Nations Cup : Day THREE
The inaugural Nations Cup continued in Tauranga with Day Three of the Pool Matches which saw the finalists decided.
In Pool A top seeds New Zealand made it a clean sweep of wins as they beat Scotland to book their place in the final, with Canada taking the runners-up spot after their count-back win over Australia.
Pool B went down to the wire with England edging out Team Europe on points countback after each recorded a 4-0 win.
Tomorrow’s matches will be Team Europe v Canada for third place, followed by New Zealand v England for the title, starting at 13.00.
13.00 : A [5] Canada 1-1 [7] Australia (6-4)
David Baillargeon 2-4 Rex Hedrick 7-4, 2-7, 2-7, 2-7, 7-4, 2-7 (56m)
Hollie Naughton 4-0 Jessica Turnbull 7-1, 7-2, 7-2, 7-4 (19m)
14.30 : B [6] USA 2-0 [8] New Zealand B
Timothy Brownell 4-1 Lwamba Chileshe 7-6, 5-7, 7-3, 7-2, 7-2 (40m)
Olivia Clyne 4-1 Kaitlyn Watts 7-3, 7-4, 7-5, 6-7, 7-4 (32m)
18.00 : A [1] New Zealand A 2-0 [4] Scotland
Paul Coll 4-0 Greg Lobban 7-2, 7-2, 7-1, 7-4 (26m)
Joelle King v4-1Lisa Aitken. 7-1, 7-4, 3-7, 7-0, 7-1 (32m)
19.30: B [2] England 1-1 [3] Team Europe (4-4, 39-37)
Mohamed ElShorbagy 4-0 Sebastien Bonmalais 7-3, 7-0, 7-4, 7-2 (30m)
Sarah-Jane Perry 0-4 Nele Gilis 3-7, 4-7, 3-7, 1-7 (33m)
New Zealand and England to Meet in Nations Cup Final
New Zealand and England will line up in the final of the inaugural Nations Cup after they finished top of Pool A and Pool B as pool stage action drew to a close at the Trustpower Baypark Arena in Tauranga, New Zealand.
Home favourites Paul Coll and Joelle King made it three wins from three as they helped New Zealand to victory over Scotland, beating Greg Lobban and Lisa Aitken. Coll was up first and he made no mistake in dispatching Lobban 7-2, 7-2, 7-1, 7-4 in just 26 minutes. King then followed up with a 7-1, 7-4, 3-7, 7-0, 7-1 win to wrap up the pool stage for New Zealand.
“I mean it’s a weird thing, before I went on Paul told me that we were already through,” said King. “It should relax you in a good way, but sometimes you need that little bit of something to chase, to sort of fire you up. I’m happy with getting off there and getting through tonight.”
England narrowly got the better of Team Europe in their fixture. Mohamed ElShorbagy completed a 7-3, 7-0, 7-4, 7-2 victory over Frenchman Sebastien Bonmalais, while ElShorbagy’s compatriot Sarah-Jane Perry fell to Belgium’s Nele Gilis by a 7-3, 7-4, 7-3, 7-1 scoreline.
England took the win courtesy of winning 39 points during the course of the fixture, compared to 37 for Europe, meaning they top Pool B.
“I am very happy with my focus,” said ElShorbagy. “I think I was happy with how I did yesterday. Sometimes when you’re winning 2-0, 3-0, you can easily lose focus in one of the games. It happens when you’re playing best of five in a normal PSA event a lot. So this tournament has been very good mentally for all of us.”
Europe will take on Canada in the third-place play-off following Canada’s victory over Australia earlier which guaranteed them second in Pool A. Despite David Baillargeon falling to Rex Hedrick by a 4-2 margin, Hollie Naughton was able to rescue her team with an assured 4-0 victory over Jessica Turnbull.
In Pool B, USA finished in third place after Olivia Clyne and Timothy Brownell achieved wins over Kaitlyn Watts and Lwamba Chileshe, consigning New Zealand B to bottom place.
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