World No.56 Simon Herbert has won his first-ever British National Squash Championships title after concluding his dream week inside St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club with victory over Sam Todd.
No.5 seed Herbert, who before this week had never won a main-draw match at the British Nationals, defeated No.4 seed Todd by an 11-9, 12-10, 13-11 scoreline in one of the biggest title wins of his career to date.
The opening two games of the contest followed a similar theme to Herbert’s previous matches this week, with the 24-year-old continuing to pepper the front two corners and dominate exchanges at the front of the court.
Herbert punished any slight inaccuracy of Todd and, despite his opponent hanging tough into the closing stages of both the first and second games, Herbert clinched both by 11-9 and 12-10 scorelines.
Todd made a crucial tactical tweak in the third game, lifting out of the front corners whenever possible and looking to avoid exchanges in these areas of the court. The increased use of height on the front wall paid dividends for Todd, with the Pontefract-based 23-year-old moving 7-3 up and later holding two game balls on his own racket.
However, Herbert once again saved his best squash for the pressure moments, firstly saving two game balls, and then clinching the subsequent tie-break 13-11 to complete a memorable week in Weybridge.
“It was an incredible performance. I was so much more consistent than usual. I’m never normally stood here doing the speech. All credit to Sam; he gave me a really tough time, especially in those second and third games. It just all came together this week.
“I just played as though it wasn’t Sam and it was just a normal match. I’m normally quite nervous, but I just tried to be as relaxed as possible.
“A massive thank you to everyone who came and all those who are supporting me at home today. Especially Rob [Owen], he’s probably grimacing at some of the tins I’m hitting, but ultimately he instils a very hard mentality in me.”
Result:
[5] Simon Herbert (ENG) bt [4] Sam Todd (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 12-10, 13-11 (50m)
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