First Round - Day 2, 1st report     [day one]
April 5, 2005, Chief Reporter Martin Bronstein on the scene in Bermuda
SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2005 all Rights Reserved;

ISKANDER FINALLY BEATS GRANT

Iskandar Gets the Measure of Grant, photo © 2005 Stephen J Line

Mo Azlan Iskander beat England’s Adrian Grant today after losing on their two previous occasions. It was the first match on the glass court at noon and as yesterday, the noonday sun was no conducive to excitement. Worse still both players started at a walking pace and only very rarely broke into a trot. Iskander seemed to be testing the atmosphere with his constant high lobs, mostly sent down the left wall which was strange because Grant, being left handed, had no trouble dealing with them on his forehand.

This was squash in slow motion and tested the spectators’ patience with oft-repeated patterns. Grant tried to break the pattern by going cross court, only for the patterns to be repeated down the right wall.

There was not a lot to choose between the two players and they exchanged points – as well as errors – to 8-8 at which point Iskander pulled out his only winning shot –a surprise forehand cross court slam which never came up more than a couple of inches off the floor. He then drove cross court on the next rally when Grant expected a straight drive. Grant saved one game point with a delicate drop-on-drop but Iskander had the last point with a backhand straight nick to win 11-9 in 19 minutes.

SLOWER AND SLOWER STILL
Iskander has a narrow view of squash which mostly takes in the back corners. He tends to slow the pace, the sort of tactic an attacking player would enjoy. But Grant attacks in only certain situations and the result was less than exciting. The second game ran even until Grant was put off by a referee who said that he was trying to get to the ball too quickly and so refused him a let. Grant asked whether he was being penalized because he was too fast and he was told to get on with the game. I thought it was a legitimate question. Grant lost his concentration and Iskander ran to a 9-6 lead before Grant hit two very good winners and found a lucky nick on the left wall to put him at 8-9. But after exchanging errors Iskander slammed Grant’s service into the nick to win 11-9 in 14 minutes.

FASTER AND BETTER

Grant made the crucial errors, photo © 2005 Stephen J Line

Grant came out for third all winners and resolve and was suddenly 5-0 ahead. Iskander decided the game wasn’t worth chasing and virtually gave the game away 11-2 in five minutes. If Grant could keep this up – this attack and hunt for winners – he could pull the match out of the bag. But it was Iskander who took the lead in the fifth and although he contributed a couple of errors to Grant’s comeback, he retained the lead due to three crucial errors from Grant and then took the match ball with a stroke to end the 61 minute match.

Iskander said he thought Grant made more errors than usual and that he had been ill. Grant then revealed to me that he had suffered from a virus for ten weeks and had told no-one.

“But I had to keep playing to get points. So I have had a few matches but I really am not match sharp which is probably why I was not chosen for the England team for the European team championship later in April,” he admitted. The bad news is that because the Hungarian tournament has been cancelled Grant now has no tournament play until August….that’s a helluva long holiday.

MASTER versus NOVICE

Peter Nicol gave Wael El Hindi a lesson, photo © 2005 Stephen J Line

Peter Nicol and Wael El Hindi played a match that was over in 39 minutes. It was a matter of the master playing at half speed and the novice trying to overturn the odds by going for drops shots. The truth was that Nicol played more winning drops than Hindi. There was a glimmer of a battle in the first game but from 8-8 Nicol dominated to win the 16 minute game and then went into cruise mode to take the second and third in 18 minutes. Nobody got their pulse racing and it made me just a little annoyed that the games were being played in two venues at the same time. While there were only two matches at the major venue, there were four games at the Bermuda Squash Club. Something strange about the scheduling, no?

VIRTUAL SPECTATOR MASTERS
First round, bottom half.   [complete draw]

Mo Azlan Iskander (MAL) bt Adrian Grant (ENG) 11-9, 11-9, 2-11, 11-6 (61mins)
Peter Nicol (ENG) bt Wael El Hindi (Egy) 11-8, 11-3, 11-6. (39 mins)
Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-6, 11-6, 11-4. (44 mins
James Willstrop (ENG) bt Rodney Durbach (RSA) 7-11, 11-10 (4-2), 11-6, 11-10 (4-2) (64 mins)

Note: Matches use the PSA 11 point P-A-R scoring, with a tiebreaker.

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