Waite & Mudge Start ISDA Campaign with Win as Usual
By Rob Dinerman; SquashTalk © 2005; all rights of reproduction reserved.
Oct 18 , 2005     

Gary Waite and Damien Mudge successfully defended the Maryland Club Open title they had won each of the past two years with a solid straight-set final-round victory last night over second seeds Preston Quick and Ben Gould. In so doing, Waite and Mudge recorded their 19th consecutive ISDA ranking tournament win, extended their current matches-won skein to 62 (only 14 shy of the record they had established a few years ago) and, perhaps most significantly, finished off a no-games-lost sweep of the season-opening event on the 2005-2006 ISDA schedule that also conveyed an intimidating message to the overwhelmed remainder of the field of how difficult it will be for any team hoping to topple them from the No. 1 standing they have held throughout their six years of partnership.

SPATE OF INJURIES DEPLETE FIELD
In fairness, the fact that a majority of this event's main-draw teams have formed subsequent to the outset of last season (Quick/Gould, now in their second season together, being a rare exception) means that some of these new partners are still getting acclimatized to each other, a process that may require several events to fully accomplish. Additionally, pre-tournament injuries to such elite ISDA performers as Blair Horler (knee), Jamie Bentley (foot) and Tyler Millard (shoulder) prevented these players, as well as their talented partners (Willie Hosey, Paul Price and James Hewitt respectively) from being part of the action. These teams should all be present for the next ISDA ranking event in New York a few weeks from now in early November.

Still, there was a business-as-usual aspect to the manner in which Waite and Mudge progressed undisturbed through the very strong draw (as there also was to Quick/Gould's advance to the final, where they had landed five times last season while only losing three matches to teams other than Waite/Mudge) that has to be a little bit disquieting to those ISDA aficionados who are hoping for a season with more of an element of unpredictability than was present last year, when Waite and Mudge went undefeated wire to wire.

Finals Recap: Gary Waite/Damien Mudge (1) d Preston Quick/Ben Gould (2), 3-0.

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