Doran Shows Hussain the Door.
(By Rory Scott)
The Hunts 2 Star Open took place in St. Ives on Saturday 1st September and attracted a full house of entries in the 9-table venue, The Burgess Hall. There was a very good prize fund of £600 cash plus £200 of Topspin Sports vouchers across seven events.
The Men’s singles threw up some upsets at the group stage. Rory Scott (Sx), no. 205 in England, beat Matt Dodds (Ys), the no. 50, in three close games. Matt did however top the group, since Danny Fielding (Ca) beat Scott 3-0 and Dodds beat Fielding 3-0. Dodds and Scott emerged first and second respectively in the points count-back. Another shock came when Jake Westwood (St), England no. 59 junior, who is unranked at senior level, beat Tom Cutler (Mi), England no. 39 senior, having dropped the first two games.
This meant that Cutler, the fourth seed, met second seed Niall Cameron (SCO) in the last 16 and it was the latter who came out on top. Cameron went on to defeat Martin Smith (Sy) in the quarter-final, but came unstuck vs. third seed Emran Hussain (E) in the semi-final.
In the bottom half of the draw Chris Doran (Np) had little trouble accounting for Jack Josephs (He), Stephen Horsfield (Ys) and Dodds en route to the final. Doran then won the final comfortably in straight sets.
The Mixed Banded event excluded any men over 2750 points and was well contested. In the top half of the draw Steve Joslin (E) conceded to Richard Johnson, who then fell to no. 2 seed Horsfield in the quarters. Top seed Mark Short, made short work of Robert Swift (Ca) and Kevin Caldon (E), to progress to the penultimate round, where he faced Horsfield: the latter ending triumphant.
In the bottom half of the draw, Westwood continued his rich vein of form, overcoming Musa Farquharson, (Sy) but his quarter-final encounter vs. Mohammed Owadally (Mi) proved a step too far. Mirek Pazdzior (Ca) had a good win over Fielding in round 1, before succumbing to the higher ranked Wing-Yung Chan (Sy) the 3rd seed. Chan disposed of Owadally in their semi-final, but Horsfield proved too strong in the final, winning 3-0.
The Junior Girls was played as a round robin. Top seed Lucy Zhu (Sk) had no difficulty in securing top spot and Holly Holder (Sx) was a comfortable second.
The women’s singles was played in two groups. Kinga Oryl (Sy) overcame Junior champ Zhu to win the final in 4 games.
In the mixed cadet singles Olly Tyndall (Gs) beat Holder in the quarters and then decided to scratch, due to a loss in another event. Third seed Aaron Baksh (K) beat Stephanie Cross (E) in the quarters and then had a bye to the final. In the other half, the joint-second seeds Jack Merton (K) and Timur Hashimi (Mi) met in the quarter-final and Jack was the victor.
He then had a big win against top seed Ryan Williams (E) in the semi-final. Merton continued his good run of form to take the title from Baksh in the final in a thrilling five-game match.
In the Junior Boys, no. 1 seed Matthew Outhwaite (Wa) faced Williams, the 4th seed, in the quarter-final and prevailed. Josephs knocked out Dale Campbell (K) in the second quarter, but then lost to Outhwaite. On the other half of the draw, Baksh had a great win over third seed Westwood to progress to the semi, only to lose out to second seed Josh Robinson (Bd), who had called the shots in his quarter-final with Shane Clark (Mi). In the final Outhwaite was victorious over 4 ends.
In the Veterans event no. 4 seed, Martin Smith suffered a shock defeat to dogged defender Dave Randall (Mi) in the group. However, Randall lost out to Chinese penholder Liwu Wei in the quarter-final. Wei in turn lost to second seed, Kevin Caldon (E) in the semis. Caldon had put out Musa Farquharson (Sy) in the quarters. In the top half of the draw, top ranked Tony West (Sk) pulled out with a knee injury. Horsfield, the third seed took advantage of this and beat Swift in the quarter-finals and Mirek Pazdzior (Ca) in the semi-final. Horsfield went on to beat Caldon with ease 3-0 in the final.
Summary Of Results:
Men’s Singles (40 entrants):
Chris Doran (Np) beat Emran Hussain (E) 8, 3, 4
Mixed Banded Singles (40 entrants):
Stephen Horsfield (Ys) beat Wing-Yung Chan (Sy) 5, 3, 7
Ladies Singles (6 entrants):
Kinga Oryl (Sy) beat Lucy Zhu (Sk) 7, -10, 5, 7
Junior Boys Singles (26 entrants):
Matthew Outhwaite (Wa) beat Josh Robinson (Bd) 6, 6, -7, 7
Junior Girls Singles (5 entrants):
1st: Lucy Zhu (Sk), 2nd: Holly Holder (Sx)
Cadet Singles (26 entrants):
Jack Merton (K) beat Aaron Baksh (K) -4, 10, 8, -6, 8
Veterans Singles (24 entrants):
Stephen Horsfield (Ys) beat Kevin Caldon (E) 3, 8, 7
Key for Counties: Bd Beds Ca Cambs E Essex Gs Gloucestershire K Kent Mi Middx Np Northants SCO Scotland Sk Suffolk St Staffs Sx Sussex Sy Surrey Wa Warwicks Ys S Yorks