British U23 Championships 2011

 

 

The British U23 Championships were held in April at the Hunts County Squash Club where Britain’s top young professionals fought for U23 Glory. Spread over three days the event had plenty of tough matches each day as well as showcasing some real talent from the top seeds.

 

Victoria Lust (Bedfordshire) came into the event in fine form and holding a much improved world ranking of 36 making her the events top seed and favourite. Lust was mostly untroubled by her competition as she confidently brushed aside Kirsty West (Cheshire) in the quarter finals and Rachel Willmott (Sussex) in the semi finals, both 3-0. Meeting her in the final was Sarah Jane Perry (Warwickshire) who unlike Lust had a marathon match in her quarter final with Victoria Bell (Cumbria) which lasted 65 minutes. Perry’s semi final pitted her against former European Junior Champion and second seed Carrie Ramsey (Yorkshire), with Perry herself a former European Junior Champion it was set to be an intriguing clash. Ramsey started well but Perry soon started to dominate the proceedings and used her experience to keep Ramsey behind her as she attacked the front of the court and eventually ran out a 3-1 winner.

 

The Final displayed a level of maturity from Lust which will be a welcome addition to the fiery temperament that she sometimes displays on court. With Perry once again vying for dominance in the middle of the court it was Lust who played a perfect game plan with patience and steady build up play before waiting for the right moment to attack. Perry was unable to get into any kind of rhythm and once Lust took the first game 11-9 she found it hard to compete with the pace as Lust piled on the pressure. Lust quickly closed out the game with a 3-0 victory, a worthy champion who finished the event without dropping a game.