3) Megan Craig bt (6) Danielle Fourie - 16/14, 11/6, 11/6

(2) Nele Gilis bt Kaitlyn Watts - 11/3, 11/6, 11/8

Women’s Open – Semi-Finals

(1) Joelle King bt (4) Amanda Landers-Murphy - 11/1, 11/6, 14/16, 11/4

(3) Megan Craig bt (2) Nele Gilis - 11/3, 11/8, 11/5

Men’s Open - Quarter-Finals

(1) Paul Coll bt (8) Jonathan Barnett - 9/11, 11/8, 11/7, 8/11, 11/5

(4) Ben Grindrod bt (5) Cameron Jamieson - 9/11, 11/4, 11/5, 4/11, 11/5

(3) Lance Beddoes bt (6) Jamie Oakley - 9/11, 11/2, 11/7, 11/3

(2) Evan Williams bt (7) Scott Galloway - 11/6, 11/7, 11/5

Men’s Open - Semi-Finals

(1) Paul Coll bt (4) Ben Grindrod - 11/6, 11/0, 11/1

(3) Lance Beddoes bt (2) Evan Williams - 16/14, 3/11, 11/9, 4/11, 7/1 retired injured

ENDS

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