Edinburgh Open: Lobban and Chadwick Claim Stunning Quarter-Final Upsets

Australia’s Donna Lobban and England’s Rachael Chadwick claimed major scalps in the quarter-finals of the Edinburgh Sports Club Open as they beat top seed Emily Whitlock and No.3 seed Lisa Aitken, respectively, to reach the last four of the PSA Challenger 20 event.

The fixtures started with top seed and former champion Whitlock taking on fifth seeded Lobban, almost a local with husband Greg watching and the crowd definitely in her favour.

Had the seeding been done on highest World Ranking, they would have been No.1 and No.2, and that closeness was borne out as Donna claimed two close first games 11-8, 11-8 and almost pulling back Whitlock’s early lead in the third, which the top seed took 11-9.

The fourth was a humdinger as Lobban edged ahead to 10-8, but after saving those match balls, and four more in the tie-break, Whitlock edged home 18-16 to set up a decider.

Lobban moved ahead again in the fifth, and only needed two more match balls as she closed out the match 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 16-18, 11-8 in 67 minutes.

Both Scots exited the draw as Alexandra Fuller overcame Alison Thomson in straight games, winning 11-6, 11-5,11-8 in 28 minutes. Then, in an uncanny repeat of the opening match, Rachael Chadwick went two up against third seed Lisa Aitken, who battled back to take the third and then saved two match balls in the fourth, before finally falling to an 13-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-13, 11-8 defeat in just over an hour.

“I’ve never got close to Lisa, she’s battered me every time before so I went in without any pressure,” said Chadwick.

“I had to pick the time to play on her forehand, she’s lethal there. I was pleased to sneak the first two, felt I should have won the fourth, and she was really up for the fifth, so I was glad to win that one. This seems like a lucky tournament for me, I’ve had some good results here.”

In the last women’s quarter-final fixture, second seed Julianne Courtice let 10-6 leads slip in both the first two games against Satomi Watanabe, but took them both 12-10 before the former champion closed out the third 11-8 in 31 minutes.

Results – Quarter-Finals: Edinburgh Sports Club Open
[5] Donna Lobban (AUS) bt [1] Emily Whitlock (ENG) 3-2: 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 16-18, 11-8 (67m)
[4] Alexandra Fuller (RSA) bt [8] Alison Thomson (SCO) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 (28m)
[6] Rachael Chadwick (ENG) bt [3] Lisa Aitken (SCO) 3-2: 13-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-13, 11-8 (62m)
[2] Julianne Courtice (ENG) bt [7] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 3-0: 12-10, 12-10, 11-8 (31m)

Draw – Semi-Finals
[5] Donna Lobban (AUS) v [4] Alexandra Fuller (RSA)
[6] Rachael Chadwick (ENG) v [2] Julianne Courtice (ENG)