Duncalf Dumps Champion Bailey In Nationals Upset In Manchester

Yorkshire's Jenny Duncalf caused the biggest upset in the British National Championships so far when she beat defending champion and England team-mate Tania Bailey in tonight's women's quarter-finals at the National Squash Centre in Manchester.

In one of her best results since the middle of last year, the 24-year-old from Harrogate fought back from a game down to defeat England No1 Bailey 2-9, 9-3, 9-5, 9-3 in 63 minutes.

"I had an absolute shocker of a time in the last half of last year," admitted Duncalf, who failed to achieve her seeding in a series of WISPA tournaments, causing her world ranking to drop from 6 to 12.

"I trained really hard over Christmas, to get a decent level of fitness - and when your ranking is down there's not so much pressure.

"But I really had to concentrate on being steady against Tania - she's a great player and you have to play well to beat her. I had nothing to lose," added the sixth seed.

A forlorn Bailey, who won the title for the first time last year, admitted she could have played better: "Jenny played better than me on the day - and you can only play as well as your opponent lets you."

Duncalf will meet third seed Madeline Perry in Saturday's semi-finals following the eight-times Irish champion's 9-6, 9-4, 9-0 victory in 39 minutes over England's No8 seed Laura Hill.

Perry, the world No8 from Banbridge near Belfast, is making her first appearance in the event for four years. "It's exciting playing in the Nationals again after spending the past few years focused on my international career in a bid to get a world top ten ranking.

"Even though I'd never played her before, I knew Laura would be tough."

When asked if she felt she could win the title, Perry replied: "I've got a good chance - I think it's pretty much open between a few players. I'm certainly up for it.

"After the World Open a few months ago in Belfast, where all the attention was on me, it's nice to be here almost unnoticed."

Hill, a full-time fire-fighter from Derbyshire, was seeded in the event for the first time: "It's taken me five years to get where I am, playing through the qualifiers, then getting beaten by seeds in the first round. It's nice to be able to give the full-time players a hard time - but it's a shame I can't beat them!

"I was really looking forward to playing Madeline, but it would have helped if I'd given her a better game."

The two men's last eight matches produced the dream semi-final (on Saturday) between top seed James Willstrop and his England and Pontefract club team-mate Lee Beachill, the three-times champion.

Former world number one Beachill is one match away from reaching a record seventh successive final after beating Welshman Alex Gough. The third seed was fully extended by 36-year-old Gough, the British Open Over-35 champion, for the first two games.

But in the third, Gough was clearly suffering the effects of an injury - later revealed as a pulled hamstring - and shook hands with Beachill midway through the game with the score standing at 11-3, 11-10 (2-0), 7-0.

"I knew he'd had a hard ride leading up to tonight's match," Beachill told the crowd afterwards. "After reaching the Swedish Open finals on Sunday, he came straight into a tough game here against local hero Nick Taylor and in the last round faced Alister Walker, probably the toughest opponent in the 9/16 seeding group.

"But he moved so well for somebody who's nearly 40 - all credit to him," joked the three-times champion!

Beachill, who won his first Nationals title in Manchester in 2001 - as the 13th seed - acknowledged the career breakthrough that the victory provided: "Wherever you have your first win, you tend to go back there and do well.

"This is a big event nowadays, and when I think of the quality of players who compete in it, it makes me realise that my success here is one of my greatest achievements."

Willstrop took just 28 minutes to overcome Sussex opponent Tim Vail 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 in the last match of the day. Vail pulled off one of the major upsets of the second round when he defeated seventh seed Jonathan Kemp to become the first unseeded player to reach the quarter-finals for eight years.

"Tim played really well - he's very skilful and I had to be really focused," said the 23-year-old from Pontefract who was runner-up two years ago.

Willstrop's clash with Beachill will be the pair's fifth Nationals' meeting in the past seven years. The event favourite has yet to record a first victory over his long-time friend and rival.

"I've had the hard end of it for a long time now," said Willstrop after tonight's win. "I'll just have to give it my best shot - I'm sure it'll be bloody tough!"

Men's quarter-finals:
[1] James Willstrop (Yorks) bt Tim Vail (Sussex) 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 (28m)
[3] Lee Beachill (Yorks) bt [6] Alex Gough (Wales) 11-3, 11-10 (2-0), 7-0 (38m)

Women's quarter-finals:
[6] Jenny Duncalf (Yorks) bt [1] Tania Bailey (Lincs) 2-9, 9-3, 9-5, 9-3 (63m)
[3] Madeline Perry (Ireland) bt [8] Laura Hill (Derbyshire) 9-6, 9-4, 9-0 (39m)