Chichester ladies push Winchester all way in squahs showdown
The visitors lost 3-2, but eagerly await the return match for a chance to put the record straight.
Gill Horsey at fifth string fought hard and went close in the second, but went down in three to Sarah White.
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Hide AdAt No4, Sarah Porter flew out of the blocks for Chichester, storming to a 2-0 lead for the loss of just four points, winning 9-3, 9-1. Porter lost the next two games 9-7, 9-6 but was on fire in the fifth, barely putting a racquet wrong to take it 9-1 and level the match at 1-1.
The clash of the skippers at second string saw Chichester’s Zoe Shardlow out-thinking and out-manoeuvring the harder-hitting Hannah Khairallah for two games. She lost concentration in the third before taking the fourth and give Chichester a 2-1 lead.
Making a welcome return at third string was Kelly Eastment, playing her first match for Chichester for over a year. In an epic encounter with Jo Sothcott, Eastment took the opener 10-9, but lost the next two.
She came back to take the fourth 9-4 and took the match to a thrilling finale in which it was 7-7 when Eastment was denied a stonewall stroke which would have taken her to match point. Sothcott won the replayed point.
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Hide AdIn the next rally, Eastment’s forehand volley kill was an inch off being unreturnable but her opponent took her opportunity, making it 3-2 win for Winchester and squaring the match.
The top-string match saw a battle of the newly-crowned county champions with Hannah Wright Davies (Sussex) taking on Catherine Finlayson (Hampshire).
Previous encounters have gone the way of Wright-Davies, but this time Finlayson claimed victory in stunning style, dropping just eight points in three games.