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Seeds flower on more
favourable ground
Day One Women's Singles, by Richard Eaton
Caroline Westley and Nicola Cerfontyne may be
ruing the ill luck which denied them a first round bye after
both came close to upsetting the women's seedings in long-drawn
out and tiring second round thrillers.
Westley, a former England under 24 performance player, was
required to beat Hayley Rogers of Cheshire only two hours before
returning to face the fourth-seeded Sarah Walker in a
match which included the longest game in the history of the
tournament.
This 46-point monster was probably the decisive factor in a
47-minute encounter in which Westley, who produced some
delightful cut and reversed slice drops, was clearly slowing in
the final game of a 29-27, 13-21, 21-9 loss. She left muttering
about the significance of that opening game.
Similarly Cerfontaine, a world class potential under 21 squad
member, needed to get past Kate Robertshaw, a world class
potential under 19 squad member, just a couple of hours before
facing the third-seeded Helen Davies in the longest match
of the day.
This was a 54-minute gut-wrencher in which the unseeded Dorset
player produced some scintillating movement and one spectacular
diving retrieve of which Susi Susanti might have been proud,
before suddenly running out of steam.
That happened at 13-13 in the final game, after which Davies
took eight points out of nine to accelerate to a 16-21, 21-8,
21-14 win which had often looked in doubt.
This is not to deny that the 19-year-old Walker and the
22-year-old Davies are promising players with international
futures ahead of them, and might perhaps have won anyway. But
they both had been awarded byes, due to their status as as
seeds, which surely placed their opponents at a disadvantage.
Walker, who moved well and had the presence to get the arena
staff to re-lay part of the floor which was dragging apart, now
plays Sarah Milne, a world class potential under 17 squad
player, for a place in the semi-finals.
Davies, who kept her head and used her strength and reach well,
will next play Fontaine Chapman, another world class
potential under 19 squad member, who has reached the
quarter-finals with two successive walk-overs. That though may
not be an advantage.
 So
far the women's singles has been the most competitive event.
Elizabeth Cann, the top-seeded title-holder, had a very hard
first game against Rachel Howard, who has made one appearance
for England in the Uber Cup, before closing it out with evident
relief and with a nicely disguised wrong-footing flick winner,
and going on to a 21-19, 21-11 victory.
And briefly it seemed that Jill Pittard, three times the
national runner-up, might be in greater difficulty than that.
The second-seeded part-timer was 7-13 down in the first game
against Lauren Smith, another in the under 19 squad, before she
could get her steep angles effectively into the action.
After she did Pittard took six points in a row from 13-15 down,
and advanced to a 21-17, 21-15 win, which earned her a
quarter-final with the 16-year-old Panuga Riou.
Cann plays Alexandra Langley, and if she wins, may well
play Walker later in the day for a place in the final. But
Saturday is a day when everyone has to play twice.
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