FORMER WORLD NUMBER ONE Sarah Fitz-Gerald made her official comeback from injury by winning her first round match quite easily and seemed set to continue in the second round against the number four seed from England, Linda Charman, going two games and 7-4 up. But then she predictably ran out of steam and the ever-improving Charman, now ranked five in the world, pulled up and easily took the last two games to move into the quarters against Suzanne Horner.
MACREE LOSES OUT TO EXPERIENCE
Horner is a veteran of England's women's teams and although over 35 she can still hold her own in the top ten - indeed she was seeded six for the Open. Rebecca Macree is a younger generation, admired for overcoming profound deafness and having the best body in squash. (Sexism lives).
Sadly Macree has not played for months as she cared for her sick mother, and her rustiness showed. She was slow to the front and gave too many loose balls away. Horner is far too experienced not to take advantage of these shortcomings with the result that Macree was behind the eight ball for most of the match. Horner was never really troubled and won 9-4, 9-2, 9-5.
PARKE STILL ON THE RAMPAGE
There seems to be no stopping Simon Parke, conqueror of both Jonathon Power and Peter Nicol in the US Open. Mark Chaloner, a former top ten player from England who is making a rapid comeback after injury played some superb squash, but Parke was simply that much better. Lethal was one way of describing his constantly attacking game - more like a barrage.
Parke's retrieving has always been phenomenal - it earned him the 'headless chicken' tag - but now his front court game of beautifully paced boasts and drops has his opponents taking over that tag. As much as Chaloner attacked and drove to the back, Parke attacked even more and finally Chaloner found himself at full stretch picking up these superbly placed shots. Parke won 15-7, 15-12, 5-9 in 57 minutes and to the last point it was fascinating and often scintillating squash. The English hackers are fast disappearing from the pro circuit.
EYLES PUTS PAID TO THE PRICE
Roger Eyles is supposed to be on the way out after a distinguished career in squash, but under the eye of Geoff Hunt took on a new lease of life in the US Open and continued his run against fellow Australian Paul Price, a player rapidly on the way up. This too was squash of the highest order and each point was bitterly fought and most referee's decisions vigorously questioned.
They split the first four game and fought to extra points in the fifth. Twice Price served from the right and each time Eyles slammed it down the wall for a winner. Still Price got to match ball 16-15 and not wanting Eyles to get a nother kill down the left wall, served from the left box. Eyles slammed the serve across court into the nick with jaw -dropping accuracy to get to 16-all and then took the final point to go through to the second round.
