DVD - pro matches
DVD - instructional
HiTec Shoes
PRINCE Racquet Lineup
Also in SquashTalk eStore:
   Squash Racquets
   Shoes
   Videos - DVDs
   Books etc

Big Apple Open: Price/Gould Out-Last Mudge/Berg in Thrilling Final
By Rob Dinerman, Nov 5, 2007    
Squashtalk Independent News; © 2007 SquashTalk LLC

Trailing 11-9 in the fifth and on the very brink of having a seemingly commanding earlier-match lead dissolve into a demoralizing defeat for the third time in a row in this young 2007-08 ISDA season, defending champs Paul Price and Ben Gould rallied magnificently with a memorable 6-0 run to the tape and thereby came away with a 15-14 15-13 12-15 15-16 15-11 victory over second seeds Damien Mudge and Viktor Berg tonight in the final round of the fifth annual Big Apple Open, hosted as always at the New York Athletic Club and sponsored by Cushman Wakefield, the renowned real estate firm.

Gould, who also won the ’05 edition of this tourney when he and then-partner Preston Quick recorded their only career win over ’04 champions Mudge and the recently retired Gary Waite, has therefore now captured the last three Big Apple Opens, but unlike last year’s final, when he and Price administered the most severe thrashing that Waite and Mudge (who scored only 29 total points) ever sustained, this time they had to rally from 11-14 in the first game (which they won on a Mudge tin after he and Berg had called no-set at 14-all), eke out the taut second and weather both the loss of two match-balls (when a winning Mudge shallow backhand cross-court was followed by a Gould tin) in the fourth-set tiebreaker and, as noted, the 11-9 deficit they then faced in the decisive fifth. Their successful perseverance in the face of all these obstacles had to have been a source of major relief for Price and Gould, especially after the multiple-match-balls they had held in the third game of their semifinal loss to Chris Walker and Clive Leach in St. Louis three weeks ago and the 2-1, 11-8 lead, also against Walker/Leach, that got away from them one week later in the Maryland Club Open final..

Byed to the quarterfinal round of the draw by virtue of their top-seeded standing Price and Gould advanced to the final with a tight overtime-in-the-fourth decision over Michael Pirnak and Mark Chaloner, followed by a 17-14 15-13 15-1 semi over Walker (who had slightly pulled a quadriceps muscle in his pro-am match earlier that day) and Leach, who had been undefeated prior to that match but collapsed in that one-sided third game after falling just short in the first two. Meanwhile, Mudge and Berg straight-gamed first Ayman Kerim and Steve Scharff (surprise round of 16 winners over Jeff Mulligan and Matt Jensen) and then Scott Butcher and Willie Hosey en route to the final. Hosey (who partnered Mudge to the St. Louis final when Berg was sidelined with a hamstring pull) and Butcher had trailed Joe Pentland and Mark Price, two games to one, before routing them in the final two games, which spurred them on to a straight-set quarterfinal win over fourth seeds Quick and John Russell, who had been fighting the flu all week but who still completed the New York City Marathon the following day.

By thus advancing to the semis, Butcher, playing in his final ISDA tournament prior to his permanent return to his native Australia in early January, was able to close out a highly productive pro doubles career (highlighted by final-round appearances in the ’05 Canadian Pro with Paul Price and the Cambridge Club and U. S. Nationals events last season with Leach) on a positive note.

Tournament Recap:

Rd of 16:
Paul Price/Ben Gould, bye
Michael Pirnak/Mark Chaloner d Dave Rosen/Morris Clothier, 3-1
Trevor McGuinness/Whitten Morris d James Hewitt/Tyler Millard, 3-0
Chris Walker/Clive Leach, bye
John Russell/Preston Quick, bye
Scott Butcher/Willie Hosey d Joe Pentland/Mark Price, 3-2
Ayman Kerim/Steve Scharff d Matt Jensen/Jeff Mulligan, 3-1
Damien Mudge/Viktor Berg, bye

Qtrs:
Price/Gould d Pirnak/Chaloner, 3-1
Walker/Leach d McGuinness/Morris, 3-0
Butcher/Hosey d Russell/Quick, 3-0
Mudge/Berg d Kerim/Scharff, 3-0

Semis:
Price/Gould d Walker/Leach, 3-0
Mudge/Berg d Butcher/Hosey, 3-0

Final:
Price/Gould d Mudge/Berg, 3-2.

NEW ... Get the New Jonathon Power Instruction Video at the SquashTalk eStore!

\

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2007. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, PO Box 2918, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier, Pro editor Martin Bronstein, Doubles editor Rob Dinerman.
Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster. Copyright © 1999-2007 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use
Squashtalk.com must always be explicitly credited.