Qualification Finals

There were some upsets today in final qualifying as three Englishmen made the main draw.

First on court were Jonas Laursen (219), the amiable Dane, against Ehimen Joseph Ehalen (359) of Nigeria. Jonas is a
hard hitter and he came out firing against the rangy Nigerian. Some
errors put Laursen down 0-3, but he looked to be settling in until
something popped in the front of his lower leg. He managed to get to
7-5, but it was clear his movement was limited and he simply
couldn't change directions. Ehalen won the first 11-9. Laursen
returned to court for the second, and managed a respectable 9-11 by
hitting winners off Ehalen's serve, but it wasn't enough playing on
one leg, so he retired 3-7 in the 3rd.


Next on was Ben Coleman (383) and Tiago Cabral (250)
of Brazil. This would be Ben's first real test on the PSA tour and
he was put under a bit more pressure tonight than he was last night.
Ben had the first game ball, but was denied the game by a more
patient Cabral who finished it at 12-10. The second game was close
up until 6 all when Ben pulled away to 9-7. Again Cabral clawed his
way back into the game and tied the score at 10. It wasn't enough
this time as Ben was able to close out this game 12-10.


A great start by Ben in the 3rd had him at 4-1 and then 6-2 up and
it just didn't give Cabral enough time to work his way back into the
game. 11-6 to Ben. The fourth was a carbon copy of the 3rd with Ben
jumping to a 3-1 lead and then a 10-4 lead. Cabral staved off 4
match balls, but came up short in the end.


European Junior Champion Anthony Graham had another great
match today chopping Maxym Leclair in 20 minutes. Anthony
plays a very disciplined game and is extraordinarily quick. Maxym
could not get Anthony out of the front of the court and found
himself chasing the entire match.

Finally on court was PSA veteran Mark Heather vs. Paul
Mathieson (242). Paul told me after the match that he knew as
soon as saw the draw that he would have to play Mark, and as luck
would have it, that's who he got. Mark started exceptionally well
and dominated the centre of the court. Paul could not coax enough
depth to remove his more experienced opponent off the T and suffered
greatly for it. Paul said afterwards, "Even when I hit good length,
it didn't matter as Mark was able to handle it easily."