Butcher and Osborne Reach Semi Finals
Rob Dinerman for SquashTalk © 2004; all rights of reproduction reserved.
May 1, 2004     

Scott Butcher and Jeff Osborne reached their second ISDA semi-final of the season, and second in the last three events, by following a 3-0 qualifying-round win over John Russell and Steve Scharff with an even more decisive quarter-final victory last night over Michael Pirnak and Dean Brown.

Butcher and Osborne will now oppose top seeds Gary Waite and Damien Mudge, who won the inaugural edition of this Long Island tournament in 2002, and who breezed to the semis with a straight-set opener at the expense of James Hewitt and Doug Lifford.

The bottom-half quarter-final matches were both much closer, with Willie Hosey and Clive Leach, champions at the Big Apple Open two weeks ago, being sorely pressed in their four-game win over Ben Gould and Eric Vlcek. The latter team, which also took Hosey and Leach to a close four last week in the same round of the Kellner Cup, won the first game, lost a close second 15-12, led 14-12 in the third before falling 15-14 on a tight Leach reverse-corner forehand winner on the "no-set" call at 14-all, and took the fourth game to a tiebreaker as well before being closed out 18-16. Hosey suffered a slight muscle pull in his forearm, which actually began late in the last game of his team's 3-0 Kellner Cup semi-final loss to Waite and Mudge five days earlier, but he is definitely going to give it a try this evening in the semis.

Opposing them at that stage will be Jamie Bentley and Preston Quick, fresh off their hard-fought four-game victory last night over qualifiers Dave Kay and Chris Walker, who had gotten into the main draw with an excellent win Thursday afternoon over Alex Pavulans and Chris Deratnay in the last round of qualifying.

Bentley and Quick showed no ill psychological effects from their demoralizing 15-14 in the fourth loss to Viktor Berg and Josh McDonald in last weekend's Kellner Cup semis when Bentley committed a fluke double-fault at match-point. Both have been finalists in this Creek Challenge Cup, Bentley with Josh McDonald in 2002 and Quick with Mudge last year, when they lost the first game of the final to Blair Horler and Leach but were leading midway through the second when Mudge suffered a severe concussion and was unable to continue after colliding with Horler and smashing into the near side wall.

BATTLE OF WOUNDED KNEES
Horler suffered cartilage damage in early January, underwent surgery on his right knee later that month and was sidelined for several months until making his return at the Kellner Cup, where he and Pirnak lost to Bentley and Quick in the quarters after winning a close first round over Ken Flynn and Morris Clothier. He and Pirnak, who had never been partners prior to this pair of Kellner Cup matches, had planned to play together in Long Island as well, but the toll of such an intense tournament after the several-month enforced lay-off following such an extensive operation was more than Horler's legs could handle and he wisely withdrew from this week's event to give himself more time to heal.

With just hours to obtain a substitute partner, Pirnak immediately contacted Brown, who also suffered a torn meniscus, also in the right knee, and is similarly set for surgery in a few weeks. Brown had thought his season was over after the Kellner Cup, where he and Taylor Fawcett had qualified into the main draw before being dispatched by Hosey and Leach. He agreed to pinch-hit for Horler, but he and Pirnak were able to provide little resistance to Butcher and Osborne. The final is set for early tomorrow afternoon.

Tournament Recap
Qualifying: John Russell/Steve Scharff d Mark Chaloner/Noah Wimmer, 3-1; Scott Butcher/Jeff Osborne d Russell/Scharff, 3-0; Chris Walker/David Kay d Chris Deratnay/Alex Pavulans, 3-1.

Quarters: Gary Waite/Damien Mudge d James Hewitt/Doug Lifford, 3-0; Butcher/Osborne d Michael Pirnak/Dean Brown, 3-0; Preston Quick/Jamie Bentley d Walker/Kay, 3-1; Willie Hosey/Clive Leach d Eric Vlcek/Ben Gould, 3-1.

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