Hosey and Leach Upset the Champions
Rob Dinerman for SquashTalk © 2004; all rights of reproduction reserved.
April 20, 2004     

First-Time Team Topples Waite & Mudge In Big Apple Open
Willie Hosey and Clive Leach had never played as partners before this weekend, and there was a real question as to how well they would be able to mesh in both the inaugural Big Apple Open and its Manhattan companion-piece, the prestigious Kellner Cup, which begins this Friday. In light of their 15-7, 10 and 14 final-round victory last night over top seeds Gary Waite and Damien Mudge that concluded the christening of the host New York Athletic Club's brand-new doubles court, the question now is whether any other ISDA team will mesh or execute well enough to keep them at bay.

Willie Hosey (l) and Clive Leach topple Gary Waite and Damian Mudge. (photos © 2004 ISDA)

Waite and Mudge had won 10 of the 11 ISDA ranking tournaments in what had been a typically dominant 2003-2004 season before a fluke skateboarding accident to the former while he was playing with one of his daughters last month cracked a bone in his right (playing) wrist and forced him to withdraw from the U. S. Nationals and National Mixed Doubles championships. Playing with his wrist heavily taped and unable to generate more than 40% of his usual power, Waite and his rugged partner nevertheless defeated first qualifiers John Russell and Steve Scharff and then fourth seeds Jamie Bentley and Preston Quick in their pair of pre-final weekend matches, though even in doing so they looked vulnerable due to the severe constraints the still-healing injury had imposed on Waite's stroking capabilities.

In the final, Hosey and Leach fully exploited this factor, directing more than 90% of their salvos in Waite's direction and eliciting loose balls, punch-less responses and errors that would never have occurred had he been operating at full capacity. Especially during the five- and six-point runs in each stanza that opened up the first and second games and brought the eventual winners to 14-10 in the third, there was a kind of morbid fascination to the manner in which they tortured their ailing superstar opponent, deemed by many the greatest left-wall player in the history of the game, who had dominated them so often in recent years.

Hosey for one had, with his various partners Bentley (2000 and 2001), Viktor Berg (2002) and Michael Pirnak (for the past nearly two seasons) faced Waite and Mudge THIRTY-THREE times in an ISDA final during the past five years and come up short on each occasion, though he and Bentley did win two tournaments in their last season together against other final-round opponents. Leach and his injured regular partner Blair Horler had toppled The Champs twice last season, in the Canadian Pro and Kellner Cup finals, but had been winless in his half-dozen attempts against them since then. This time it was Waite who was on the deck, and the historical backdrop and urgency of the moment meant that there was little room for sympathy.

NO SYMPATHY
None was forthcoming, either, as the match inexorably swung to the advantage of Hosey and Leach, who after an opening-round first-game loss to Pirnak and Jeff Stanley, had won that match in four and Sunday's semi-final against second seeds Berg and Josh McDonald in three, demonstrating in the process an ability to work together than belied their first-time partner status. Leach, making a triumphant return to a club which he had served as an assistant pro several years before, was brilliant with his probing thrusts, piercing short game and powerful drives. But Hosey was undoubtedly the hero of the night, out-playing Waite when they exchanged rails, defending beautifully against Mudge's intimidating blasts, covering everything in sight, lobbing out of danger whenever necessary and committing an unbelievably small number of errors.

Say this for Waite and Mudge, however, that though they went down for only the fifth time in their resplendent half-decade run together, they did so like the champions they are. Trailing 14-10 in the third, they got a glimmer of hope when Leach barely tinned what would have been a wondrous drop-shot volley winner and rode it for all it was worth. Waite nailed his best reverse-corner of the night for a winner in front of Hosey, then hit his hardest cross-court of the match by Leach to get to 13-14, following which Mudge rifled a cross court winner of his own. Having had four consecutive championship-points swiftly swatted away, Hosey and Leach after some deliberation decided to give themselves a fifth, reckoning that doing so was worth the risk of giving Waite and Mudge a game-point of their own.

ROLLING THE DICE
The gamble paid off, but only barely. Ironically a match that had been characterized by such hard hitting and sharp shooting ended on perhaps the weakest hit of the night, a bleeder off Hosey's racquet as he dove for a crushing and sharply-angled Mudge drive past him that barely limped to the front wall, narrowly staying above the tin and petered to a second-bounce halt before either of his dismayed opponents had any chance to react to it. A capricious ending for sure, but maybe after all those final-round frustrations such a fortuitous turn was owed to a class act like Hosey, who has played so well for so long.

He and Leach, who saw and seized the opportunity before them this past weekend, are arguably the team to beat in the Kellner Cup as well, especially in light of the questions that have to be surrounding Waite's status for this fast-approaching tournament and the rare vulnerability that has clearly intruded on the implacable invincibility that the Waite/Mudge pairing have deservedly exuded for so long. It seems unlikely that Waite's wrist will be significantly improved by the time that event begins just a few days from now, so for the first time in a long time an ISDA draw has become wide open.

Results: Big Apple ISDA Doubles Open
Finals:
Willie Hosey/Clive Leach d Gary Waite/Damien Mudge, 15-7, 15-10, 15-14
Semis:
Gary Waite/Damien Mudge d Preston Quick/Jamie Bentley, 15-12, 15-10, 15-9
Willie Hosey/Clive Leach d Josh McDonald/Viktor Berg, 15-3 16-13 15-12


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