Boston Open 2024
Boston Squash and Racketball Club's annual professional tournament, the Boston Open, has concluded another successful year. Read all about it below...
DAY THREE
WOMEN'S FINAL
Sophie Fadaely [1] bt Katie Wells [15] 11/5, 11/4, 11/8 (20m)
Sunday's finals began with a women's showpiece in which Sophie Fadaely cruised to victory in 20 minutes. She won the first two sets particularly comfortably, with Wells saving a few gameballs on the backhand to avoid an even wider margin of defeat in the second set than the final result shows.
Last year's runner-up did come into the match more in a competitive third set in which the players remained within a point or two of each other to 7/7.
As each passing point became more critical, it was reflected in the players' reactions. Wells let out a roar of frustration as Fadaely went 8/7 up, and Fadaely did the same when the score was levelled at 8/8.
In such a game of tight margins, Fadaely benefitted from a nick to go 9/8 and apologised to her opponent (because we've all been on the wrong end of one at a crucial moment before). The Australian won the subsequent two points, sealing the 2024 women's title with a tight backhand drop shot on her first matchball.
MEN'S FINAL
Bailey Malik [9/16] bt Rory Richmond [8] 7/11, 11/8, 11/9, 11/5 (46m)
At last year's Boston Open, Scotland's Rory Richmond beat Bailey Malik in straight sets in the quarter-finals. This time around, they faced each other two rounds further on with a very different end result.
Richmond took the first set (despite losing an exhaustingly long rally when he tinned a boast), winning it 11/7 after Malik saved three gameballs.
Malik responded emphatically by not only winning the second set, but racing into a 5/1 lead in the third. While Richmond came back to go 7/5 up, Malik managed to reverse his opponent's momentum to win the game 11/9, leaving Richmond with his head in his hands as he dropped his racket in a mixture of disbelief and disappointment.
Malik kept up the intensity to take a 10/4 lead in the fourth set and while Richmond saved one gameball, the match was already beyond him. Malik won the final with a tight boast, going one better than his brother Heston and sister Torrie's runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2022 respectively, and bringing the 27th annual Boston Open to its conclusion.
DAY TWO
WOMEN'S QUARTER-FINALS
Sophie Fadaely [1] bt Ellie Breach [14] 11/9, 7/11, 11/8, 11/4 (45m)
Jasmin Kalar [7] bt Ayumi Watanabe [12] 11/6, 11/0, 11/8 (20m)
Katie Wells [15] bt Carys Jones [5] 13/11, 7/11, 11/8, 11/3 (39m)
Polly Clark [3] bt Lara Newton [8] 7/11, 12/14, 11/3, 11/9, 11/7 (42m)
Katie Wells continued her pursuit of a second consecutive Boston Open final with victory over 5th seed Carys Jones.
It was Jasmin Kalar who had the most comfortable victory of the round though, with top seed Sophie Fadaely dropping one set and third seed Polly Clark having to mount a comeback from 2-0 down after losing an incredibly tight second set on a tiebreak.
MEN'S QUARTER-FINALS
Jack Mitterer [9/16] bt Joel Arscott [1] 9/11, 11/5, 11/7, 11/3 (53m)
Rory Richmond [8] bt David Turner [3] 8/11, 11/8, 11/8, 11/4 (N/A)
Lewis Poole bt Ioan Sharpe [9/16] 4/11, 11/4, 11/4, 11/3 (33m)
Bailey Malik [9/16] bt Will Salter [2] 5/11, 8/11, 11/8, 11/2, 12/10 (88m)
It's tough at the top. The top three men's seeds all fell one by one as every men's quarter-final went against seeding. The tone was set by Jack Mitterer's defeat of world top 200 player Joel Arscott despite having trailed 1-0 to the #1 seed. Rory Richmond also turned around a 1-0 deficit to win in four, while the unseeded Lewis Poole continued his impressive form against 9/16 seed Ioan Sharpe.
The last match was an epic 88-minute thriller in which Bailey Malik came from 2-0 down to beat Will Salter. Salter appeared to tire in the third game and was consistently the more likely of the pair to make an error in pursuit of a winning shot, and the fourth game was a write-off for the second seed.
The deciding fifth set could not have been much more tense. Salter won the first matchball, but Malik levelled at 10/10. One let was followed by another after the referee called one of Salter's shots not up before reflecting on the decision on Salter's prompting and changing his mind. Malik responded by sinking to his knees in a praying position and joking, "Please give me the match!" In the end, Malik earned it 12/10 as two more of Salter's shots were called not up - bringing the 2024 quarter-finals to a close two hours later than expected.
WOMEN'S SEMI-FINALS
Sophie Fadaely [1] bt Polly Clark [3] 12/10, 11/7, 11/1 (25m)
Katie Wells [15] bt Jasmin Kalar [7] 11/9, 11/5, 11/7 (22m)
There wasn't long to wait between the end of the men's quarters and the women's semis. Sophie Fadaely avoided the same fate as her top seeded counterparts in the men's event. She won four consecutive rallies to come from 10/8 down to win the first set, and never looked back from there. Katie Wells also sailed into the final in straight sets.
