England’s World No.68 Richie Fallows and France’s World No.157 Laura
Pomportes captured the Legacy Wealth Belfast Open, PSA M5 & W5
titles, respectively, at the Belfast Boat Club after both players
managed dominant final performances.
Fallows, 21, dispatched Joeri Hapers and Yuri Farneti in the early
stages of the tournament, before overcoming Scotland’s Douglas
Kempsell in a bruising five-game semi-final tie to set up a final
clash with compatriot and number four seed Lyell Fuller.
Fuller, meanwhile, was appearing in his first PSA World Tour final
and sealed his place there courtesy of wins over Stephen Hearst,
Sean Conroy and Chris Fuller.
Despite his punishing two-hour fixture against Kempsell the day
before, Fallows started the final on the front foot and put Fuller
under immediate pressure with a number of accurate shots to the
front of the court, which complemented his consistent driving
throughout.
The Englishman’s relentless assault paid dividends as he swept to an
11-5, 11-6, 11-6 triumph to claim his second PSA World Tour title.
Pomportes, meanwhile, triumphed in the Women’s event after beating
seventh seed Rachael Chadwick by a 3-0 scoreline.
A ten-month injury lay-off between July 2015 and May of this year
saw the 27-year-old’s ranking plummet from a career-high No.51, but
she returned to form after a devastating display against Chadwick.
After taking a tight opening game by a two-point margin, Pomportes
eventually demonstrated her accurate-hitting to great effect and she
closed out an 11-9, 11-3, 11-5 triumph to lift her first PSA World
Tour title of 2016.
All eight seeded players in the Men’s Legacy Wealth Belfast Open
eased through to the quarter-final of the PSA M5 tournament with
England’s Richie Fallows headlining the field at the Belfast Boat
Club.
Fallows, the World No.68, dispatched Belgium’s Joeri Hapers by an
11-2, 11-6, 11-4 victory that sees him ease through to the last
eight.
Up next for Fallows is a meeting with Italy’s Yuri Farneti, who
defeated Welsh qualifier Owain Taylor by a 3-0 margin.
Fallows’ compatriot, second seed Chris Fuller, also emerged
unscathed from the opening day of action after he rose to a
comprehensive victory against Irish wildcard Stephen Hearst. Fuller
will line up against another Irishman, Sean Conroy in the
quarter-final after Conroy overturned a 2-0 deficit against home
player Michael Craig.
Scotland’s Douglas Kempsell and Brian Byrne will contest another of
the quarter-final matches thanks to respective wins over Sam Ellis
and Bradley Masters, while Lyell Fuller and Tristan Eysele will face
off in the other last eight fixture.
Fuller overcame England’s Elliot Selby to reach the quarter-final,
with Eysele seeing off Marc ter Sluis in four to progress.
The Women’s event, meanwhile, saw all but one seed make it through
to the next stage – with top seed and pre-tournament title favourite
Alison Thomson being the only casualty after she succumbed to
Frenchwoman Laura Pomportes.
Pomportes will take on Elin Harlow in the next round, while Tinne
Gilis will go head-to-head with Rachael Chadwick after they defeated
Elise Romba and Sophie O’Rourke, respectively.
There were also wins for Anna Klimundova, Ineta Mackevica, Hana
Moataz and Tessa ter Sluis.
Local player Michael Craig advanced to the main draw of the Legacy
Wealth Belfast Open, PSA M5 tournament after dispatching Welshman
Dan Bergin in straight games in the final round of qualifying at the
Belfast Boat Club.
Craig, 20, is appearing at his first PSA World Tour event of 2016
and he wasted no time in establishing himself on proceedings to wrap
up an 11-6, 11-9, 11-2 triumph, sealing his place in the main draw
in the process.
A main draw clash with number five seed Sean Conroy awaits Craig
next as he looks to make the most of the home support.
Meanwhile, the top two qualifying seeds both bowed out during the
final round of qualifying, with Miles Jenkins and Phil Nightingale
succumbed to Owain Taylor and Marc ter Sluis, respectively.
Ter Sluis will lock horns with South Africa’s Tristan Eysele in the
opening round of the main draw, while Taylor is set to face Italy’s
Yuri Farneti.
Sam Ellis was the other final qualifying round victor and he will
line up against third seed Douglas Kempsell in a tough first round
tie.
