Masters Nationals Champions Decided

After a big day of finals at the NZ Masters Championship 2015, the winners in each age group have been decided. 

The second day of play proved to set up some interesting finals with many of the top seeds making their way through to their respective finals. There were however a number of upsets along the way to the finals. In the Women's 35+ 3rd seed Erin Ellery beat defending champion Mickayla Kerr in 4. The Womens 55+ saw the 4th seed Sandra Le Lievre and 3rd seed Ann Harliwich take out their higher seeds 1st seed Karen Walton and 2nd seed Tracey Partridge respectively. The Men's 35+ saw 3rd seed Corey Love beat 2nd seed Danny Woolbank. One of the bigger upsets came in the Men's 60+ where top seed Graeme Randolph went down in 4 to 5th seed Gary Cowan. The Men's 65+ draw saw 3rd seed Hongi Laing take out the top seed Tony Naughton. All other higher seeds played to their seedings and progressing to the final.

The finals were always going to be an interesting affair. In the Men's draw the 35+ title has gone to Kashif Shuja after he managed to beat Corey Love in 4. The 40+ trophy will be heading across the ditch with Scott Gardiner not being able to take down Australian Craig Brann going down in 3. The 45+ title was a similar affair to that of the 40+ with Jeff Bond defeating Willie Bicknell in 3. In the Men's 50+ draw Gary Duberly has added another title to his ever growing collection defeating Stu Davenport in 4 on the finals day. The 55+ draw sees a masters title going as far away as possible with the eventual winner Bryan Beeson hailing from England, he had a win in 5 over Australian Kelvin Smith. The 60+ draw was one of the more exciting draws with 5th seed Gary Cowan eventually being able to take the title in 5 from Lawrence Skurr. Another title will be heading to Australia with Brian Cook beating Hongi Laing in 3 in the over 65 draw. The 70+ draw saw Barry Gardiner take the title from Trevor Coulter in their round robin ties.

In the Women's draw the 35+ draw has seen Shelley Kitchen add her name to another trophy, with Kitchen having completed the trifecta getting Junior, Senior and now a Masters title. Kitchen beat Erin Ellery in 3 for the title. Sue Kim had to battle hard to defeat Nadine Cull and took it down to the wire in a 5 setter with many of her games going long in amongst this as well to claim the 40+ title. The all Australian Women's 45+ draw saw Sarah Nelson and Sue Davis have to battle each other for the title. This was a tight affair but Nelson claimed the title in a thrilling 5 setter. In the 50+ draw Sue Hillier claimed another title for Australia beating Kathryn McKay in 3. It was 4th seed Sandra Le Lievre who eventually claimed the 55+ ladies title after beating Ann Harliwich who had also come off a big win from the day before. The 60+ women sees the trophy head across the ditch with Gaye Mitchell taking the title from the ever experienced Freda Walker. The 65+ women saw Kaye Jackson take out her round robin pool with Judy Cooper coming runner up. 

Congratulations to all competitors and to the 7 titles heading across the ditch and the 1 title going to the other side of the world. 

Games and results from the Masters action can be found on the Squash Eastern website here

The teams event begins tomorrow at the Hawke's Bay Squash Rackets club. Good luck to the nine teams vying for the title.

Women's Semi-Finals

35+

(1) Shelley Kitchen bt (4) Debbie Dunbar - 15/7, 15/8, 15/5

(3) Erin Ellery bt (2) Mickayla Kerr - 15/13, 15/11, 11/15, 15/13

40+

(1) Sue Kim bt (4) Michelle Heron - 16/18, 10/15, 15/9, 15/8, 15/11

(2) Nadine Cull bt (3) Janelle Scobie - 15/12, 15/12, 15/12

45+

(1) Sarah Nelson bt (4) Amanda Kennedy - 15/10, 15/5, 15/12

(2) Sue Davis bt (3) Lisa Cowlard - 15/8, 15/11, 17/15

50+

(1) Sue Hillier bt (5) Karen Mitchell - 15/8,15/5,15/8

(2) Kathryn McKay bt (3) Sue Wasley - 15/12 15/6, 15/11

55+

(4) Sandra Le Lievre bt (1) Karen Walton - 15/9,13/15,13/15,15/10,15/6

(3) Ann Harliwich bt (2) Tracey Partirdge - 12/15, 18/16, 15/13, 15/10

60+

Round Robin

Men's Semi-Finals

35+

(1) Kashif Shuja bt (4) Neil Rossin - 15/6, 15/10, 16/14

(3) Corey Love bt (2) Danny Woolbank - 10/15, 15/11, 16/14, 15/5

40+

(1) Scott Gardiner bt (5) Evans Chileshe - 15/13, 9/15, 15/6, 15/9

(2) Craig Brann bt (3) Tristan Franklin - 15/10, 15/7, 15/7

45+

(1) Jeff Bond bt (4) Paul Roughan - 15/6, 15/8, 15/6

(2) Willie Bicknell bt (3) Jason Oxenham - 17/15,15/12 15/13

50+

(1) Gary Duberly bt (4) Richard van Rybach - 15/11,15/9,17/15

(2) Stu Davenport bt (3) Nigel Lloyd - 12/15, 15/4, 15/7, 15/9

55+

(1) Kelvin Smith bt (4) Marty McKelvie - 13/15, 15/8, 15/5, 15/5

(2) Bryan Beeson bt (3) Mark Waldin - 15/2, 15/5, 15/11

60+

(5) Gary Cowan bt (1) Graeme Randolph - 15/9,11/15,15/9,15/11

(2) Lawrence Skurr bt (3) John Tobin - 12/15, 15/5, 15/7, 18/16

65+

(3) Hongi Laing bt (1) Tony Naughton - 15/10, 9/15, 15/12, 15/10

(2) Brian Cook bt (4) Graeme Richardson - 15/7, 15/8, 15/11

70+

Round Robin

Women's Finals

35+

(1) Shelley Kitchen bt (3) Erin Ellery - 15/4, 15/4, 15/3

40+

(1) Sue Kim bt (2) Nadine Cull - 5/15, 17/15, 15/7, 6/15, 17/15

45+

(1) Sarah Nelson bt (2) Sue Davis - 15/11, 13/15, 10/15, 15/8, 15/11

50+

(1) Sue Hillier bt (2) Kathryn McKay - 15/8, 15/3, 15/7

55+

(4) Sandra Le Lievre bt (3) Ann Harliwich - 16/14, 15/6, 15/9

60+

(1) Gaye Mitchell winner of round robin

(2) Freda Walker runner up

65+

(1) Kaye Jackson winner of Round Robin

(2) Judy Cooper runner up

Men's Finals

35+

(1) Kashif Shuja bt (3) Corey Love - 15/6, 10/15, 15/7, 15/10

40+

(2) Craig Brann bt (1) Scott Gardiner - 15/4, 15/9, 15/5

45+

(1) Jeff Bond bt (2) Willie Bicknell - 15/2, 15/8, 15/10

50+

(1) Gary Duberly bt (2) Stu Davenport - 15/4, 6/15, 15/5, 15/11

55+

(2) Bryan Beeson bt (1) Kelvin Smith - 5/15, 17/19, 15/11, 15/12, 15/8

60+

(5) Gary Cowan bt (2) Lawrence Skurr- 15/9, 9/15, 15/17, 16/14, 15/13

65+

(2) Brian Cook bt (3) Hongi Laing - 15/10, 15/11, 15/9

70+

(1) Barry Gardiner winner of Round Robin

(2) Trevor Coulter runner up