Waite/Mudge Rally In Semis
By Rob Dinerman; SquashTalk © 2006; all rights of reproduction reserved.
Apr 23, 2006     

After absorbing a fearsome mid-match pounding the equal of which the ISDA tour has never seen, top seeds Gary Waite and Damien Mudge responded like the champions they are, surviving a murderous marathon featuring remarkable momentum swings in which they finally surmounted the severe challenge posed by Clive Leach and Scott Butcher in 15-11 15-10 5-15 5-15 15-6 back-and-forth fray that consumed two hours and six squash balls while thoroughly exhausting everyone who braved a pounding rainstorm to crowd the Union Club gallery Sunday afternoon.

Waite and Mudge thereby earned the right to pursue their sixth Kellner Cup title (and third in a row) in the seven editions of this flagship ISDA tournament in tomorrow evening's final, scheduled for 7:00 at the Racquet & Tennis Club. Opposing them will be their sixth different Kellner Cup final-round opponent in as many years: second seeds Ben Gould and Preston Quick had a third-game double-match-ball opportunity to attain their second consecutive Kellner Cup final, but Viktor Berg and Chris Walker saved those two points and never looked back en route to a 9-15 9-15 17-16 15-7 15-7 victory that evened the season-long tally between these two rivals at three matches apiece. This marked the second consecutive ISDA event in which Gould and Quick (who led Butcher/Leach 2-1, 14-11 two weeks ago in Long Ialand before losing 15-7 in the fifth) had let multiple-match-balls get away in what has to be viewed as an inglorious ending to a partnership that had seemed so promising after they had notched their third ISDA title in Boston just three months ago.

Leach, who co-authored the only defeat The Champs have suffered in this tourney when he and Blair Horler overcame a two-games-to-love deficit in the '03 final, has now lost three straight years in the Kellner Cup semis with three different partners, having previously partnered Willie Hosey in '04 and Michael Pirnak last spring. Ironically, it was Hosey and Pirnak whom Leach and Butcher snuffed out 3-0 in yesterday afternoon's quarterfinals at the University Club.

It would be difficult to accurately portray how thoroughly Butcher and Leach dominated the play throughout the third and fourth games, how lost at sea Mudge and Waite appeared during that extended portion of the match, how deep a hole they had seemingly dug themselves into by the end of the fourth game, and therefore how remarkable a turnaround Waite and Mudge to their everlasting credit were able to conjure up from such an ill-boding predicament during the crucible of the fifth game. To be sure, Butcher and Leach (who had solidly out-played first Mark Chaloner and Jonathon Power and then Hosey/Pirnak to advance to the semis) came into today's match knowing that they were fully capable of giving Waite and Mudge all they could handle; indeed, the only prior time these teams had met, in a late-February Heights Casino semifinal, Leach and Butcher had forced a fifth game as well, though that one got away in a hurry on the strength of no fewer than FIVE Mudge hard-serve service winners, four of them at Butcher's expense, and at no time in the match did Waite and Mudge look like they were about to lose.

This time, after wending their way through some praiseworthy end-games in both the first and second games (in the latter case via a 5-0 run from 10-all), Waite and Mudge were positively buried in the third and fourth games, falling behind by the credulity-straining counts of 10-1 in the third game (at which stage they actually requested, and were denied, permission to default the remainder of that game) and 13-1 in the fourth. Their games both went sour, while Butcher kept pounding the ball and Leach sharp-shot them into helpless oblivion and made these record-shattering seven-year superstar partners look like total strangers on the verge of having both their precious title and their deservedly exalted status ripped savagely and possibly permanently away from them.

It is therefore that much more of a tribute to their competitive ardor and know-how that Waite and Mudge were able to respond so magnificently to the exigencies of the moment with such a masterful fifth-game performance. From 2-all, a trio of Butcher tins (again, one coming on a Mudge hard-serve) interspersed with a nervy Mudge three-wall and two shallow Waite rail winners keyed a 6-1 scoring run that gave Waite and Mudge an 8-3 lead and enough breathing room to reassert themselves and carry that advantage home. Leach, whose wondrous shot-making heavily impacted all three of his team's matches this weekend, tried to force a few shots, tinning two and leaving open balls that Mudge in particular powered for winners.

Suddenly the game had gotten away from Butcher and Leach, who could only watch in dismay as Mudge, who had been blasting the ball throughout that frame, fooled everyone in the building with a delicate forehand drop shot that neither of his opponents even moved for to finish off the torrid action. Both fifth games this afternoon wound up in one-sided single-figure fashion, but both teams that ultimately fell short seemed at times in total command of their respective matches.

Semis Recap:
Gary Waite/Damien Mudge d Scott Butcher/Clive Leach, 15-11 15-10 5-15 5-15 15-6;
Chris Walker/Viktor Berg d Preston Quick/Ben Gould, 9-15 9-15 17-16 15-7 15-7.

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2005. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 102, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2005 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.