Day One of the 2025 Essex Squash County Closed is in the books! Lexden RFC are playing host to this years tournament again and we were some excellent squash played on the opening day.
Starting the day as we hoped to go on, with two nail-biting 3-2 victories for Nigel Bacon over Pat Kielty and Paul Clarke against Ian Lennox in the Over 45’s and Over 65’s respectively. Who says Saturday morning squash isn’t exciting?
The Open A got underway yesterday with the opening round matches providing victories for our seeded players. Gareth Naidoo saw off Paul Wallace in an entertaining straight set victory. Elliot Selby and Dylan Smithson proved too strong for Dan Burns and Dan Caton respectively, with a 3-0 victory also recorded for last year’s runner-up Michael Tallentire.
The Open B saw home favourite and number two seed Lara Newton safely through to the semi-finals with victories over Adnan Khan and Tony Bickley, and is set to meet Chris Purkiss in our first semi-final today. Purkiss didn’t have it all his own way, having to battle hard against Guy Tallentire to take the match 12-10 in the fifth game. The other semi-final sees late stand-in Richard Horswill face Paul Hodge. Horswill’s route to the semi-final saw him take out Sam Jones and no.1 seed Malcolm McEwen, only dropping one game in the process. Hodge had a real humdinger of a quarter-final, taking down Oscar Birch 14-12 in the fifth game.
The first round and semi-finals of the Open C were highly competitive, leaving a strong lineup for today’s finals. Rob Keogh overcame club compatriot Chris Wallis by three games to one in a no love loss semi-final. Lexden’s Mike Booth proved too strong for Gidea Park’s Steve Burnett, also winning his match 3-1. The Plate final sees Jenny Wright take on Andy Harvey.
Attention then turned to the Master’s squash, with action from six out of the seven categories. In the Over 35’s, this year played as a group stage format, Lexden’s Neil Cross stole the show, coming back from 2-1 down to beat Elliot Selby 3-2 before finishing the day with a 3-0 victory over Mike Aley. In the other game of the day, Mike Aley beat Maldon’s Paul Wallace 3-0.
The Over 40’s was straight to a final, with Hampton’s Adnan Khan beating Mike Booth 3-1. Well done Adnan. The Over 45’s had five entries, with matches split between a straight shootout between Pat Kielty and Nigel Bacon, and a group of three consisting of Malcolm McEwen, Paul Hodge and Martin Watts. Nigel Bacon reached the final with his victory over Pat Kielty, and will meet either Martin Watts or Malcolm McEwen who compete for the other spot on Sunday morning.
The Over 50’s consisted of a round-robin group of 4. Back-to-back, straight set victories for Dave Smith and Chris Purkiss means they will meet on Sunday afternoon to contest top spot. Phil Smith and Andy Harvey will meet in the 3/4 playoff.
This year saw an Over 55’s & 60’s merge as an age-group with a round-robin group between four players. Nigel Bacon and Steve Smith proved too strong, both recording straight set victories over Steve Burnett and Matt Hibberd. Will Lexden’s Steve Smith have enough in his locker to take the title, or will Nigel be bringing home the Bacon.
The final age-group to play today was the Over 65’s, with a four man round-robin format. Despite competitive performances from Paul Clarke, Ian Lennox and Matthew Wright, Ongar’s Brian Clay was too strong and took the Over 65’s title without dropping a game. Well done, Brian.
The second and final day of the 2025 Essex Closed is upon us, with some tantalising matchups and eye-watering encounters set to keep everyone on the edge of their seats. Action gets underway from 9:40am and there will be live coverage of the finals on the Essex SRA Facebook page this afternoon.
As always, a huge shoutout to our sponsors Millane Ltd and Karakal, as without their support events like this just wouldn’t happen.