Rush to play Simpson

Press, 1 June 1981, Page 3

Rush to play Simpson

Neil Rush, a late tournament entry, will meet the top seed, Bryan Simpson, in the men’s final of the Lion Linwood squash open today. Rush, who won the tournament in 1978, was a replacement for the third seed, Lyn Sparks, who withdrew last week.

He had a four-game victory yesterday over the second seed, Lawrence Skurr, in easily the longest of the semi-finals —47 min. Rush was not particularly impressive in the first two games, but played well from.then on with good length and tight drops. The other finalist, Simpson, has got through without dropping a game, although his concentration seemed to waver a little in the semi-, final against the junior, Mark Crosbie, yesterday. Simpson won, 9-6, 9-7, 9-0, in 34min with the first game taking up fully half that time, thanks partly to let appeals climbing well into double figures. Crosbie retrieved well, hit some good winners and made up big deficits in the first two games. But Simpson took control in the third (lasting

only 6min) and finished off with a couple of nick winners.

The big surprise of the first round was the defeat of the fourth seed, Robin Clements, in a five-game match with Gary Monk, a Linwood man back from a stint in the North Island. Monk went on to trouble Crosbie considerably in the quarter-finals. Lorna Symes, attempting to win the tournament for the third successive year, yesterday had a fairly comfortable 3-1 win over the promising West Coast junior, Adele Ellery. The third seed, Kate Carpinter, started slowly against the unseeded Lee North and trailed 4-6 in the first. From then on she dominated proceedings, dropping only' three more points and winning nine in one hand during the second. North had had the satisfaction of a good straight games win in the quarter-finals over the ■ second seeded, Carolyn Oakley (Otago University). Results:—

MEN Division one.—Quarter-finals:

B. J. Simpson beat J. H. Christensen, 9-0, 9-7, 9-3; M. Crosbie beat G. Monk, 10-8, 7-9, 7-9, 9-6, 9-2; N. D. Rush beat M. Clements, 9-6, 9-2, 9-5; L. P. Skurr beat R. Burnett, 9-7, 3-9, 79, 10-9, 9-4. Semi-finals: Simpson beat Crosbie. 9-6, 9-7, 9-0; Rush beat Skurr, 5-9, 10-8, 9-2, 9-4. Division two.—Semi-finals: R. Turner beat G. Egan, 9-7, 10-8, 94: M. Keenan (Hokitika) beat A. Martin, 9-5. 9-1, 9-0. Division three.—Semi-finals: N. Fyfe (Westport) beat G. McEwen, 9-7, 10-9, 5-9, 2-9, 9-5; S. Martin (Hokitika) beat C. Cantwell, 9-3, 8- 7-9, 9-7, 9-5. Division four.—Semi-finals: R. Purchas beat M. Harley, 9-4, 9-3, 9- W. Adams beat Z. Motiwalla, 9-4, 9-7, 1-9, 7-9, 9-7. Division five.—Semi-finals: J. Rush beat A. Dixon, 9-3, 4-9. 9-7, 0-9, 9-6; J. Forrester beat G. Pengally, 9-7, 9-3, 9-3. WOMEN Division one.—Quarter-finals: L. Symes beat E. Hensley, 9-5, 94, 9-4: A. Ellery (Greymouth) beat M. Hunt, 5-9, 9-6, 9-4, 9-6; K. Carpinter beat J. Quinn, 9-6, 9-0, 9-4; L. North beat C. Oakley, 2-9, 9-6, 9-5, 9-2. Semi-finals: Symes beat Ellery, 9-0, 9-0, 4-9, 9-2; Carpinter beat North, 9-6, 9-1, 92.

Division two.—Semi-finals: J. Edwards beat M. Gorton, 9-4, 9-7, 9-0; G. Rush beat S. Robson, 3-9, 9-4, 9-5, 5r9, 9-3.