Phil Ogier overcame Olly Langlois in the Whistlers Open Singles final. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0797156)
PHIL OGIER claimed his second successive senior open title of the season following a four-game victory over Olly Langlois in the final of the Whistlers Open Singles event on Monday evening.
Each of the 10 seeds made their way through the group stages with few problems, each qualifying top of their respective groups.
The tournament threw up some interesting clashes in the second round, particularly the encounter between the undefeated Division One Cenkos Panthers player Matt Stubbington and upcoming junior Joshua Stacey.
Stacey made an excellent start winning the first and third games to open up a 2-1 lead over the in-form Stubbington.
But Stubbington was undeterred by the deficit that he faced and rallied excellently to edge a tight fourth game and send the match into a tense decider.
The fifth game did not disappoint and swung back and forwards, with both players holding match points during the long deuce game.
It was to be the older and more experienced Stubbington who edged through 15-13 in this instance.
However, the result was a clear sign of the improvement being made by the local juniors.
In a re-match of last month’s Senior Group quarter-final match, Paul Hainsworth posted a commanding straight games victory over Joshua Stacey’s twin brother Lawrence.
Another close second-round encounter was between Whistlers B’s Martin Sarre and Specsavers’ Mark Fallaize.
On this occasion it was to be the latter who progressed to the quarter-finals with a hard-earned five-game victory.
The first quarter-final was between Stubbington and Jez Powell.
Again Stubbington looked on his way out of the tournament as Powell emphatically opened up a two-game lead.
However, Stubbington’s tenacity was evident to see as he clawed his way back to level the match up at 2-2.
Powell raced through the final game and opened up a commanding 10-4 lead, only to see Stubbington pull back to 10-9, but Powell held his nerve and closed the match out and put an end to Stubbington’s tough resolve shown during the tournament.
In the other quarter-final from the top-half of the draw, Ogier overturned a one-game deficit to defeat veteran and old nemesis Mark Pipet in an entertaining four-game victory.
Fallaize continued where he left off against Sarre and booked his place in the semi-finals following a straight games victory over Specsavers teammate Jeremy Tan.
In the final quarter-final match, Oliver Langlois was near his best in a commanding straight games victory over Hainsworth, with some excellently-timed forehand and backhand top spins off the bounce.
Langlois was also the first player to book his place in the final with a hard fought four-game victory over Fallaize and he was shortly joined by Ogier who closed out a straight games victory over Powell.
The final itself was an excellent display of two contrasting styles, with Langlois looking to open up and take command of the points through forehand and backhand topspins and Ogier countering the shots with blocks while close to the table and retrieving when pushed away from the table.
Ogier’s consistency was too great in the opening two games and he also opened up a convincing 8-4 lead in the third.
However, as in the league encounter from a few weeks ago, Langlois reversed the deficit and won seven of the next eight points to reduce the match score to 2-1.
Ogier again opened up a good lead in the fourth game before Langlois again battled back, saving a few match points in the process, taking the game to deuce.
Ogier was not to be denied this time, though, and finally closed out the game and match 12-10.
Article posted on 6th November, 2009 - 2.29pm
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