After an epic day’s play at the Mark Bates Ltd Senior Nationals Qualifying Tournament, 32 men and 32 women have gone forward to contest tomorrow’s knockout stage.
At stake is a place at the Senior Nationals in March and the chance to take on the best players in England.
Click here to view all the days results via Flickr
Click here to watch the day’s action on Table 1 (men’s Group 1) and Table 16 (women’s Group 1) on TTE.TV
Pictures by Pawel Meryn – click here to see more on our Flickr page.
Click here to see the draw for the women’s knockout stage
Click here to see the draw for the men’s knockout stage
These links will be the same to follow results on Sunday.
Women’s groups
Top seed Anna Green won Group 1, but the runner-up was the third-ranked player Mabel Shute, who edged ahead of Isabelle Lacorte.
Lauren Loosemore, ranked second, made it through in fifth place, including an epic 3-2 (11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 11-13, 18-16) victory over Mia Longman, who also qualified. The player to miss out was Anisha Rasan as seven went through.
Everyone qualified from Group 2, with Donna Hammond having withdrawn. The group was won by top-ranked Erin Green with a 100% record, but it was third-ranked Saskia Key who ended in second, ahead of Mya Sultan.
Sultan was extended to a fifth by Fliss Pickard, eventually prevailing 3-2 (11-5, 11-5, 13-15, 8-11, 11-8). Green, meanwhile, needed five to overcome Naomi Coker, Sultan and Key – 11-8 against Sultan the closest of the deciders.
The top two topped Group 3, Anaya Patel finishing ahead of Rebecca Savage, as expected. Mia Lakhani picked up five wins, including two against higher-ranked opponents in deciders – she came from 2-0 down against Stefania Popa – but could not overcome the top two.
Patel and Savage went to a decider, Patel triumphing 3-2 (9-11, 11-8, 10-12, 14-12, 11-9).
Nerys Jones and Sophie Ackred were the two players to miss out on qualifying for tomorrow.
Top-ranked Tiana Dennison ended up third in Group 4 behind Megan Jones and Rachael Iles – Jones beat Dennison 3-2 (11-4, 6-11, 12-14, 11-7, 11-6).
Although Dennison beat Iles, defeats to Sophie Rinnhofer and Charlotte Weatherby saw her end up in third. The players to miss out on qualifying were Cath Cody and Connie Dumelow.
Ella Pashley won Group 5, ahead of the top-ranked Sara Williams, Pashley winning their meeting 7, 3, 9.
Williams earlier came from 2-0 down to defeat Ella Barnard in five, while Barnard herself came through 15-13 in a decider against Anna Piercey – Piercey the unlucky player to miss out as the top six finishers went through to tomorrow.
Men’s groups
Darius Knight won all his matches in Group 1 – though he did drop a couple of games, to Shaun Slater and David McKenzie.
Going through with Knight was third-ranked Bertie Kelly, who got above Joe Killoran courtesy of a four-game win.
The calculators came out to decide the runner-up of Group 2 behind top-ranked Shaquille Webb-Dixon, who did not drop a game.
Kieran Smith, Luke Greenfield and Ben Savage all won four matches – in the end it was second-ranked Smith who went through.
That was a little tough on Greenfield, who twice came from 2-0 down to win in a decider – 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-9 against Smith and 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-2) against Daniel Broner.
Umair Mauthoor won Group 3 as expected but Adedapo Onakomaya got above Isaac Kingham to take the second spot – it was 3-1 (13-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9) to Onakomaya in their match, which proved key in a three-way countback which also involved Max Flint.
Flint took Mauthoor to five but won in deciders against Francesco Bonato and Onakomaya.
Larry Trumpauskas and Aaron McKibbin duly came through Group 4, with McKibbin extended to five before defeating Dale Campbell 3-2 (11-7, 11-13, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9).
In the battle of the top two, it went to Trumpauskas 3-1 (11-9, 4-11, 11-6, 13-11).
Josh Bruce and Billy Shilton went through as expected in Group 5, though Bruce was pushed by Barney Mindlin before securing a 3-2 (12-10, 10-12, 11-3, 7-11, 11-6) victory.
In the match between the top two, Bruce beat Shilton 3-1 (11-6, 14-12, 9-11, 11-8).
Graeme Barella and Felix Thomis progressed as expected from Group 6 – Barella needed five to defeat Jack Rogers and Thomis. Gabriel Schogger was third in the group, winning three times in a deciding game.
Group 7 needed countback as three players finished level on five victories. In the absence of top-ranked Rhys Davies, who withdrew, the next three players in the rankings – Zoltan Hosszu, Jake Haygarth and Nathaniel Saunders finished in a three-way tie.
Hosszu beat Haygarth 12-10 in the fifth, but lost in four to Saunders, who in turn lost in four to Haygarth. After the calculations, Haygarth and Saunders progressed. Saunders will have been mighty happy in the circumstances, having earlier come from 2-0 down to beat Sam Henderson and from 2-1 down to overcome Harry Randall.
There was also a countback in Group 8, to decide who accompanied top-ranked Naphong Boonyaprapa into tomorrow.
Kin Fung Chan got the verdict ahead of Adam Jepson and Sammy Kaye – Chan beat Kaye 3-0 and Jepson 3-2, but his 3-1 defeat to Ash Facey Thompson was the complicating factor.
Group 9 was blown open by the withdrawal through illness of top-ranked Tom Rayner. It was the seventh-ranked Jack Sandler who rose to the top with five wins from six, including a 13-11 deciding game victory over Daniel Fielding and another five-game win against Matthew Evans.
Evans did win the countback verdict to claim the second qualifying spot, ahead of Joe Walker and Dominic Sussex.
Few issues for the top two in Group 10 as Olly Cornish and Aaron Geung went through – it was a straightforward 8, 8, 3 win for Cornish in their meeting.
Group 11 went with ranking as Alim Hirji and Artur Veck Caltabiano went through – Hirji won 7, 8, 8 in the clash between the two.
The top two were reversed in Group 12 as Nahom Asgedom got above Maxim Stevens thanks to a 3-2 (5-11, 11-5, 11-9, 4-11, 12-10) victory.
Top-ranked Jack Bennett did not make it out of Group 13 as Jakub Piwowar topped the group and was joined in qualifying for tomorrow by Ralph Pattison.
Both beat Bennett – it was 3-2 (5-11, 11-8, 11-6, 4-11, 11-8) for Piwowar and 3-0 (11-3, 13-11, 11-7) for Pattison in the final match in the group.
Toby Ellis won all seven matches in Group 14, dropping only one game along the way, 13-11 in the third game against Tommy Gritton.
Owen Brown was the surprise second place, ahead of James Hamblett by virtue of a hard-won 3-2 (11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 11-7) victory in their meeting.
In Group 15, Ben Piggott and Robert Pelc went through as expected but there were a few twists and turns.
Pelc needed five to overcome Kacper Piwowar (14-16, 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9) and Joseph Dennison (11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 16-14).
Piggott also needed five against Dennison (11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 11-4) – Dennison did manage a 15-13 in the fifth victory over Zion Boumpoutou. Piggott lost in four to Fred Jones, but victory over Pelc saw him top the group.
The top two went through in Group 16 – Krish Chotai ahead of Adam Dennison. Their meeting went the distance, Chotai winning it 3-2 (11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 4-11, 12-10).