(L-R):
Haley Mendez, Nathan Lake, tournament organiser Mark Hildred, Millie
Tomlinson
and Harry Falconer
L-R): Haley Mendez, Nathan Lake, Millie
Tomlinson
and Harry Falconer
Men's final:
Nathan Lake {1} bt Harry Falconer {3/4} 13/11, 11/5, 11/5 (39m)
After appearing as a young child at the Boston Junior Open, Lincolnshire
lad Harry Falconer appeared in his first senior Boston Open final
against world #49 Nathan Lake. Harry started brightly, taking a 4/0 lead
in the first game, but Nathan fought his way back to a tiebreak victory,
before dominating the next two games in a final that followed a not too
dissimilar pattern to the women's one before it. Nathan won 13/11, 11/5,
11/5 in 39 minutes to win his first Boston Open title.
The women's final was the most competitive since 2015, although Millie
Tomlinson still hasn't lost a set in Boston since then, as she beat
Haley Mendez in straight games to win her fifth consecutive Boston Open
crown.
Haley can count herself hard done by not to have taken a game though.
She won more points in the first set than three of the previous four
runners-up have managed in entire finals against Millie. It was an
extraordinary opening game that lasted 21 minutes. It was tight
throughout and the players were never separated by more than two points.
Both players squandered gameballs, before the top seed eventually won
the tiebreak.
The rest of the match was easier for the reigning champion, who didn't
drop a point from 6/3 up in either of the next two games against her
tired opponent - giving her a 19/7, 11/3, 11/3 win in the final in 36
minutes.
Men’s semi-finals:
[1] Nathan Lake 3-0 Lewis Walters 11/8, 11/5, 11/9 (31m)
[¾] Harry Falconer 3-3 [2] Nick Wall 4/11, 11/6, 7/11, 11/4, 11/8 (45m)
The first of the men’s semi-finals was played at a high tempo with both
players covering a lot of ground and retrieving from corner to corner.
Lewis Walters’s good run came to an end at the hands of Nathan Lake,
just under 24 hours after he won the first match of 2018’s Open.
Fittingly, the last match of Saturday night was the first five-setter of
the tournament. 20 year old Harry Falconer beat 18 year old Nick Wall.
Nick had raced into a 10/2 lead in the first, but from the second game
onward he was unable to put together a similar run, and Harry made his
first Boston Open final after competing in the event for the last five
years.
Women’s semi-finals: [1] Millie Tomlinson 3-0 Mari Taylor 11/6, 12/10, 13/11 (18m)
Millie Tomlinson made the final without dropping a set yet again. She
beat Mari Taylor, who lost the second game on a tiebreak after winning
five successive points - two of them requiring nothing other than her
serve - to take an 8/4 lead. With a gameball at 11/10 in the third, Mari
almost became the first player to win a set against Millie at the Boston
Open since Madeline Perry in the 2015 final - but it wasn’t to be as the
top seed took the next three points and the match.
Following them on court were Haley Mendez from the USA and Ciara
Richards from Wales. In truth, Haley was in front for almost the entire
match and simply had too much for her 18 year old opponent. She won
11/5, 11/4, 11/6 to ensure a women’s final made up of the top two seeds.
Men’s
quarter-finals:
[1] Nathan Lake 3-0 Phil Nightingale 11/4, 11/8, 11/8 (31m)
Lewis Walters 3-1 [¾] Nick Mulvey 11/5, 6/11, 15/13, 11/8 (53m)
[2] Nick Wall 3-1 Patrick O'Sullivan 6/11, 11/8, 11/8, 11/7 (37m)
[¾] Harry Falconer 3-1 Robert Dadds 10/12, 11/4, 11/7, 11/7 (47m)
After the women’s quarters came the men’s. Up first, world #49 Nathan
Lake against Phil Nightingale. Although the top seed won in straight
sets, Phil put in a creditable challenge and led 6/4 and 8/7 in the
final two games respectively - Nathan just had enough in the tank to
pull through.
Their match was outlasted by the other quarter-final that had begun at
the same time. Unseeded Lewis Walters, who had come through a qualifying
match the night before, knocked out ¾ seed Nick Mulvey. Quick starts in
the first and fourth games helped Lewis to a 3-1 win in 53 minutes.
No such upsets in the second pair of quarter-finals. Despite a hiccup in
the first set, Nick Wall resumed command to progress 3-1 at the expense
of Patrick O'Sullivan. Harry Falconer also won through in four against
2015 runner-up Robert Dadds despite defeat in the first game.
Women’s quarter-finals: Mari Taylor 3-0 Charlotte Kirkwood 11/6, 11/5, 11/3 (14m)
[1] Millie Tomlinson 3-0 Catherine Rae 11/5, 11/4, 11/3 (14m)
[2] Haley Mendez 3-0 Katie Wells 11/2, 11/1, 11/5 (16m)
Ciara Richards 3-0 Heidi Albinson 11/4, 11/8, 11/8 (18m)
Men's
qualifiers: Lewis Walters bt James Singh 10/12, 11/7, 11/8, 11/5 (37m)
Patrick O'Sullivan bt Craig Valente-Wallace 11/8, 9/11, 11/9, 11/4 (41m)
A reduced number of entries meant only two matches on the first day of
this year's Boston Open. They were two qualifiers for tomorrow's men's
quarter-finals.
Lewis Walters and James Singh were first on court. James narrowly took
the first set of the event, but not the first match, as Lewis Walters
controlled the rest of the tie to win 3-1. Patrick O'Sullivan also won
in four against Craig Valente-Wallace, whose fourth appearance at the
tournament in as many years was a brief one.
The Boston Open in Lincolnshire will be held for the 22nd consecutive
year this weekend.
For
the first time since 1999 though, it is not linked in with the BSPA
Tour, as the circuit disbanded earlier this year.
While the number of entries is down, the standard of the top seeds is as
high as ever. Indeed, the men’s runner-up from 2015 (Robert Dadds) is
not even seeded this time around.
The women’s draw is led by world #25 Millie Tomlinson. She has won the
Boston Open for the last four years, a feat only matched by
Lincolnshire’s former world #4 Tania Bailey.
Just last month Millie beat world #12 and eight-time world champion
Nicol David in Hong Kong - probably the biggest win of her career.
The second seed in the women’s draw is Haley Mendez from Brooklyn, NYC.
The 25 year old returned to her career-high world ranking of #43 this
month.
Haley’s boyfriend and men’s top seed Nathan Lake also has his base in
Cheltenham and Brooklyn. He is the world #49.
Sheffield’s Nick Wall is the men’s second seed. The rising star won the
British Junior U19 Nationals in October, and the English Junior U19
Championship in March.
Play runs roughly from 6.30pm-8pm on Friday and 11am-7pm on Saturday,
with Sunday’s finals at 2 and 3pm.
