Evergreen Ryan Keeps Ireland's European Hopes Alive

28 Apr 2010

Aged 40 and celebrating his 23rd successive appearance in the European Team Championship, Derek Ryan pulled off a stunning five-game win over a 23-year-old world-ranked opponent in the first qualifying rounds of the premier European Squash Federation event to lead seventh seeds Ireland to a 2-2 draw over Wales, the third seeds, in the men's championship in Aix-en-Provence in France.

The eight-time Irish champion twice came from behind to defeat Welshman Peter Creed - born only a year before Ryan made his European championship debut in 1988 - 7-11, 11-4, 4-11, 11-3, 11-4 in 57 minutes.

The win put Ireland 2/1 ahead in the tie - but a sterling performance by Welsh veteran Alex Gough, a championship debutant in 1990, tied the tie with an 11-8, 11-6, 13-11 win over Irish number four Niall Rooney.

In the other men's tie in Pool B, local hero Gregory Gaultier, the world No6 from Aix, led hosts France to a popular 4/0 win over Scotland.

Top seeds England, the defending champions who are expected to meet France in the final for the tenth time in the last 11 years, cruised to a 4/0 win over fifth seeds Germany - with British national champion Nick Matthew leading the way with an 11-9, 11-6, 11-4 win over Simon Rosner, the 22-year-old from Paderborn who won his fourth German national title at the weekend.

But the other tie in Pool A saw fourth seeds Netherlands survive a close battle with Finland, beating the eighth seeds 3/1. Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema, the world No11, was taken to five games before overcoming 11-times Finnish national champion Olli Tuominen - but the Finn hero was Matias Tuomi who beat Piedro Schweertman, ranked almost 80 places higher in the world, .7-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7.

A new-look line-up saw title-holders England earn a comfortable 3/0 win over Germany in the opening qualifying round in the women's event. Dominique Lloyd-Walter and Sarah Kippax celebrated their maiden appearances for their country with wins over Germans Pamela Hathway and Sina Wall, respectively, before long-standing European championship campaigner Tania Bailey rounded off the rout with an 11-0, 11-0, 11-5 win over Franziska Hennes.

But second seeds Netherlands, runners-up for the past seven years, were tested by sixth seeds Denmark in Pool B. Top-ranked Dane Line Hansen scored an impressive 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 6-11, 11-9 win over Vanessa Atkinson, the Dutch star making her 18th successive appearance since 1993. But solid wins by Annelize Naude and Orla Noom saw Netherlands win by a 2/1 margin.

Men's 1st qualifying rounds - Pool A:
[4] NETHERLANDS bt [8] FINLAND 3/1
Laurens Jan Anjema bt Olli Tuominen 4-11, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7 (57m)
Piedro Schweertman lost to Matias Tuomi 11-7, 5-11, 9-11, 7-11 (46m)
Dylan Bennett bt Henrik Mustonen 11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 12-10 (42m)
Sebastian Weenink bt Hameed Ahmed 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 (34m)

[1] ENGLAND bt [5] GERMANY 4/0
Nick Matthew bt Simon Rosner 11-9, 11-6, 11-4 (42m)
Daryl Selby bt Rudi Rohrmuller 11-5, 11-1, 11-3 (40m)
James Willstrop bt Jens Schoor 11-8, 11-4, 12-10 (29m)
Adrian Grant bt Norman Junge 11-9, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8 (55m)

Pool B:
[2] FRANCE bt [6] SCOTLAND 4/0
Gregory Gaultier bt Alan Clyne 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 (38m)
Mathieu Castagnet bt Chris Small 14-12, 11-2, 11-3 (42m)
Thierry Lincou bt Stuart Crawford 9-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-4 (37m)
Gregoire Marche bt Harry Leitch 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 (32m)

[3] WALES drew with [7] IRELAND 2/2
Jethro Binns lost to Arthur Gaskin 7-11, 3-11, 8-11 (43m)
David Evans bt Steve Richardson 12-10, 11-2, 11-4 (31m)
Peter Creed lost to Derek Ryan 11-7, 4-11, 11-4, 3-11, 4-11 (57m)
Alex Gough bt Niall Rooney 11-8, 11-6, 13-11 (36m)

Pool C:
[16] BELGIUM bt [25] TURKEY 4/0
Stefan Casteleyn bt Timur Arslan 11-1, 11-1, 11-7 (12m)
Alexandre Benassi bt Atilla Mustafaoglu 11-2, 11-3, 11-3 (16m)
Gregory Lecerf bt Ergul Yilmazel 11-1, 11-3, 11-4 (14m)
Mark Burke bt Sinan Salih 11-1, 11-7, 11-4 (16m)

