2023 CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES REPORT
Published 20/02/2023 at 14:03:17 by David Wackrill; edited 1 times, last on 20/02/2023 at 14:04:09 by David Wackrill.
courtesy of Nick HowardHoward goes the distance to win first MK Open singles title
The showpiece event of the year was staged at MK Centre on a crisp Sunday morning yesterday.
With 44 entires into the main draw this year, the majority of the group stages were promptly started at 09:30, with a lucky few having a lie in until 11:00 when the second round of group matches began.
In a slight change to the usual format, there were 14 groups of 3, with the winner of each group progressing to the last 16.
Joining those 14 winners were 2 runners up completing the next round.
Once the final 16 had been decided, it was a random draw to see who played who through to the final.
There were no major surprises en route to the Quarter Finals, with the matches looking like:
Alan Cherry vs Shirishlal Basant Rai (who had beaten Mike Wilkins in the last 16).
Guy Sparrow vs Craig Brown
Nick Howard vs Darren Ward
Ricky Taiwo vs Javier Goh
Alan dropped an end to Shirish, but was otherwise untroubled.
Craig was on fine form with his new bat to take down teammate Guy in a 3-0 win.
Nick managed to get a little bit of revenge on Darren who had beaten him twice this season already, in a 3-1 victory.
Ricky did things in his own unique style against Javier, who hasn’t lost a match all season. Ricky had 4 match points when leading 2-0, only to finally grind out the victory 11-9 in the 5th. Both Javier and the poor helpless match ball went crashing out of the Championship in spectacular fashion.
Which led to a Craig vs Alan semi final that was another classic between two MK greats.
Alan stormed into a 2-0 victory before Brown pulled it back to 2-2 with some fine attacking play from his £80 rubbers…..
Alan managed to keep a small lead throughout the 5th, and finally took it 11-9 after a marathon match to head into the final for a 2nd time in 2 years.
Nick and Ricky’s match was less of a spectacle, with Ricky seemingly in the later stages of numerous events he was clearly saving himself for other matches.
Despite losing the first rather comfortably….. Howard ran out a 3-1 winner to set up a repeat of the Top 8 final with Alan Cherry.
For those who weren’t there (and for those who had come and gone) - Both Nick and Alan had been at the venue since 09:00 and it was now approaching 20:15 - Quite the day……
Alan raced into a 7-3 lead in the first before Howard fired off 8 points for the loss of just 1 to take the set.
Howard took the second in Deuce before going 7-3 down again in the 3rd….
However, some more attacking play from the Greenley’s Kings captain saw Howard claw back the deficit and take down the Great Wall of Milton Keynes 11-9 in the 3rd.
A first singles title for Nick Howard after an extremely long day.
Many thanks must be said to Mike Howard who organised and ran the day very well - A tough job that is appreciated by all.
Thank you to the (very few) people who stayed to see some of the final matches being played - I don’t think anyone begrudges those who left when their matches had finished, as they had also been there a very long time.
If there is enough interest from all involved, I think we can change up the format slightly so that some of the “main events” are played when everyone is there (midday), and they can all watch the finals (and the players will be a bit fresher).
Finally, thank you to everyone who entered.
Without your commitment to the event, it would never be as successful as it is.
Until next year, goodbye!