Liverpool Cricket Club Open SFs: Chandaran and Byrtus Impress to Reach Final

Ameeshenraj Chandaran and Viktor Byrtus produced dominant displays on semi-finals day at the Liverpool Cricket Club Open, both reaching the biggest final of their career so far. 

Chandaran had produced a stunning display to beat Moustafa Elsirty in a five-game epic on quarter-finals day, and was taking on No.2 seed and defending champion Ben Smith in the last four. 

Smith himself had come through a five-game marathon in each of his first two matches this week, saving match balls in wins over both Lwamba Chileshe and Emyr Evans, and that physicality ultimately took its toll. 

Chandaran, in contrast, showed no sign of fatigue in displaying his usual speed and athleticism around the court, taking game one 11-7 in little more than 10 minutes. 

Game two was even more one-sided, as the Malaysian continued to move his opponent around the court, chasing down everything Smith threw at him on his way to an 11-3 win. 

By the start of game three, Smith was visibly struggling and Chandaran was in no mood to be charitable. 

He raced through the rallies to bring up seven match balls at 10-3, but he only needed one, flicking a backhand boast cross-court from deep in the back left-hand corner to clinch victory. 

Speaking after his win, Chandaran said: “It’s my first ever 15k final and I couldn’t be more pleased. 

“Obviously I was expecting a tougher fight, but Ben did have a few tough battles in the past rounds and I guess it kind of played into my advantage today. I’m just glad to get it done in three. 

“I’ve been working so hard with my coaches, back in Malaysia and in Bristol with John [Welton], and the main thing I’ve been working on is the discipline, to just stay in those tough rallies, so I’m glad that that work is paying off… hopefully… I’m not trying to jinx it.” 

Chandaran also had praise for the boisterous crowd watching on, despite most of them cheering on his opponent. 

“The Liverpool crowd, it keeps the adrenaline going. It’s a wonderful crowd, even though most of them were probably on Ben’s side, I did hear a few ‘come on Chandarans’ in there, so the adrenaline kept me going.” 

Chandaran’s opponent will be seventh seed Viktor Byrtus, who saw off the threat of dangerous young Egyptian Kareem El Torkey, winning 3-0 in 33 minutes. 

El Torkey had displayed his attacking talent to the fore in a ruthless quarter-final win over Alasdair Prott, but he was unable to repeat the feat 24 hours later.

His only real opportunity came in game one, when he had a game ball at 10-9 up only to find the tin on a ferocious backhand drive, and Byrtus took advantage. 

He won the tiebreak on a deft backhand drop at 11-10, and was soon 10-4 up in game two, taking his fourth game ball at 10-7 to put a stop to El Torkey’s comeback charge. 

Byrtus then opened up a crucial lead in game three, giving himself five match balls at 10-5, but this time he only needed one, as El Torkey failed to clear a backhand drive resulting in a stroke. 

“I feel just amazing right now,” Byrtus said moments after victory. “It’s my biggest final on the tour. 

“I was just so relaxed, I didn’t really think about too much, I was just wanting to enjoy the game.  

“Kareem was putting me under a lot of pressure, but I think I was moving a bit better than him today and that kept me in the rallies, and he was making some mistakes in crucial points. 

“In the first game, I thought I could keep up with the pace, but my length wasn’t that good so I had to adapt my gameplan a bit. I started to slow down the pace a bit more and he was rushing the points. That’s what I wanted to achieve, and it worked out.” 

The final of the Liverpool Cricket Club Open will take place at 6pm GMT on Saturday, March 30, streaming live on the SQUASHTV Live Streaming YouTube channel.

Results: 
Ameeshenraj Chandaran (MAS) bt [2] Ben Smith (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-3, 11-3 (28m) 
[7] Viktor Byrtus (CZE) bt Kareem El Torkey (EGY) 3-0: 12-10, 11-7, 11-5 (33m)