Wykes strikes to take Chichester racketball crown

Favourite Steve Wykes made his way to the final untroubled, but his semi-final opponent Greg Jansz was the surprise package of the draw – he progressed to the last four in his first attempt at racketball.

Meanwhile three-times champion Steve Wall had an hour-long 3-0 semi-final win over third seed Lewis Strudwick before facing Wykes in the final.

In the final, Wall battled as he always does and Wykes used his shot-making and flair to great effect. Wall was made to run a long way and his reward was to take the second game.

After that, Wykes regained his composure and ran out a 3-1 winner taking the third and fourth to win the title for the first time.

For the fifth time, the doubles event was won by Lewis and Tommy Strudwick. They defeated Andy Bishop and Simon Lightfoot, which meant that once again the Strudwick doubles specialists hold both the squash and racketball doubles titles.

In the plate event for first-round losers, Andy Bishop made up for losing the doubles by defeating Claire Briance in the final.