Northerns Open results
Northerns Open Womens Draw 2015The Northerns Open finals took place on Friday evening after an eventful week with lots of good squash played in all the draws.Milnay Louw was crowned ladies’ champion and Kelvin Ndhlovu the men’s champion. They respectively beat Elani Landman 3-0 and Rodney Durbach 3-1.
Both ladies started strong in the first game of the ladies final, testing the waters with deep shots tight against the walls and not really willing to take risks. It was Milnay who made less mistakes and drew ahead gradually. As the game progressed Elani seemed to tense up a bit more and couldn’t convert the tension into positive energy and Milnay took the first game.
In the second Milnay came out strongly and put Elani under tremendous pressure. Her drop shot to the backhand corner worked extremely well and soon the game was over 11-2. The 3rd game followed a similar pattern with Elani’s attempts at a comeback foiled by unforced errors and relentless pressure from Milnay. The 3rd game score was also 11-2.
In the men’s final Rodney Durbach made his appearance at the impressive age of 43 facing Kelvin Ndhlovu who had a much easier path to the finals. Rodney would have to draw on all his experience to subdue the fast and skilled Zambian.
The games were tight and the squash of a very high standard but eventually Kelvin drew ahead 2-0 after picking up every shot that Rodney could fire at him or away from him and sending it back with interest. It seemed that the men’s final would follow the same pattern as the ladies’ but Rodney had other ideas. In a superb display of disciplined squash aided by a lucky bounce or two he turned the tables and won the 3rd game.
In the 4th game it seemed as if the strain of 2 tough 5-setters in the quarters and semis, followed by the grueling first 3 games caught up with Rodney. He was just a little slow in cutting off the crosses with his familiar deadly volleys and the returns on Kelvin’s drops were not as good and tight as before. Kelvin didn’t seem to slow one bit and he gradually wore Rodney down to claim the 4th and with that the match 3-1.
Earlier Sonica Fritz had beaten Hannelize Human in the plate final and Megan Page and Lume Landman had played for 3rd/4th place. Sheldon Erasmus beat Henning Holtzhausen 3-1 for the men’s plate.
