Day THREE : Julianne Courtice and Declan James are the Champions …
[1] Julianne Courtice 3-0 Yasshmita Jadishkumar 11/1, 11/6, 11/4
Yasshmita Jadishkumar never got into the first game of Sunday’s final, winning the opening point but then losing the next 11. She’d had a tough semi-final the night before which had gone the full distance. She upped her performance in the subsequent games but Julianne Courtice as really always in the driving seat, and won the 2021 Boston Open women’s title without ever dropping a set.
[1] Declan James 3-0 [2] Joe Lee 11/7, 11/9, 11/7
The men’s final was a straight sets affair but that belied the high quality and competitiveness of the match. Joe Lee took a 7/5 lead in both of the first two games before Declan James found another gear. The second game could well have gone to a tiebreak, but at 10/9 up Declan won a corker of a rally in which those watching thought the point was over numerous times, only for it to be prolonged by some remarkable retrievals. Declan won the third set to secure his first Boston Open title and deny Joe Lee a second.
Day TWO :
WOMEN’S QUARTER FINALS
Julianne Courtice [1] bt Beth Garton 11/2, 11/2, 11/3
Polly Clark [3/4] bt Tashy Baker (w/drawn)
Katie Wells [3/4] by Sofia Aveiro Pita 12/10, 11/7, 11/8
Yasshmita Jadishkumar bt Alicia Mead [2] 11/8, 11/9, 10/12, 11/7
Day two began with the women’s quarter finals. Julianne Courtice quickly dispatched Beth Garton, while Lincolnshire’s Katie Wells edged a trio of close sets to defeat Sofia Aveiro Pita. The last women’s quarter final was the first match of the tournament to go beyond three games, and it was also the first to go against the seedings. Alicia Mead, a late replacement for Millie Tomlinson as second seed, was beaten 3-1 by Yasshmita Jadishkumar. Yasshmita played very well and nearly won the match in straight sets, but Alicia saved two gameballs in the third game before going on to win it 12/10. Despite falling behind early on in the fourth, Yasshmita recovered to take the fourth and final game 11/7 and make the semi finals.
MEN’S QUARTER FINALS
Declan James [1] bt Matt Gregory [5/8] 11/5, 11/4, 11/7
Adam Auckland bt Harry Falconer [3/4] 11/5, 11/9, 11/8
Ben Smith [3/4] bt Robert Dadds [5/8] 11/8, 11/8, 5/11, 11/6
Joe Lee [2] bt Tayne Turnock [5/8] 11/6, 11/3, 11/3
The first men’s quarter final saw top seed Declan James progress without any drama. Adam Auckland upset the seedings to beat 2018 Boston Open finalist Harry Falconer in an-Lincolnshire tie. Another former finalist, Robert Dadds, was beaten 3-1 by Ben Smith in the second match of the weekend to go beyond three sets, before Joe Lee eased into the semis with a straightforward win.
SEMI FINALS
Julianne Courtice [1] bt Polly Clark [3/4] 11/4, 11/5, 11/5
Yasshmita Jadishkumar bt Katie Wells [3/4] 11/4, 7/11, 9/11, 11/9, 11/9
Declan James [1] bt Adam Auckland 11/1, 12/10, 11/7
Joe Lee [2] bt Ben Smith [3/4] 6/11, 11/8, 11/5, 11/6
The semi finals alternated between the men’s and women’s draws. Polly Clark put up a good fight against Julianne Courtice, but in truth the top seed was always in control.
The first two games in the next match couldn’t have been more different. After losing 11/1 in the opening set, Adam Auckland played extremely well to establish a 10/8 lead against world #33 Declan James, but Declan held his nerve to win the next four points and never looked back – booking his place in Sunday’s final.
The third tie of the evening lived up to expectations and turned out to be the match of the tournament so far. Despite losing the first game, Katie Wells turned the tide to take a 2-1 lead. It was then Yasshmita who reversed the momentum though, and she managed to edge a narrow last two games to earn her first Boston Open final appearance. It was a good, clean match played in a way that was a credit to both players.
Saturday’s action ended with a replay of the 2019 final – Joe Lee v Ben Smith. It started in a very different fashion this time around, as 3/4 seed Ben won the first game pretty comfortably. The end result was fundamentally the same though, with Joe coming out on top, albeit 3-1 rather than in straight sets.
Day One :
A smaller draw than in 2019 meant that day one of this year’s Boston Open started on Friday evening, and consisted of the men’s round of 16. There was a familiar face on court straight away as defending champion Joe Lee secured his passage to the quarters.
At the other end of the draw and the night, top seed Declan James also eased through to the next round, ensuring that the whole round went to seeding with no particularly close matches.
Adam Auckland, Harry Falconer and Ben Smith all recorded victories to give Lincolnshire a healthy representation in the quarter finals.
Preview :
The Boston Open returns for its 24th edition this weekend after the pandemic meant it was unable to go ahead last year for the first time since the inaugural 1997 event.
The quality of the draws remains as high as ever. World #33 Declan James is the men’s top seed. When he steps onto court in Lincolnshire on Friday night, he’ll become the 11th of the 14 Englishmen currently in the world top 100 to have competed in the Boston Open.
World #35 and last month’s London Open runner-up Julianne Courtice heads up the women’s draw. She was a semi-finalist in Boston in 2019 but was knocked out by Sarah-Jane Perry, who subsequently beat five times Boston Open champion Millie Tomlinson in the final. Millie is also back this year as the second seed.
In fact, three of the four finalists from two years ago have re-entered this year. Former world top 30 player and 2019 champion Joe Lee is the men’s second seed, while the man he beat in the final – Ben Smith – is a 3/4 seed.
This year Boston Squash and Racketball Club is hosting the Lincolnshire County Championship alongside the Open, so it promises to be a bumper weekend of squash – providing a buzz that’s been missing for much of the last 21 months.
