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US Father-Son Semis
By Rob Dinerman, Apr 21, 2007    
Squashtalk Independent News; © 2007 SquashTalk LLC

U. S. Father & Son Update: Simontons Advance To Open Finals  

Dateline April 21 --- Defending U. S. Father & Son Open champions Will and Scott Simonton advanced confidently into the final round this afternoon by following up their 3-0 morning quarterfinal win over Josh and Sanford Schwartz with a similar straight-set semi at the expense of ’72 New England Interschols runner-up Bill Strong and his son, recent Amherst varsity team member Michael.

The Strongs had consecutively out-played first Tim and Jack Wyant and then Michael Ferreira (three weeks removed from teaming with Whitten Morris to win the U. S. National Doubles A tourney) and his father, Mike, who had traveled to New York from his home base in England, having never played doubles prior to a practice session this past Thursday evening. But the Strongs were unable to match the salvos directed their way by Will Simonton, a senior at Penn, and his father, who played No. 1 at Bowdoin in the mid-1970’s. Never in the brief history of this tournament, now in its third edition, has any team successfully defended a title in any of the four competitive divisions (namely a 13-and-under flight, a 17-and-under event and a “Century” draw for teams whose members are at least a combined 100 years old), but the Simontons will do so if they are able to defeat Greg Parks, winner of the Jimmy Dunn event this past November with Rob Whitehouse and a U. S. National Mixed semifinalist in February with Dana Betts, and his father, Steve, who edged Vince and Trevor McGuinness 16-15 in the fourth in the bottom-half semi when Vince committed an error on the match’s final exchange.

The forgoing outcome aside, Trevor McGuinness, the No. 1 player on the U. S. team that competed in New Zealand in the World Junior Games this past summer, was clearly the most talented and dynamic player in the entire tournament. The talented left-hander’s enormous and multi-front firepower were on compelling display in his team’s quarterfinal 3-0 win over Coly and John Smith, and all the more impressive given his positioning for this tournament on the right wall in deference to his father’s preference for the left wall. Trevor’s backhands had more pace and packed more punch than anyone else’s forehands, and his shot-making skills, which had played a major role in the Philly Boast and BIDS titles that he and Morris had captured on consecutive weekends this past winter, resulted in many winners as well.

In addition to the Simontons vs. Parks match-up in the Open flight, John and Jack Ervasti will oppose Michael Scherl and his son Zeke in the under-17 flight, Kevin Jernigan and his father Sam will go up against David Vahlsing Sr. and Jr. in the Century and Peter Stokes and his son Spencer, 3-1 semis winners over ’06 under-13 finalists Brian Walsh and his son Matt, will take on Bill and Browning Platt in the under-13 final round. The Platts semifinal win this afternoon was over Sam and Jon Conant, who had eked out a simultaneous-match-point win earlier in the day against USSRA Vice-President Peter Lasusa and his son Tim.  

Of these eight teams, only the Simontons (four-game winners over ’05 Open champs Noah Wimmer and his father, Robert) are making a repeat appearance in the finals. In fact, for various reasons, most of the ’06 finalists did not enter this year’s tournament. A date change from early May of last year to this current April weekend prevented former WPSA top-10 Larry Hilbert, who won the under-13’s with son Patrick last year but had committed to a golf event in California, from participating; John and ISDA performer Eric Vlcek, who won the inaugural Century event last spring, were undone when Eric ruptured his left Achilles tendon while competing in the Briggs Cup in February; their final-round five-game victims, two-time U. S. Nationals men’s champ Jim Zug (whose triumphs occurred in ’72 and ’73 partnered by Larry Terrell and Victor Niederhoffer respectively) was kept from returning since his son, Jim Jr., is currently traveling in Europe; Robert Wimmer is sidelined with a hip injury; and Rob and Robbie Berner decided not to defend the under-17’s title they won last year after barely dropping the ’05 final in a fifth-set tiebreaker against Simon Aldrich (the tournament co-chair along with Morris Clothier) and his son, Dillon.

Notwithstanding all of these non-returns, the tournament has grown significantly year by year, from 28 total entered teams in the inaugural version to 34 last year and 44 this weekend. Driving this ascent has been the under-13’s flight, which had only four teams two years ago, a number that has increased four-fold to the current total of 16. There appears to have been a corresponding upsurge in the quality of play in this specialized form of doubles competition as well, at virtually all levels, possibly echoing the increased popularity of doubles squash throughout North America and definitely auguring well for the future of this still-young national championship.

All of Sunday’s final-round matches will take place at the Racquet & Tennis Club (which along with the University, Union and New York Athletic Clubs has been hosting this weekend’s main-draw and consolation play), beginning with the under-13 final at 11:00 a.m., with the under-17, Century and Open finals to follow

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