ELIN TRIUMPHS AGAIN

Words by Damian Burgess 22.2.2011

Elin was seeded No.1 and did not disappoint, Elin was lucky to be playing in the competition on the weekend as she injured her finger before leaving, Elin said “I injured my finger on the Wednesday before leaving for France so i was really nervous for the tournament because i could hardly even hold my racket on my first match on Friday”

After reaching the quarter finals without dropping a game Elin had a 5 setter in the quarter final but then won 3 – 1 in the semi to reach the final. “In the quarters i had a scare of a match which was a 3-2 and i was really nervous for the semi final and the final even though i had never lost to Laura Gamblin (semi) or Cindy Merlo (final) before”. In the final Elin beat Cindy Merlo from Switzerland 3 – 1, well done to Elin on another great achievement.

As well as Elin we also had 14 other players from Wales at the French Open, a European tour event and one that attracts hundreds of entrants from all over Europe. Tyra Beattie also in the U13 had a tough draw meeting a higher seed in the first round but beat her own seeding of 12 to finish 11^th.

In the boys Under 15 Callum Davidson and Emyr Evans were up against another strong age group, Callum made it to the third round and Emyr made it to the quarter finals losing to the eventual finalist.

In the girls Under 15 Jenny Haley and Lowri Roberts were competing, after excellent results in other competitions on the tour Jenny was seeded number 1 for the French. Both Jenny and Lowri made it to the quarter finals but were drawn against each other and only one would progress to the Semi Fianls. Lowri came through the tough 5 game match that included 2 games going to tie breaks. Lowri eventually lost in the semi final to one of the many French players at the competition.

In the girls Under 17 more success for the Welsh as Fiona Murphy made it to the semi finals, eventually losing her last two games to finish a respectable fourth. Olivia Huxtable also competed on the weekend; Olivia had a tough draw but finished 23^rd after beating Maylis Besinier 3 – 0 in her playoff match.

In the boys Under 17 age group Jordan Davies and Daniel Bergin were competing, Jordan was seeded 3 to 4 but lost to the Englishman Taminder Gata Aura in the quarter finals. Dan won his last game in a playoff for 47^th place, tough draw for Dan who was playing his first competition at the Under 17 age group, great experience for him.

The boys Under 19 saw Nyall Driscoll, Sam Fenwick and Sam Huxtable compete, Sam Fenwick done the best from the three young men reaching the quarter finals and losing to the eventual losing finalist Nathan Lake of England. All the young men will take great experience from the competition, a great standard of play.

In the young ladies event, the girls Under 19 age group the two National Championship finalists were competiting, Hannah Davies reached the quarter final stage and Tesni Evans who has just had a great run of results on the WISPA tour eased to the Semi Final stage but then lost in a tight 5 game match against Melissa Alves from France.

So a number of positive results from a great weekend of squash in Lille, France, a number of quarter final positions, semi finals and even finals. Congratulations again to Elin Harlow on a great win, good luck to all the juniors at this weekends Metalmin North Wales Junior Open.

Words by Damian Burgess, Press Officer Squash Wales