After two days of Pool matches it was on to the playoff stages of the European Team Championships in Uster, with all the top seeds through to the Division One semi-finals.
England cruise into both finals
as France and Belgium set up repeats
Top seeds and defending champions moved smoothly into both finals as their Women overcame Wales and the men beat hosts Switzerland in the opening pair of semi-finals on the Glass Court as Uster’s Squash Arena.
Jasmine Hutton overpowered Lowri Roberts, and after a tight opening game Gina Kennedy despatched Tesni Murphy to put England’s women through. Marwan ElShorbagy held off a tremendous effort from Dimitri Steinmann, urged on by a packed home crowd, to give England’s men the lead in five games, then Mohamed ElShorbagy and Curtis Malik wrapped up the victory with 3-0 wins.
Belgium‘s women came from one down to set up a repeat of last year’s final after wins from Nele and Tinne Gilis, while France’s men beat Wales 3-1 to set up a third successive final against England.
Full roundup below the results …
DIVISION ONE SEMI-FINALS (Glass Court)
W [1] ENGLAND 2-0 [3] WALES
Jasmine Hutton 3-0 Lowri Roberts 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 (25m)
Gina Kennedy 3-0 Tesni Evans 11-9, 11-3, 11-1 (25m)
Sarah-Jane Perry v Emily Whitlock not played
M [1] ENGLAND 3-0 [3] SWITZERLAND
Marwan ElShorbagy 3-2 Dimitri Steinmann 11-4, 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9 (73m)
Mohamed ElShorbagy 3-0 Nicolas Mueller 11-9, 11-4, 11-3 (26m)
Curtis Malik 3-0 Yannick Wilhelmi 15-13, 11-7, 11-9 (48m)
Ben Smith v Robin Gadola not played
W [2] BELGIUM 2-1 [4] FRANCE
Chloé Crabbé 1-3 Lauran Baltayan 9-11, 12-14, 11-5, 3-11 (32m)
Nele Gilis 3-0 Marie Stephan 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 (28m)
Tinne Gilis 3-0 Enora Villard 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 (27m)
M [2] FRANCE 3-1 [4] WALES
Baptiste Masotti 3-0 Emyr Evans 11-6, 11-7, 11-3 (31m)
Victor Crouin 1-3 Joel Makin 9-11, 5-11, 11-7, 8-11 (63m)
Sebastien Bonmalais 3-0 Elliott Morris 11-7, 11-6, 11-1 (33m)
Gregoire Marche 2-0 Rhys Evans 11-4, 11-5 (15m)
DIVISION TWO SEMI-FINALS (Court 6)
W [1] Finland 2-0 [6] Poland
Riina Koskinen 3-0 Kinga Majewska 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 (20m)
Emilia Soini 3-1 Karina Tyma 7-11, 11-2, 11-5, 11-1 (28m)
Emilia Korhonen v Sofiia Zrazhevska not played
M [1] Scotland 4-0 [5] Israel
Rory Stewart 3-1 Segev Rome 11-2, 11-6, 7-11, 11-1 (37m)
Greg Lobban 3-0 Daniel Poleshchuk 11-6, 11-4, 11-3 (29mm)
Alasdair Prott 2-0 Roee Avraham 11-5, 11-5 (28m)
John Meehan v Ido Burstein not played
W [2] Germany 3-0 [4] Denmark
Sharon Sinclair 3-0 Laura Lauridsen 15-13, 11-3, 11-3 (25m)
Saskia Beinhard 3-0 Caroline Christiansen 11-9, 11-8, 13-11 (27m)
Marieke Omlor 2-1 Christine Christoffersen 11-4, 10-12, 11-9 (31m)
M [2] Hungary 3-1 [3] Belgium
Benedek Takaca 3-1 Lowie Delbeke 11-5, 11-8, 2-11, 11-7 (39m)
Balasz Farkas 3-1 Joeri Hapers 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6 (52m)
Lenard Puski 1-3 Antoine Allard 11-8, 4-11, 4-11, 3-11 (38m)
Mark Krajcsak 2-0 Mats Raemen 11-7, 11-7 (28m)
ENGLAND TARGET ANOTHER DOUBLE AT ESF EUROPEAN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
The climax to the 2024 ESF European Team Championships in Zurich on Saturday will be a repeat of last year with England taking on France and Belgium respectively in the men’s and women’s finals.
