Murray squashes competition on way to 15th title

Murray Urquhart and Shania Bentley have been crowned Finley’s top squash players for 2020.In fierce competition on Saturday, the Finley RS Squash Club championship players battled it out on the hardwood.Competing on the day were the women and men’s A grade and B grade as well as junior showdowns from the top girls and boys.Urquhart has had a long-standing successful squash career in Finley, with Saturday’s win seeing him claim his 15th club championship.Despite Matt Osborn’s best efforts to top the squash giant in the championship game, Urquhart was able to secure the match in straight sets, 9-0, 9-4, 9-4.From the outset Urquhart controlled the pace and capitalised on his accuracy early, forcing Osborn into the back corners to play a highly defensive first set.He did, however, show resilience in the second, countering Urquhart’s accuracy with powerful drives.The final set started in similar fashion to the previous two, with long rallies that left Osborn clutching his knees to catch his breath.It took Urquhart longer than expected to finish off the match however, with the brave efforts of Osborn saving three championship points.On the fourth championship point, Urquhart took control from the centre of the court and finished off the match.Bentley stepped onto the court with Stacey Doolan in what was a spectacular five set battle.Taking the first two sets 9-3, 9-8, Bentley was in the driver’s seat with only one set remaining between her and the top trophy.Doolan let her racquet do the talking with important straight drives and cross court work, taking the next two sets to send it into the decider.Bentley quickly found her stride after early competitive points to push ahead, eventually sealing the victory 9-3.Also playing on the day was Sasha Wood who defeated Kelly Nicholls 9-2, 9-3, 9-2 in the B grade women’s final.Andrew Lean took the win against John Shawky in the men’s B grade 9-7, 4-9, 9-7, 9-4.In the juniors it was a Burke family affair with Jasmine Burke defeating Karla Nicholls 15-6, 15-12, 15-6 in the girls final and Cooper Burke defeating Cameron Lawlor 15-6, 15-3, 15-0 in the boys.