England No. 1 serves up a treat

ALAN COOKE won an all-English affair in the final of the Guernsey Table Tennis Open yesterday. The English number one won comfortably against number two seed John Hilton, but it was an encouraging weekend for local players as Scott Romeril and Phil Ogier reached the semi-finals.

Ogier upset number three seed Nigel Eckersley in the quarter-finals with what Ogier described afterwards as his best ever win.

'It's an excellent win for me against a former England international and is a step up in standard from what we usually play in the English County Leagues, so I'm very happy,' said Ogier.

However, Ogier couldn't repeat the feat in the semis as he lost in four games against the unorthodox style of Hilton.

'I didn't really stretch him, but he plays with a combination bat so it was hard to read the different spins he was using and it made it look like I was making a lot of unforced errors but I wasn't,' said Ogier.

Romeril knocked out Peter Powell in the quarters before losing to Alan Cooke in the semi-finals, but enjoyed the experience of playing the English number one.

'It was good fun apart from the fact that I got battered, but afterwards he gave me a few tips on my serve, so it was a good experience,' said Romeril.

But Romeril's highlight had come earlier in winning the under-21 men's singles when he defeated Mark Roscaleer 12-10, 11-9, 11-1 to gain revenge for a defeat he suffered at the hands of the same opponent in the Band 2 singles the previous day.

So the open final pitted Cooke against Hilton and they did their best to put on entertaining show for the healthy amount of spectators.

Cooke dominated the first game with his speed and reactions and won it 11-2.

However, Hilton hit back in the second with better defence but crucially missed a great chance at 9-8 up when he failed to put away a forehand smash that let in Cooke who turned on the style to clinch the game 11-9.

Cooke completed the win by taking the third 11-5 despite Hilton trying to put him off by calling a timeout at 9-5 down much to the amusement of the crowd.

The match point was played to the sound of grunts by both players and rounded off a friendly encounter by two class players.

Afterwards Cooke joked with Hilton that he was lucky to get so close, but Hilton was proud of his performance.

'I felt like a young chicken out there today, it was fantastic. I think it's to do with all the fresh air you people have in Guernsey, it's great,' said Hilton.

Even though expected, Cooke was still very happy with his victory.

'You can never take victory for granted and with this short scoring system you can't afford to switch off for a single point, so I was pleased with my concentration today,' he said

In other finals of the weekend, Lynsey Pinch beat Rachel Baker for the under-21 women's crown and Eckersley made up for his defeat to Phil Ogier in the open singles by winning the veterans title from John Hilton.