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Mudge And Berg Triumph In Wilmington
By Rob Dinerman, Nov 3, 2007    
Squashtalk Independent News; © 2007 SquashTalk LLC

Walker/Leach fall in Semis

On a hectic Saturday afternoon in the beautiful and cool-court confines of the Wilmington Country Club, Damien Mudge and Viktor Berg first rallied to victory over their autumn-long nemeses Clive Leach and Chris Walker and then out-played John Russell and Preston Quick in the final round of the U. S. Pro Championship to win the win the first title of their first-year partnership. Their title-taking exploits both confirmed the completeness of Berg’s recovery from the hamstring pull that had plagued him throughout the fall months, and spelled vindication for Mudge, whose foray to the left wall had been a mixed success so far this season after all his record-shattering years on the right wall as Gary Waite’s partner but whose victorious effort this past weekend ensconced him as the only player in ISDA history other than Quick to win ranking ISDA tournaments playing each wall. In fact, Mudge became the ONLY player to win the same ISDA title on each wall, as he and Waite had won this U. S. Pro Championship four times during the early- and mid-2000’s, including last season when, ironically, his current partner Berg was (along with Walker) his and Waite’s final-round opponent.

Leach and Walker had defeated Mudge no fewer than four times this season heading into Wilmington, in the St. Louis final (when Mudge played with Willie Hosey due to the severity and recency of Berg’s leg injury) and then in Baltimore, Chicago and Toronto. The two British stars, who are also in their first year as partners, had dominated the 15-6 fifth game of their quarterfinal against Hosey and Ayman Kerim, and then moved out to a two games to one semifinal advantage over Mudge and Berg. But the latter pair evened the match by taking the fourth game 15-11 and then moved out to a 14-9 lead in the fifth. Leach and Walker then embarked on an eleventh-hour four-point run that evoked memories of their successful rally in a St. Louis semi from down 2-0, 14-9 against Paul Price and Ben Gould --- but at 13-14 Walker attempted to bury an open forehand reverse-corner with Mudge stuck behind him, only to have it ricochet loudly off the tin.

The top-half semi between No. 1 seeds Price and Gould and ’07 U. S. Nationals champs Russell and Quick was just as taut, as the latter (who had been pushed to the five-game limit Thursday night in their opening-round meeting with qualifiers Whitten Morris and Michael Ferreira) let a two-game lead slip away and had to rally late in the fifth game to force a best-of-nine tiebreaker. A few Price/Gould tins and a few hard-fought exchanges brought Russell and Quick to 4-2, set-five, whereupon Russell ripped off a daring backhand reverse-corner from way back in the court that Price was unable to track down. This was the first time that Russell/Quick had ever beaten Price/Gould, who had won each of their three matches last season.

After all that enervating and high-quality squash late Saturday morning, and with only the two pro-am finals in between, the final took place Saturday afternoon, with fewer than three hours of turnaround time for Mudge and Berg, the survivors of the second semifinal, which Russell and Quick had had to referee. Frequently in this type of situation, whichever team loses the first game, especially if it’s a close one, finds itself in too big a hole to turn the match around. Such was the case this time when Russell and Quick were unable to covert a few first-game game-ball opportunities and fell just short in the second game as well. Buoyed by the momentum they had thereby acquired, and with some earlier-season disappointments (including the 11-9 lead in the Big Apple Open final that had yielded to a match-ending 6-0 Price/Gould run) now safely stowed away in the past, Mudge and Berg moved swiftly and confidently through the third and final game to finish off their 17-14 15-10 15-7 win and confirm their ticket to the winner’s circle for the first time as a tandem.

It was also the first time this season that either the Price/Gould or Walker/Leach pairings had lost to any other team than each other, and it will be interesting to see both if the totem-pole-jolting events of this weekend carry on to the rest of the season and if Berg can carry this win into the event this weekend in Vancouver, where he grew up and where he is has been based for the past few years after spending several early-2000’s years in Toronto.

Semis/Final recap:

Semis:
John Russell/Preston Quick d Paul Price/Ben Gould, 17-16 15-8 13-15 10-15 18-15
Damien Mudge/Viktor Berg d Chris Walker/Clive Leach, 12-15 15-6 10-15 15-11 15-13.

Final: Mudge/Berg d Russell/Quick, 17-14 15-10 15-7.

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