Laser S A National Squash Championships

Wanderers Club, Johannesburg

Steve Coppinger collected his 6^th National squash championships in 8 appearances after he coasted though in straight games when the final was played at the Wanderers Club, Johannesburg on Friday evening.

Western Province’s Alexandra Fuller won her first senior National title ousting top seeded Cheyna Tucker 3-11 11-4 12-10 11-2.

As often happens the finals the viby semi final where all four semi finalists were firing on all cylinders fizzled into two quiet scrappy encounters.

Tucker, who  had a hard  hitting encounter with Elani Landman in her semi final edging through 14-12 in the decider took control in the first game running up a 8-2 lead and clinching it 11-3. But thereafter the spark fizzled as she lost the second 4-11. From 5-all in the third game some long rallies ensued  but unforced errors by Tucker allowed Fuller to take the game 12-10 and thereafter it was one way traffic for Fuller who dropped only a  further 2 points winning the game 11-2.

Ranked 17 in the world Coppinger was man on a mission and Le Roux, the defending champion seemed slow off the mark. Coppinger raced through the first two games 11-3 11-5. It was in the third game that some spark appeared in Le Roux’s game as he save 3 match points. Coppinger gained the hand in and rattled off the next 2 points for the match and the title.