Pretoria,Tswane, South Africa: In a classic clash of the generations, teenager Damian Groenewald held off the vast experience and skill of Western Province A’s Rodney Durbach to hand Northerns a critical win on the second day of the Growthpoint Squash Interprovincial in Pretoria on Tuesday.
As the men’s teams vie for a place in the top two of their sections in the Jarvis Cup, the 19-year-old Groenewald’s victory saw Northerns hold onto the top spot in the red group, putting them in pole position to qualify for Thursday’s cross-pool playoffs.
The 51-year-old Durbach is one of the most successful players produced by South Africa and while age has inevitably caught up to an extent, he remains a formidable opponent on the court.
With the tie deadlocked at two matches each on Tuesday, he was just not able to pull it off against his energetic opponent, although it might have been different had he not blown a 10-5 lead in the second game to go down 2-0.
He came back to win the third but Groenewald, one of the country’s bright young prospects, was not to be denied and took the match 3-1, 11-9 in the fourth.
Earlier, Mighael Lombard and John-Ross Malloch gave WP a chance of victory with five-game wins over their Northerns opponents.
But Northerns No 2 Ruan Olivier proved too solid in defeating Gary Wheadon 3-0, and it opened the way for Groenewald to set the seal on an important win.
In the blue group, defending champions South African Country Districts (SACD) A and Joburg Squash A continued to dominate, powering past KwaZulu-Natal A and Eastern Province (EP) A respectively, and it just remains now to see who ends top of the log after their final pool game on Wednesday.
In the women’s Kaplan Cup, Joburg Squash A held their nerves under extreme pressure to register a significant win over Northerns A to move to the top of the log.
This comes after Northerns had upset Eastern Province A on the opening day and it means this competition could come down to a thrilling finish.
Four-time defending champions SA Country Districts A, however, remain the team to beat. They began their campaign with a 20-2 romp over Western Province A on Tuesday and will not relinquish their title lightly.
Joburg Squash must take the accolades as they came from 2-1 down in matches after wins for Northerns by Lara Patrick and Nadia Ramchandra.
It was No 2 Jennifer Preece who got Joburg Squash back into the match with an excellent 3-1 win over Kim McDonald after dropping the first game.
Then No 1 Teagan Roux held off a charging Helena Coetzee in a tense five games to secure the major share of the points.
Coetzee won the first game and even though she conceded the next two, she showed admirable fighting qualities to level at 2-2, taking the tie down to the wire.
But Roux was up to the task and stood up to be counted by taking the final game 11-7 to give her side a 16-9 victory.
Tuesday’s results were:
Women’s Kaplan Cup
SA Country Districts A bt Western Province A 20-2 (SACD A first): Lizelle Muller bt Karen Schultz 3-1 (8-11 11-3 11-4 11-4), Alexa Pienaar bt Juanette le Roux 3-0 (11-7 11-4 11-5), Shelomi Truter bt Katie Mayhew 3-0 (11-6 11-6 11-3), Dene van Zyl bt Cass Erasmus 3-1 (11-7 6-11 11-4 11-9), Keschia Scorgie bt Nicole Gliddon 3-0 (14-12 11-7 11-7)
Joburg Squash A bt Northerns A 16-9 (Joburg Squash A first): Teagan Roux bt Helena Coetzee 3-2 (8-11 11-7 11-4 7-11 11-7), Jennifer Preece bt Kim McDonald 3-1 (7-11 11-9 11-9 14-12), Shannon Harvey bt Mariske Wiese 3-0 (13-11 11-8 13-11), Tayla Diepenbroek lost to Lara Patrick 3-2 (6-11 11-8 11-7 9-11 11-9), Nadia Ramchandra lost to Kaylee Hunt 3-0 (13-11 11-6 11-8),
Provisional log (matches in brackets): Joburg Squash A 35 (2), Northerns A 23 (2), SACD A 20 (1), EP A 11 (1), WP A 6 (2)
Men’s Jarvis Cup
Red group
Northerns A bt Western Province A 18-7 (Northerns A first): Damian Groenewald bt Rodney Durbach 3-1 (11-9 13-11 8-11 11-9), Ruan Olivier bt Gary Wheadon 3-0 (11-7 11-8 11-7), Sipho Ncube lost to Mighael Lombard 3-2 (11-5 7-11 6-11 11-3 11-5), Andrew Martin bt Seth Flisberg 3-0 (11-3 11-5 11-9), Mark Schickerling lost to John-Ross Malloch 3-2 (11-7 13-11 6-11 11-13 12-10)
SA Country Districts B bt Zambia A 15-7 (SA Country Districts B first): Ian Oosthuizen lost to Kundanji Kalengo 3-0 (11-8 11-2 11-7), Jonathan Just bt Kelvin Ndhlovu 3-0 (11-5 11-6 11-8), Luke van Vuuren lost to Sam Siame 3-1 (7-11 11-9 11-7 11-8), Reuel Videler bt Manda Chilambwe 3-1 (11-1 6-11 11-8 11-4), Jimmy Schlebusch bt Ray Simbule 3-0 (12-10 11-9 11-7)
Provisional log: Northerns A 36, WP A and SACD B 21, Zambia A 16
Blue group
SA Country Districts A bt KwaZulu-Natal A 20-3 (SACD A first): Dewald van Niekerk bt Matt Boote 3-0 (11-1 11-3 11-6), JP Brits bt Daniel Smith 3-0 (11-9 11-7 11-1), Rudi van Niekerk bt Luke Bakke 3-0 (11-3 11-9 11-7), Jonty Matthys bt Justin de Neef 3-2 (6-11 11-6 11-5 9-11 12-10), Dylan Niemack bt Adrian Hansen 3-1 (5-11 11-6 12-10 11-7)
Joburg Squash A bt Eastern Province A 18-4 (Joburg Squash A first): Christo Potgieter bt Warren Bower 3-0 (11-4 11-4 11-7), Devon Hendrikse bt Dean Venter 3-0 (11-6 11-5 11-5), Mark Dunn lost to Sips Mpini 3-1 (11-8 11-9 4-11 11-9), Dean Nortier bt Jason le Roux 3-1 (11-9 11-4 8-11 11-3), Michael Wood bt Tyrone Dial 3-0 (11-7 11-5 11-6)
Provisional log: SACD A 40, Joburg Squash A 37, KZN A 8, EP 4
Ends.
FREE TO USE PICTURE
Caption:
IPT 2023 Ruan Olivier: Northerns A No 2 Ruan Olivier helped his team to an important win over Western Province A by beating Gary Wheadon on the second day of the Growthpoint Squash Interprovincial in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Picture credits: Reg Caldecott
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