England’s men sealed their place in the final for the 48th time out of 49 in the history of these championships by beating hosts Switzerland 3-0 in front of a loud, partisan crowd.
The first match was a cracker, with Marwan ElShorbagy going the full distance against world no.27 Dimitri Steinmann before closing out an absolute thriller 11-4 7-11 12-10 9-11 11-9 in 73 minutes.
There was less drama in the second rubber as Mohamed ElShorbagy extended his unbeaten career record against Swiss legend Nicolas Mueller with a clinical 11-9 11-3 11-4 triumph. That gave 24-year-old Curtis Malik the chance to complete the win which he took gleefully, beating Yannick Wilhelmi 15-13 11-7 11-9.
“I played a couple of pool matches in last year’s European Championships but I was itching to play in big matches like the semis and finals, so to get this win over the line here is one of the best feelings of my career,” said Malik, whose PSA ranking is currently a career-high 38.
France lie in wait for England in Saturday’s men’s final at the Squash Arena in Uster. They overcame Wales 3-1 in Friday’s evening session. Baptiste Masotti beat Emyr Evans in quick fashion, but Joel Makin gave the Welsh hope by defeating Victor Crouin – just as he did in December’s World Team Championship in New Zealand.
But when Sebastien Bonmalais saw off the challenge of Elliott Morris Devred in three, the match was over with France unassailably ahead in games. Gregoire Marche decided to play the dead rubber against Rhys Evans anyway and won it 2-0.
In women’s Division 1, Belgium will get a second chance to beat England after their desperately narrow defeat to the 40-time champions last year in Helsinki.
The women’s running order meant the no.3’s went on first and France’s gutsy 17-year-old Lauren Baltayan drew first blood with a 11-9 14-12 5-11 11-3 win over fellow teenager Chloe Crabbe. However, Belgium’s stellar Gilis sisters then took control. World no.4 Nele beat Marie Stephan, then world no.9 Tinne completed the comeback, both in straight games.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Tinne. “It’s a team event but of course winning the deciding match always feels a bit special.
“It would mean everything to win this title. We’ve been wanting this for so, so long. We were so close last year and I was the one who lost the deciding match. The defeat was one of the hardest to get over – worse than losing in any PSA event. It motivates me to push even harder this year. Whatever happens, we won’t step off court without giving it everything.”
Belgium will once again have to overcome England in order to win that precious first ever European title. The defending champions beat Wales 2-0 in the day’s opening session via confident straight-games wins for Jasmine Hutton and Georgina Kennedy over Lowri Roberts and Tesni Murphy respectively.
Kennedy said the first game against Murphy, which she won 11-9, was critical. “I really wanted to send an early message,” said the Commonwealth Games gold medallist. “Tesni has had some brutal matches this week and some really good wins, so the first game was going to be crucial to break her confidence a little bit.”
On a prospective battle with Nele Gilis in Saturday’s showpiece, Kennedy said: “Me and Nele are building a great rivalry because we’ve played each other so many times this season. Our matches are always so fair and long battles. If I do play Nele, it’s going to be a hard slog.”
In Division 2, Scotland and Hungary’s men achieved promotion back to Europe’s top table next year (both were relegated last year) by reaching the men’s final. The Scots beat Israel 3-0 while Hungary beat Belgium 3-1.
Finland and Germany seized promotion to Division 1 in the women’s draw. The Finns beat Poland 2-0 while Germany were 3-0 victors against Denmark. They will play off for the trophy on Saturday.
Hungary win their Division Two semi-final to earn promotion to Division One next year
