CAPITAL SHOW FROM DC IN THE B
COUNTY Durham’s David Collins nicked a breathtaking B event in the 2018 Lowes Financial Gosforth Classic with a controlled 3-2 win over Northern’s Jeff Klotz.
The B Event read like a who’s who of North East squash, and if there has been a stronger undercard tournament in the region then this correspondent cannot recall it.
Collins was one of five or six players who, pre-tournament, looked a likely winner. But he was certainly not the favourite.
That tag went to 55-year-old Steve Calvert - a veteran of the Northumberland and Durham Premier Leagues and currently in serious training for the British Masters.
Northern hotshot Tom Cornell provided possibly the upset of the tournament by knocking out Calvert at the quarter-final stage, coming from behind to win 3-2 with an epic display of energetic and determined squash.
Cornell gave Collins a game of it in the semi-final - coming from 2-0 down to take the third but his fellow teenager was in clinical form and found his range to see out a 3-1 victory.
Collins himself had provided a cocktail of determination and flair in seeing off No 2 seed Aitor Chinea in the quarters.
The Tenerife player - a former Canary Islands Champion who had flown in just for the event - levelled at 2-2 with a comfortable win in the fourth, only to watch as the North East player hit a range of attacking winners in the decider.
The final itself was a similar nip-and-tuck affair, and a real contrast of styles. Canadian Klotz bosses the T like a cruiserweight, and he reads the game well, pushing the ball hard and deep and waiting for his chance.
Collins, meanwhile, was pouncing on every half-chance, and going for the kill. Those attacking instincts again paid off as he established a pivotal lead in the decider, his smooth racket-work proving - just - too accurate and clinical for the Northern player as he took it 11-9. That was the 24th nail-biter of the tournament which had gone to the full five games, showing what a treat the fans were served up across the weekend.
Newcastle University sharp-shooter Eve Driver also has an impressive array of racket skills - and she showed her full attacking range to win the B Plate final 3-0 against the hard-hitting Andy Purdy of Primrose.
In the C Event final, another Newcastle University player - James Lees - was too consistent for Northern’s dynamo Joel Birch-Machin (3-0), while in the Plate, it was an all-Northern affair as Stuart Mitchell saw off young club-mate Adam Forster by the same scoreline.
