The 2023 British Nationals continued today at St George’s Hill with eight quarter-final matches on the Glass Court. The top four seeds in both draws are still in contention, with five former champions and two former finalists, two brothers and one qualifier still in the mix.
Men’s Quarters :
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Eng) 3-0 [Q] Emyr Evans (Wal) 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 (35m)
[7] Charlie Lee (Eng) 3-2 [3] Patrick Rooney (Eng) 6-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5 (56m)
[4] Adrian Waller (Eng) 3-0 [5] Nick Wall (Eng) 11-9, 11-4, 11-9 (39m)
[2] Joel Makin (Wal) 3-0 [10] Joe Lee (Eng) 11-2, 11-3, 11-0 (26m)
Women’s Quarters :
[1] Gina Kennedy (Eng) 3-0 [8] Georgia Adderley (Sco) 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 (32m)
[5] Jasmine Hutton (Eng) 3-2 [4] Emily Whitlock (Wal) 12-14, 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 13-11 (69m)
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 3-0 [7] Katie Malliff (Eng) 11-9, 11-3, 12-10 (24m)
[2] Tesni Evans (Wal) 3-0 [6] Lucy Turmel (Eng) 15-13, 11-9, 11-8 (52m)
Reports & Reaction
It was plain sailing for the higher seeds in the afternoon session at St George’s, with straight-game wins for Sarah-Jane Perry, Adrian Waller, Tesni Evans and Joel Makin.
Top seeds Gina Kennedy and Mohamed ElShorbagy got the evening session under way in the same vein, before defending champion Jasmine Hutton produced the first upset as she edged past fourth seed Emily Whitlock in a five game thriller.
Another five-game upset concluded the day as St George favourite Charlie Lee ousted third seed Patrick Rooney.
Lee upsets Rooney to reach first semi-final
Seventh seed Charlie Lee earned a place in the semi-finals of the British National Squash Championships for the first time in his career after he upset third seed Patrick Rooney in a five-game battle in the final match of quarter-finals day at at St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club.
Lee twice came from behind to set up a semi-final clash with defending champion Mohamed ElShorbagy, and will be hoping to replicate the performance that saw him beat the current champion in the second round of March’s Optasia Championships.
“It’s a nice stage to reach,” said Lee afterwards. “It was a weird match today. I don’t think either of us were at our best today, but sometimes that happens. It was nice to come out on top, especially after being down 2-1, so now it’s about preparing for tomorrow for Mohamed and to try and keep winning.
“I like to draw on my positives and take confidence from what I know and my strengths. I’m going to take each match at a time, each point at a time. You go in and it’s a completely new day against a top quality player.”
ElShorbagy booked his last four berth courtesy of an 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 win against Welsh qualifier Emyr Evans.
“I think it was a very good battle,” ElShorbagy said. “He’s quite skilful and he can take you by surprise by the way he attacks because he doesn’t really attack straight from the return of the serve. He is always playing at a medium pace and then he just surprises you with an attack, so it made it very confusing at times, but I’m glad to win and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Second seed Joel Makin and fourth seed Adrian Waller will go head-to-head in the other semi-final, a repeat of the 2021 title decider, which Makin won.
Makin, the World No.10, overcame tenth seed Joe Lee in a scintillating 11-2, 11-3, 11-0 victory, while Waller got the better of fellow Englishman Nick Wall in straight games.
Meanwhile, defending women’s champion Jasmine Hutton saved match ball to overcome Wales’ Emily Whitlock in a gripping five-game contest.
World No.23 Hutton is ranked just one spot below Whitlock in the World Rankings and comes into this event as the reigning champion following her win over Lucy Beecroft in last year’s title decider.
It was a captivating contest in front of a packed house, with momentum ebbing and flowing throughout the 69-minute match. With the score locked at 2-2, Hutton had two match ball opportunities, but was unable to capitalise as Whitlock came back to level. The Welshwoman then had a chance of her own, but Hutton fought on, eventually closing out a 12-14, 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 13-11 victory.
“I feel really relieved,” said Hutton. “I felt I played well in patches, but it wasn’t consistent enough, there were some errors at critical points, especially at 10-8 up in the fifth, so I was really proud to come through in five because she threw everything at me.”
Top seed and 2021 runner-up Georgina Kennedy awaits Hutton in the last four after the World No.10 saw off the threat of Scotland’s Georgia Adderley, winning 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 in 32 minutes.
“I didn’t have my usual advantage over Georgia, because I usually feel like I can physically dominate my opponents, but Georgia has the exact same assets as I have,” Kennedy said. “She gets back some unbelievable balls, she’s very deceptive as well, so it is very difficult to win rallies against her. I knew today would be a good test to see whether my short game would live up to when I have been practising, and it did. I feel like I made few errors and I feel like I made her do lots of work.”
The other women’s semi-final will see three-time champion Sarah-Jane Perry take on two-time winner Tesni Evans following wins over Katie Malliff and Lucy Turmel.