MEN'S SEMI-FINALS
Rory Richmond [8] bt Jack Mitterer [9/16] 11/9, 9/11, 1/11, 11/8, 3/2 rtd (61m)
Bailey Malik [9/16] bt Lewis Poole 8/11, 11/6, 9/11, 11/4, 11/6 (48m)
It was a shame that the first men's semi-final ended in the way it did. Having knocked out the top seed in the quarters, Jack Mitterer was as much in the match as his opponent Rory Richmond when he went down with cramp at the end of fourth set. His attempt to play the fifth set was short-lived, and he pulled up again at 3/2 down in the final game, handing victory to Richmond. The semis ended in the same way as the quarters did - with Bailey Malik securing a five-set victory. He will now compete in the final of the Boston Open 2024, one year after the final appearance of his brother Heston - who he knocked out in this year's round of 16.
DAY ONE MEN'S ROUND OF 32
Jack Mitterer [9/16] bt Thomas Ramsay 11/3, 11/2, 11/9 (28m)
Antoine Riehl [9/16] bt Tom Greengrass 11/7, 11/5, 11/9 (25m)
Lewis Poole bt Samson Asade [9/16] 11/2, 11/8, 11/3 (38m)
Ioan Sharpe [9/16] bt Charles Keeble 11/6, 11/8, 11/8 (N/A)
Caleb Boy bt Rob Thirst [9/16] 11/8, 11/7, 8/11, 8/11, 11/8 (46m)
Ayaan Vaziralli [9/16] bt Oliver Hunter 11/2, 11/4, 11/3 (22m)
A series of late withdrawals necessitated a number of changes to the men's draw, with Caleb Boy, Thomas Ramsay and Tom Greengrass all being called upon from reserve spots to compete, and an additional two players receiving a bye to the round of 16. Kiwi Joel Arscott and Englishman Will Salter, both world top 200 players, stepped up to become #1 and #2 seeds respectively.
The tournament kicked off with a couple of straight set victories for 9/16 seeds Jack Mitterer and Antoine Riehl, before three matches took place simultaneously at 2pm. It was tricky figuring out whether to pay attention to the five-set upset that unfolded "down the corridor" on court 3, or to the entertaining encounter on one of the glass back courts in which Samson Asade spent much of the time on the floor as he stretched and lunged to pick up the shots of his opponent Lewis Poole - who ultimately progressed to the round of 16.
WOMEN'S ROUND OF 16
Ellie Breach [14] bt Jasmine Thirst [6] 11/5, 11/6, 11/6 (27m)
Lara Newton [8] bt Shin Yujin [9] 9/11, 11/7, 11/9, 11/5 (34m)
Carys Jones [5] bt Vahbiz Bulsara [10] 11/8, 11/8, 11/2 (N/A)
Jasmin Kalar [7] bt Emily Jones [11] 11/5, 11/9, 6/11, 11/8 (33m)
Katie Wells [15] bt Erin Classen [2] 9/11, 11/7, 11/9, 11/9 (N/A)
Ayumi Watanabe [12] bt Mary Mijas [4] 11/7, 11/6, 9/11, 11/7 (25m)
Polly Clark [3] bt Tanishka Jain [13] 7/11, 11/13, 11/9, 11/8, 11/6 (47m)
The women's event saw only minor changes to the original draw beforehand. The club had slowly got busier over the course of Friday afternoon by the time Lincolnshire's Katie Wells, who finished runner-up at last year's Boston Open, produced the biggest scalp of 2024's tournament so far. She came from 1-0 down to beat Australian second seed Erin Classen. Having first levelled the score in games, she secured a third set that had reached 9/9 courtesy of a stroke and then a tinned shot from Classen. In the fourth and final game, Classen saved one matchball at 10/8 down with a cool cross-court drop shot, but a loose forehand in the next rally allowed Wells to put the game away - and the match to bed in four.
The last clash of the women's round of 16 was also the closest, with Polly Clark bouncing back from 2-0 down to progress to the quarters in just shy of 50 minutes.
MEN'S ROUND OF 16
Joel Arscott [1] bt Lewis Doughty [9/16] 11/3, 11/6, 5/11, 5/11, 11/9 (53m)
Jack Mitterer [9/16] bt Laouenan Loaëc [5] 11/9, 7/11, 11/9, 9/11, 11/7 (N/A)
Rory Richmond [8] bt Caleb Boy 11/8, 11/5, 12/10 (30m)
David Turner [3] bt Antoine Riehl [9/16] 8/11, 11/3, 11/6, 11/4 (35m)
Ioan Sharpe [9/16] bt Hapun Vasile [4] 11/6, 11/8, 10/12, 11/9 (47m)
Lewis Poole bt Radu Pena [7] 11/8, 11/7, 11/9 (33m)
Bailey Malik [9/16] bt Heston Malik [6] 11/7, 7/11, 11/6, 11/9 (34m)
Will Salter [2] Ayaan Vaziralli [9/16] 11/7, 11/4, 8/11, 11/5 (33m)
The men's round of 16 was the best Boston has seen for many a year, and the first pair of matches certainly set the tone for Friday evening because they were arguably the best of the lot.
First, #1 seed Joel Arscott faced the man who was due to be last year's top seed until his withdrawal. The match didn't fail to live up to its billing, with Doughty heading into the fifth and deciding set with all the momentum after coming back from 2-0 down to level the scores. Arscott dominated the second half of the set to take a 10/7 lead, and while you couldn't rule out the top seed falling at the first hurdle when his opponent Doughty saved two matchballs, he did ultimately pull through. Second, Jack Mitterer eventually overcame Laouenan Loaëc of France despite being pegged back twice in a highly competitive, high-quality match.
Four of the six other matches went to a fourth set, including a match-up which saw 2023 Boston Open finalist Heston Malik dispatched by his brother Bailey in a tie full of trick shots and acrobatics.
