Frans Otten 3-0 Almere (9-0) | Drachten 0-3 Utrecht (1-9)
Van Herk 1-2 Victoria (4-6) | Apeldoorn 0-3 Twente (0-9)
Big wins in the fifth round as the competition reaches its halfway mark
In Group 1 the big match of the evening was between League leaders Victoria Rotterdam and Ridderkerk.
Victoria came out flying and saw Belgian Joeri Hapers beat Rene Mijs without conceding a game. Ridderkerk’s Mahesh Mangaonkar however returned the favor by beating Borja Golan with even bigger digits, which could be regarded as quite an upset. Last match of the evening between Edwin Clain and Piëdro Schweertman was a close one and could have gone either way, but it was Schweertman who secured a 2-1 (9-4) win for Victoria after four games.
The second match in the Group between Frans Otten Stadium and Squash Almere was very entertaining despite the big 3-0 (12-0) win for the team from Amsterdam. Romanian Radu Pena was not able to withstand Stan Als’ powerplay. Sixteen-year-old Robert Lindner showed everyone his great potential, but was simply outplayed by Sebastiaan Hofman. And Will ‘Barnboy’ Salter wasn’t able to force anything against Juan Camilo Vargas.
At the halfway point the Group is getting quite spicy. ‘Meersquash had to take some hits, so they’ll, be forced to bring out big guns like Paul Coll and Nicolas Mueller in the second half. But they’ll for sure be met with players like Tarek Momen, Joel Makin and the ElShorbagy Brothers, which is of course great news for all spectators.
Group 2 saw league leader Twente reel in an expected 3-0 (12-0) victory against squash Apeldoorn.
Robertino Pezzota came closest agaist Balasz Farkas, But Blessing Muhwati and Fabian Igelbrink were absolutely no match for Daniel Poleshchuk and Laurens Jan Anjema.
Second match of the evening between Drachten and Utrecht had high stakes but saw Utrecht win 3-0 (12-1) with relative ease, keeping them in the race for the playoffs. Finnlay Withington was able to ‘steal’ a game from Mostafa El Sirty, but Tom Hoevenaars and Lowie Delbeke were without chance against Roshan Bharos and Ben Smith.
The reality now is that Twente and Houtrust will decide who wins the Group and that Apeldoorn, Utrecht and Drachten will have a very interesting battle for third place, in which Apeldoorn currently holds the best cards. Group 2 might not be as strong as Group 1, but is definitely up for an explosive second half…
Round Five Preview :
oday it’s round 5 for the men’s PSL and slowly some teams are losing sight of the playoff positions.
Due to the Men’s World Team Championships, no PSA top 20 player will be lined up, but since the stakes are very high a lot of drama is expected. Every reason to tune in therefor.
In Group 1 Ridderkerk and Victoria will decide who takes the top position in the group. Both teams did not lose a match yet and Victoria is leading by a mere 4 points. And although Victoria will probably win in position 3, the remaining matches can go either way, making it very hard to make any predictions.
Second match of the evening features Frans Otten Stadium against the weaker Squash Almere. For Frans Otten it will be very important to secure 12 points to make sure ‘Meersquash will not be able to overtake them in one match. ‘Meersquash, who has this week of, will still have matters in their own hand, but in order to make the playoffs they’ll depend on their top players Paul Coll and Nicolas Mueller.
In Group 2 Houtrust, Twente and also Apeldoorn are at relative easy in the top 3, that guarantees a spot in the playoffs. Apeldoorn however plays the still unbeaten Twente, who will travel to Apeldoorn relatively strong as well. Apeldoorn however will receive them with a team of real cup-fighters, so it is quite probable they’ll be able to score some very important points.
Last match of the evening is between Drachten and Utrecht. Both teams are quite behind, so this can be regarded as the battle of the last chances. Regarding the line-up Utrecht slightly has the upper hand, but since Drachten plays in front of their home crowd, things could get very spicy.