[9] SPAIN bt [24] CROATIA 4/0
Borja Golan bt Filip Madaric 11-1, 11-3, 11-4 (27m)
Alejandro Garbi Caro bt Srdan Maksimovic 11-2, 11-2, 11-5 (27m)
David Vidal bt Vedran Svonja 11-3, 11-0, 11-2 (27m)
Ivan Flores bt Davor Srednoselec 11-3, 11-1, 11-3 (19m)

[17] ISRAEL bt [25] TURKEY 4/0
Ido Avron bt Timur Arslan 11-1, 11-1, 11-3 (14m)
Nir Zisman bt Sinan Salih 11-5, 11-2, 11-6 (17m)
Nir Arkin bt Atilla Mustafaoglu 11-4, 11-1, 11-1 (16m)
Avner Geva bt Huseyin Gumus 11-4, 11-1, 11-3 (16m)

[16] BELGIUM bt [24] CROATIA 4/0
Stefan Casteleyn bt Filip Madaric 11-2, 11-3, 11-3 (14m)
Sam van Brusselen bt Srdan Maksimovic 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 (17m)
Gregory Lecerf bt Petar Galekovic 11-4, 11-6, 11-2 (15m)
Mark Burke bt Davor Srednoselec 11-0, 11-6, 11-3 (12m)

Pool D:
[15] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [26] CYPRUS 3/1
Pavel Sladecek lost to Panos Hadjiphilippou 3-11, 11-13, 11-8, 3-11 (34m)
Petr Martin bt Joel Meletiou 11-9, 11-4, 11-2 (23m)
Lukas Jelinek bt Andreas Koufetas 11-1, 11-0, 11-2 (24m)
Ondrej Ertl bt Stavros Eftychiou 11-4, 11-1, 11-2 (16m)

[10] DENMARK bt [23] POLAND 4/0
Kristian Frost Olesen bt Wojciech Nowisz 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 (24m)
Kim Povlsen bt Maciek Maciantowicz 11-4, 11-3, 11-6 (20m)
Rasmus Nielsen bt Marcin Kozik 11-9, 11-0, 11-2 (20m)
Tobias Portner bt Kamil Dominiak 11-2, 11-5, 11-6 (24m)

[15] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [23] POLAND 4/0
Jan Koukal bt Wojciech Nowisz 11-6, 11-3, 11-1 (17m)
Petr Martin bt Tomasz Abramowski 11-5, 11-3, 11-9 (17m)
Lukas Jelinek bt Marcin Kozik 11-3, 11-1, 11-6 (21m)
Ondrej Ertl bt Konrad Tyma 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (21m)

[18] AUSTRIA bt [26] CYPRUS 4/0
Aqeel Rehman bt Panos Hadjiphilippou 11-3, 11-6, 11-3 (25m)
Rehan van der Merwe bt Joel Meletiou 11-6, 11-2, 11-5 (19m)
Stefan Brauneis bt Andreas Koufetas 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 (23m)
Marcus Greslehner bt Andreas Tsouris 11-0, 11-6, 11-8 (14m)

Pool E:
[14] HUNGARY bt [27] SLOVAKIA 3/1
Mark Krajcsak bt Tomas Toth 11-8, 11-1, 11-4 (28m)
Marton Szaboky lost to Peter Kviecinsky 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 7-11 (46m)
Sandor Fulop bt Marek Manik 11-8, 11-3, 11-4 (33m)
Balazs Welesz bt Marek Zvoncek 11-2, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9 (36m)

[11] SWEDEN bt [22] GIBRALTAR 4/0
Rasmus Hult bt Anthony Brindle 11-3, 11-7, 11-4 (24m)
Carl-Johan Lofvenborg bt Stephen Shacaluga 11-4, 11-3, 11-9 (24m)
Christian Drakenberg bt Christian Navas 11-2, 11-2, 11-8 (20m)
Sebastian Victor bt Mark Tewkesbury 11-2, 11-6, 11-1 (18m)

[27] SLOVAKIA bt [19] LUXEMBOURG 4/0
Tomas Toth bt Nathan Sneyd 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 (22m)
Peter Kviecinsky bt Niall Woodger 11-3, 11-9, 11-3 (25m)
Marek Manik bt Sanjay Raval 12-10, 11-5, 11-7 (25m)
Marek Zvoncek bt Daniel Hutchines 15-13, 11-4, 11-3 (25m)

