Unlucky Donaldson admits he knew the score

GUERNSEY duo Alison Merrien and Nicky Donaldson were unlucky not to qualify for the singles semi-finals at the Alfa Romeo WIBC championships in Belfast. Donaldson, who finished his campaign with two straight sets wins and collected nine points in his group games, was especially unfortunate to miss out on a place in the last four, while Merrien was also pipped at the post and missed the cut.

There were no complaints from Donaldson, who finished second on points and appeared to have made the knockout stage only for the place in the semi-finals to go to John Wells from Hartlepool, who had only eight.

'The explanation is simple,' the Guernseyman said ruefully.

'I didn't expect to qualify because the first criterion was games won, and I lost three out of five compared with John, who won three out of five.'

Donaldson got three points from both his wins and salvaged a point from each of his three losses, because those defeats all came after a tiebreak.

'It was all there in the rules of the competition,' added a disappointed Donaldson. 'We all knew how it worked, but it was still hard to bear to score more points than John and still miss out.'

He was happy, though, to have beaten the 2000 world outdoor champion Jeremy Henry in a desperately low-scoring encounter.

The memorable 4-4, 6-4 scoreline in 14 ends reflected just how hard shots were to come by.

'I don't want to make it sound like sour grapes, but I don't think it's exaggerating to say I could have won all five matches,' said Donaldson. 'I kept putting my woods on the jack in the tiebreaks, but my opponents just wouldn't let them stay there.'

Merrien was bitterly disappointed, too, after being pipped at the post by Welsh ace Maureen Williams in what amounted to a knockout encounter in the last session yesterday.

'I felt I played well enough to get through,' Merrien said after Williams had returned a 5-7, 6-3, 2-0 scorecard.