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I landed in Adelaide at 6am after a 22 hour journey from London. Roger picked me up from the airport and we caught up on the two hour drive back to Clare. I know Roger from when the Australian Open made its comeback in Clare 4 years ago. Roger was a part of an extraordinary team that organised the event for three years before it moved to Canberra. I had a couple of relaxing days in Clare and visited the beautiful family restaurant. It was the perfect way of getting over jetlag. A couple of days later I was in Adelaide where my hosts were the Normans. Grant had led the team in Clare to successful Australian Opens and inspired the NZ Classic a few years ago. It was very comfortable at the house and I looked forward to the Squash.
Someone once said to me that jetlag is the worst on the third day and thats exactly how I have found it. From the third day onwards I got up at 3 am and couldnt sleep. This meant long days till I went to bed again. I took some Melatonin tablets kindly organised by Alice through her friend and they worked perfectly. By the time the tournament started I was feeling much better and well rested.
I played a local qualifer Andrew Wise in the first match where Andy fought hard. In the second round I had our very own Lance Beddoes who played well. In the quarters I played Justin Beard who played and fought brilliantly in front of his home crowd. It was a hard match and I got through in 4 games. In the semi, another Kiwi, the up and coming Evan Williams threatened me but would have certainly been feeling the effects of his two hard matches prior to playing me. I won 3-0 and arrived fresh in the final.
I had played Mike Corren many times and even though I haven't lost to him more than once, he is always hard to beat. I expected a tough match and thats exactly what it proved to be. I won the first after a fight and he came back strong to win the second. The third was tied but he played brilliantly to finish off the rallies with winners and won the game 15/13. I came back strongly in the fourth and we were in the decider.
It could have been anyone's match and there was nothing between us as the score crawled upwards point by point. I had matchball at 10-9 which he saved and then another one at 11-10 after 75 minutes. Mike intercepted my cross court well only to hit a tin and the match was over.
It was a relief to win this event which was full of good youngsters from different countries alongside the experienced Corren. Winning it gave me my 10th PSA title and I achieved a goal that I set myself 6 years ago. However, its only the second of many of my goals and I will be focusing on improving my rankings and playing big events in the second half of the year.
In my speech, I thanked the organsiers and the sponsors and along with it my hosts the Normans. I also thanked Justin for driving me around and Aqeel for helping me between games. I also mentioned how it was a pleasure playing in Australia with it's rich history and culture in the sport and I look forward to going back there again. We celebrated with a nice dinner with the family, Justin and Aqeel at the house.