[14] HUNGARY bt [22] GIBRALTAR 4/0
Mark Krajcsak bt Anthony Brindle 11-6, 11-3, 11-4 (19m)
Marton Szaboky bt Mark Tewkesbury 11-5, 16-14, 11-7 (26m)
Sandor Fulop bt Christian Navas 11-2, 11-5, 11-7 (21m)
Daniel Cseffalvay bt Nicholas de Haro 11-3, 11-9, 11-8 (23m)

Pool F:
[13] ITALY bt [21] GREECE 4/0
Davide Bianchetti bt Fabian Kalaitzis 11-7, 11-3, 11-1 (29m)
Amr Swelim bt Declan Christie 11-2, 11-6, 11-8 (18m)
Marcus Berrett bt Petros Tzamaloukas 11-2, 11-7, 11-0 (17m)
Andrea Torricini bt Konstantinos Kargiotis 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 (25m)

[12] SWITZERLAND bt [20] UKRAINE 4/0
Reiko Peter bt Kostiantyn Rybalchenko 11-3, 11-9, 11-4 (28m)
Lukas Burkhart bt Artem Shandybin 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 (25m)
Benjamin Fischer bt Ruslan Sorochinskiy 11-5, 11-8, 11-1 (31m)
Patrick Miescher bt Valeriy Fedoruk 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 (26m)

Women's 1st qualifying rounds - Pool A:
[4] IRELAND bt [8] ITALY 3/0
Aisling Blake bt Sonia Pasteris 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 (28m)
Madeline Perry bt Manuela Manetta 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 (32m)
Laura Mylotte bt Chiara Ferrari 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 (25m)

[1] ENGLAND bt [5] GERMANY 3/0
Dominique Lloyd-Walter bt Pamela Hathway 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 (25m)
Sarah Kippax bt Sina Wall 11-3, 11-8, 12-10 (32m)
Tania Bailey bt Franziska Hennes 11-0, 11-0, 11-5 (23m)

Pool B:
[3] FRANCE bt [7] SWITZERLAND 3/0
Isabelle Stoehr bt Sara Guebey 11-3, 11-0, 11-6 (16m)
Camille Serme bt Gaby Schmohl 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 (28m)
Maud Duplomb bt Jasmin Ballman 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 (23m)

[2] NETHERLANDS bt [6] DENMARK 2/1
Annelize Naude bt Sally Skaarenborg 11-4, 11-5, 11-6 (22m)
Vanessa Atkinson lost to Line Hansen 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11 (58m)
Orla Noom bt Cecilie Mayer 11-4, 11-5, 12-10 (23m)

Pool C:
[9] SCOTLAND bt [17] POLAND 3/0
Lisa Aitken bt Anna Jurkun 11-4, 11-2, 11-4 (17m)
Frania Gillen-Buchert bt Dominika Witkowska 11-2, 11-6, 11-3 (15m)
Lauren Gray bt Vanessa Geroska 11-2, 11-3, 11-3 (11m)

Pool D:
[10] SPAIN bt [18] LUXEMBOURG 3/0
Margaux Moros-Pitarch bt Claudia Mich 11-1, 11-0, 11-3 (12m)
Xisela Aranda Nunez bt Sandra Denis 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (24m)
Chantal Moros-Pitarch bt Francoise Donven 11-4, 11-7, 11-4 (20m)

Pool E:
[11] WALES bt [19] GREECE 3/0
Stacey Preece bt Nikoleta Pozidi 11-2, 11-2, 11-3 (12m)
Deon Saffery bt Eliza Kargioti 11-4, 11-1, 11-2 (15m)
Natalie Pritchard bt Zeta Tzamalouka 11-2, 11-4, 11-2 (15m)

Pool F:
[13] AUSTRIA bt [20] CYPRUS 3/0
Pamela Pancis bt Antonia Aristodemou 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 (20m)
Birgit Coufal bt Vaso Karasava 11-6, 11-3, 11-2 (14m)
Sandra Polak bt Christina Vrahimi 11-4, 11-4, 11-2 (19m)

[12] BELGIUM bt [21] TURKEY 3/0
Annabel Romedenne bt Zeynep Kocakavak 11-1, 11-2, 11-2 (12m)
Kim Hannes bt Ayten Kececi 11-2, 11-2, 11-4 (15m)
Liesbeth Dries bt Tulin Yilanci 11-2, 11-1, 11-0 (12m)