Good contest in squash

Press, 6 March 1978, Page 21

Good contest in squash

t Lawrence Skurr had no reason i u to be ashamed of his perform-j Hance when he lost to Rod Hayes,’ I 3-9. 9-3, 5-9. 2-9, in the final of I - the Conley and Blyth pre-season; j squash open yesterday. ?[ Hayes showed the benefit of| ?[his recent experience in Britain [an’ eventually won reasonably s comfortably but at times was; -: pushed hard by Skurr, who s I looked surprisingly sharp for this! i [early stage. t Skurr has been running on the ,! road recently and he seemed to ■> I appreciate it when the contest f was played at a fast pace. Both - players were a little loose at » first but there were some fine boasting exchanges. After a long stalemate in the i first game. Hayes upped his » efficiency rating and won the i final six points in successive ral- ■ lies but it was a different story . after th break. > The Christchurch player r quickly went to a 3-1 lead in the I second game but failed to win another point. Skurr took the lead after a glorious drop volley . across court into the nick. A - series of further nice winners i followed and the game ended on

| a penalty point. . I A number of Hayes’s shots! misfired at the start of the next: [game but he came back from a ; 2-3 deficit to win quite easily. i Skurr saved one game ball at 4-8, [and then won another point with ia boast that had Hayes stretching helplessly but lost the next two rallies for the game. In the fourth game of the |3Bmin final. Hayes started to goj for his shots a little more and hit a number of winners which left Skurr no chance. With Hayes winning eight of the last nine rallies in short time the game lasted only a little more than five minutes. Skurr had made the finai by upsetting the second seed and High School Old Boys club mate. Barry McNeil, in four games. McNeil was a little sluggish and Skurr was in a dominant mood The women’s final was won by Lorraine Sutherland (Linwood) who justified her top seeding by beating Czesia Bowan (Christchurch) in four games. Mark Crosbie, seeded fourth, did well to win the men’s B grade final from the second seed, Malcolm Lawrence. The Burnside

Junior had upset the top seed, ii Geoff Tait, in straight games in J the semi-finals. i MEN Open Semi-finals. — R. W. Hayes beat V. J. W. Hargreaves, 9-4, 9-3. 10-8; L. P. Skurr beat J. B. ; McNeil. 9-3. 6-9, 9-0, 9-4. Final. — Hayes beat Skurr. 9-3, : 3-9. 9-5. 9-2. i i B grade Final. — J. Bushell beat M Lawrence. 9-3, 9-4, 9-2. > C grade : Final — G. Rowland beat M. i Robertson, 9-5, 6-9, 9-5, 10-9, 9-0. D grade Final. — D. Condon beat J. Murdoch, 10-9. 9-3. 9-6. WOMEN Open Semi-finals. — L. Sutherland I beat L. Symes, 10-8, 9-6, 6-9, 9-3.; C. Bowan beat S. O’Brien, 9-5, 9-7 3-9 9-2 Final. — Sutherland beat Bowan 9-1. 9-6, 7-9, 9-5. B grade Final. — W. Dodgshun beat J. Douglas. 9-6 9-3, 9-4. C grade , Final. — S. Marshall beat R. O’Sullivan, 5-9, 9-7, 10-8, 9-3.