"The Kashif Shuja Column".....
| UCSC Men's A report - Another One Bites The Dust! |
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| Written by Marcus Phua |
| Monday, 29 March 2010 17:12 |
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"Another one bites the dust Another one bites the dust And another one gone, and another one gone Another one bites the dust" That could have been the UCSC refrain following last Tuesday's win over The British Club,...... UCSC's 3rd win in as many matches. Overall score: UCSC beat The British Club 3-1 First match: Phil Mockridge beat Simon Bird 3-0 This was a match between two buddies who were catching up, both on and off the court. The first game was a tight affair with scores kept close throughout the set. Phil had that little extra at the end of the set to nick it home 11-9. The second set was a nail-biter, even closer than the first. Both players fought hard for every point and the set headed into deuce. With both players refusing to concede an inch of ground, the long set got into both gladiators' heads. Both players actually walked out of the court once, each thinking that he had lost the set when the contest in the second set had not yet been settled. It was almost hilarious to have observed the agony evident on each player's face when told to play on. In the end (thankfully), our Phil was the fitter and more determined player of the two and won the gruelling second set by 18-16. The effort in these two sets clearly took their toll on Simon Bird and Phil gratefully wrapped up the third and final with ease. 1-0 to UCSC. Second match: Marcus Phua beat Dermadi Adi 3-1 The match started off predictably with long rallies as both players tried to pin his opponent in the back of the court. The first set was won by Marcus who was the tighter of the two in winning 11-8. The British Club player came back strongly in the second with a new game plan. Well known to be a fit and basic player, Dermadi surprised Marcus by adopting an uncharacteristic stroke-player's role, going for risky shots. That strategy paid dividends and The British Club player won the 2nd set by 11-5. Fortunately, Marcus regained his composure and the 2010 national champion expectedly took control of the third and fourth to wrap up the tie 3-1. 2-0 to UCSC. Third match: Jason Ho beat Darren Kwee 3-0 Feeding up from the 'B'omber squadron, Jason Ho was up against Darren Kwee, a D-grader who was registered with the The British Club A-squad due to insufficient cover at the club. Both aged 17, the two young men produced some energy-sapping rallies from the on-set of the tie. The first set was a close affair and Jason committed a couple of errors to present the BC player with game-ball at 8-10. Mustering on all his considerable skills and fitness, Jason recovered to 10-10 with some safe basic squash before closing out the tight first set narrowly 13-11. During the break, the UCSC-sian was advised to keep his racket-head up when approaching the front court to offer more options when playing his deadly front court game. The tactical change allowed Jason to stamp his authority on the match when he made the T his own and punished Darren repeatedly with his flicks and deadly delay-shots. Jason took the second and third games comfortably. The last rally of the tie had spectators on their feet as both young gladiators treated them to an extremely long rally, at the end of which both players trudged out followed by their tongues dragging some distance behind. 3-0 to UCSC for an unassailable lead. Fourth and final match: Simon Yang lost to Charlie Thomas 2-3 Simon moved up to the number 2 slot for the second consecutive week in place of the still-recuperating Darren Subramaniam (twisted ankle). Simon had a long, tough week at the recently concluded Masonry Nationals and had commented before the match that his body was still undergoing major servicing. Clearly, Simon was still trying to get his engines fired up early on as he quickly dropped the first two sets to a very talented Charlie Thomas whom we understand, is also The British Club's Tennis Doubles and Squash Champion. However, true to his reputation, Simon's legendary resilience soon made its presence felt as he tenaciously dug in deep with some long rallies and deadly touches to take sets # 3 and 4 to bring the tie to a rubber . Alas, there was to be no fairy-tale ending as The British Club champion produced some amazing shots to win the rubber and sealed the tie. Despite the loss, the determined display by our Simon was inspiring and deserved plenty of applause for his magnificent fighting spirit. With that, we now look forward to tomorrow (Tuesday 30th March) evening's tough match vs. SCC2 at the Padang which promises quality matches in abundance. We'll keep you guessing on the mouth-watering line-ups. Turn up if you want to find out more. |
| Last Updated on Monday, 29 March 2010 17:51 |
