Nash Cup 2018 Day 6

Women’s Final
Sunday September 23rd

It’s been a tremendous week. Big crowds at the club and online. Hard to ask for a better squash experience. Completing an event of this size takes a tremendous amount of preparation and support.

A huge thank you to the 2018 NASH Cup Committee and all the work they have done over the past 12 months to make this event happen for an 11th time….it’s a massive undertaking and this team of volunteers truly stepped up and made it happen.

Our sponsors, who are all shown below with the exception of Bristol Gate Capital, are the backbone of the tournaments budget and have helped us grow from a $5,000 USD purse in 2008 to $30,000 USD today. We hope to have all sponsors join us again in 2019 and are already being approached by new partners.

It’s amazing how many people are involved in this tournament contributing considerably to its success….Billets; Official’s; the members of London Squash & Fitness and the squash community at large; and the dedicated staff of London Squash lead by Tom Panabaker, Jay Francis and Laurie Ingram.

48 Competitors from 17 countries started battle on Tuesday night….and we now have two new champions.

It’s been an honour and a pleasure,

Jay Nash
Tournament Host

Now….what you’re really reading for….

The Women’s Final.

Reporting Jay Francis
Emily Whitlock vs Samantha Cornett 11-9, 13-11, 11-5(36mins)

A Sunday afternoon final at London Squash & Fitness Club! Having the home favourite Canadian Sam in the final ensured a packed house! There seemed to be a few green tinged pro’s in the crowd watching on! Was this just pure envy of the 2 players in the final – or maybe the after effects of a fantastic London ‘night out’ for the Nash Cup pros’?

Emily would start as the favourite in the final, but it was Sam who came out fast taking a hard earned 5-2 lead! The opening rallies were a little edgy for both players, then Emily started to relax and her squash tightened up. She started to boss the T. Her strength cutting off the ball on the backhand side was key to her comeback; Emily slotted, another, backhand volley drop winner to nick the 1st game 11-9!

Sam was cheered back onto the court. I think Jen Layman was the lead cheerleader. Her energy really kicked up the crowd! Good luck Brad with that one later!
The 2nd game was “THE” game. Sam started to push Emily deeper and keep her off the T. This allowed Sam to work all four corners with more efficiency! The 2 ladies went toe-to-toe. The crowd were totally behind Sam. They are totally fair with regards to applauding quality shots from the non-Canadian; however it’s definitely dad Phil making the most noise as Emily creeps closer to the all-important 2 game lead! There are some lung-busting rallies towards the end of this game! Sam gets a game-ball, but a gutsy volley kill winner after a monster rally from Emily ties it up again! Emily shows her class, taking 3 points in-a-row to crush the home crowds’ fervour!

Love hearing that home town Mancunian accent from Emily as she storms over to her chair, I was needed to translate what “eh up Dad, narly time fur pint doon Rovers” actually meant! Emily was flowing in her words and more importantly her squash. She came out for the 3rd very relaxed, that’s what makes the 2nd game so important in squash! Her game was in full on kill mode now and as Sam’s length and width started to drop short Emily went for the jugular! This was a pretty quick and dominant 3rd game and Emily is the 2018 Nash Cup champion.

Emily was incredibly well spoken in her speech, about the great members, the joy of playing in a 100% squash club and of how important these medium-sized tournaments are to the Ladies World Tour. Obviously being a fellow Northerner I was able to quickly translate all this to the local Canadians! Well done Emily on a fantastic dominant performance throughout the entire week!
It’s been a fantastic week here in London, great squash, excitement, drama and of course PLENTY of fun in the evenings, as always! I hope many of you enjoyed the streams and reports and hope you’ll all tune in next year for the next installment of this amazing series….”The Nash Cup”….rumours have it Netflix may be calling!!!!!!!!!!!!