The quarters of the NCO  had organizers ecstatic, being the first day they had managed to get through without an act of God,  a natural or man made disaster interfering with play!!  The most remarkable characteristic of today's play was the even matching.  The player world rankings varied from 27 to 71 but there was not much to discriminate them in match play,  only the scoreboard after substantial time could do that. The fact that the shortest match was 47 minutes was testament to the close play.

Martin Knight began to display the recent good form that has seen him snare some good PSA wins, he was much sharper today than his opening round and whilst David Phillips's racquet was on fire again finding the nick regularly, Knight seemed equal to the task in digging it out with a re-drop or high lob. Phillips simply did not have the patience to cope with Knight's persistence in retrieval and he succumbed in three long sets. 

Match of the round again featured our top seed Migual Rodriguez facing up against Australia's Ryan Cuskelly.   Again the match was very closely contested with neither player finding a means to dominate the other, rallys were extremely long with neither player willing to give away cheap points. Cuskelly managed to edge his opponent out in the first two games 12-10 but  the games were very long and seemed to be telling on Cuskelly who was beginning to stall for time and was beginning to show signs of fatigue.  Rodriguez appeared the stronger player in the third and managed to rack up a 10-6 lead and looked like the match had turned. Cuskelly however decided to dig in with a very long rally at that point which he eventually  won with a cracking dead nick. Then very uncharacteristically Rodriguez tinned the next two points after further long rally. Cuskelly looked out on his feet and the super fit Rodriguez looked like he was starting to tire. The rally of the match then occured with Cuskelly getting the advantage early sending Rodriguez flying to all corners in desperate lunges to backwall boast and lob, eventually Cuskelly won the point after a series of power nick attempts,  finally hitting a  flat roller sending the crowd in to eruption. Cuskelly continued to shoot early and find the nick in what was, given his obvious weariness, a somewhat desperate attempt to end the game, this time the strategy succeeded.

Campbell Grayson clawed out a tremendous win against Bernardo Samper. For the first two games Samper looked the goods his fast hands and feet too much for the Kiwi. However Grayson's match toughness began to emerge and he took the front of the court and began to push the Columbian to the four corners. Grayson never looked comfortable however did enough to make it over the line in a long five setter.

A very interesting match was provided by veteran Canadian Shahier Razik and young Pakastani Yasir Butt. The first two games looked like routine play for Razik, working his opponent short and long with extreme accuracy on the backhand and maintain his T-position.  Although Butt lead the second the standard consistent Razik formula was enough to come back and take a two games to zero lead in the match.  Towards the end of the third, Butt tried something new, he extended his backswing and began thumping the ball long and short in to the nick,  and wow Yasir can hit as hard as anyone. The extra 20% of pace, perhaps a little surprisingly,  unsettled the Canadian and  Butt began to take the front and get more opportunity to shoot.  This was enough to win the third. Perhaps throguh tiredness Butt did not use that tactic enough in the fourth and Razik brought the match back to his comfort zone to regain control and take the match after 70 minutes of classy squash.

Semis : Sunday 14th

Ryan Cuskelly maintained his tremendous run through the semi-finals of the National Capital Open 2010, dispatching an in-form Martin Knight in straight sets.  Early in the match Knight looked sharp establishing his "wall of defense" that had served him well in the early rounds. Cuskelly however was willing to be patient and bide his time, chipping at the wall and accumulating points when the opportunity presented. Although the score was unflattering for Knight it did not properly reflect the closeness of the match. Knight never wilted and made it tough for Cuskelly to the end. Cuskelly was itching to shoot short for the nick but Knight's excellent length meant he often had to wait many tens of shots in to the rally for an attempt. In the end it was definitely a case of the superior player maintaining a slight edge over a sustained period rather than an opening of the flood gates. The bottom line is however, that Cuskelly certainly has displayed a level of skill and maturity  beyond his ranking and will be tough to roll in the final.

Only one man stands in Cuskelly's way, 2009 NCO winner and Canadian veteran Shahier Razik, who proved too good for the draw's other kiwi, Campbell Grayson.  Grayson suffered stomach flu through the week and did not appear at full strength whilst Razik on the other hand stuck to his usual formula and that was enough to see the match through in four sets. Razik has owned the front left of the court through the tournament and no one has come close to blunting that weapon, but given that Cuskelly is playing exquisite squash AND is a left hander makes for an interesting dynamic...we await in anticipation.

Final : Monday 15th

Players