Rod Hayes made a successful return to tournament squash with an impressive 3-0 win over an old rival, Paul Viggers, in the D.B. Lancaster Open final yesterday.
Some solid squash and apparently superior fitness helped Hayes upset the top seed, 9-7, 9-8, 9-3, in the 46-minute match.
It was the first match Viggers had lost to another Canterbury player since moving south from Hawke’s Bay in 1983, the same year Hayes began a sojourn in Auckland.
The first two games were closely contested but Viggers tired badly in the 7 minute third game and no longer had any inclination to rally. Two-shot rallies were frequent with Viggers finding either the nick or the tin. Hayes, too, hit some thundering nicks.
Viggers had earlier had the chance to level the contest at 1-1 when he held two game balls at 8-6 in the second, but Hayes won the vital rallies.
Hayes looked especially good when he stepped in to take teh ball early, clean winners being the outcome.
The women’s final was also decided in three games, Jillian Oakley making it a double for the Christchurch Squash Rackets Club with her 10-8, 9-3, 9-3 win over Justine Marriott.
Oakley retrieved well and played a clever game, varying the pace and direction of the ball just a shade to good effect.
At time Marriott looked good, especially when she was able to dominate teh front court and combine hard driving with delicate touch.
In the end, though, Oakley was too consistent and her opponent a little too impatient, going for winners too early in the rallies.
The vital first game, lasting 15 minutes, went to Oakley after Marriott had led 7-4 and 8-6.
There was a pleasing return to top form by the former Canterbury representative, Craig Hibbert, who finished third in the men’s A grade. In pool play Hibbert, seeded fifth, had a straight games win over Nigel Lloyd and he was equally convincing in his final match despite the determined efforts of Michael Penman.
The women’s B grade title went to the 13-year-old, Sarah Cook, in another indicator of her undoubted potential. Cook, who was unseeded, beat three open grade players in the course of the tournament and allowed Anne McKenna only seven points in the final.
