Davies takes another step up the ladder with Welsh crown

Gary Baker on 26/03/2012

Teenager Jordan Davies is making significant progress in his squash career and continued his winning ways by taking this year's Welsh Junior Open Championships title.

Davies, 17, has played above his age group for the past few years, and came third in last year's Swiss Junior Under-19 singles, beating Finland's Tatu Knuutila in three straight games in their bronze medal match.

That was in December and since then Davies reached the quarter-finals of the senior Welsh National Championships in January, where he lost to Wales' top ranked world player Peter Creed.

Then he beat Alex Petitjean, in the French Junior U-19 Open Championships - a significant victory as it was Petitjean's home tournament - before going out in a four-set clash to England's Taminder Gata-Aura.

Now he has taken his first title of 2012 with his Welsh Junior crown, losing just one set in his run to the trophy in Cardiff.

Davies beat Louis Randle 11-5, 11-4, 11-2 in his second round match, having had a bye through the first round, and then lost 15 points over three sets in beating Robert Luke.

And then he tamed Joel Makin in the final, securing a sometimes tight match 11-9, 11-2, 7-11, 11-6.

Eighteen-year-old Hannah Davies, who reached the Welsh National Championships semi-finals this year, had a tough time in the girls U-19 singles but managed to come through to take the title.

Davies, the number one seed who also had a bye through the first round, beat Sarah Clode 11-8, 13-11, 11-2 in her semi-final and was then taken to four games by Fiona Murphy after easing through the opening game 11-1.

Murphy took the second 11-9, before Davies came home 11-4, 11-8.

In the other age groups, Danie Poleschuck, from Israel, beat his fellow countryman Roee Avraham in three games to take the boys U-17 title.

And Wales' Lloyd Rutter played some fine squash in a tough match against Ireland's Niketa Gilevsky to win the U-15 final 11-7, 11-9, 11-8.

Another Welsh teenager, Daniel Christopher, won the U-13 title but was taken to five games by Ireland's Luke Logan, while, in an all-Ireland final at U-11 level, Conor Moran beat Sam Buckly in straight games.

Among the girls, Malta's Colette Sultana was the U-17 winner with a four-game victory over Scotland's Elspeth Young.

Wales' Elin Harlow beat fellow country girl Lowri Roberts in another close final by 11-8, 7-11, 12-10, 11-4.

Ciara Richards, from Wales, came top of her group in the round-robin U-13 contest with four successive wins and without dropping a game throughout.

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