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Many Upsets Possible in NYC
Carol Owens in First Event minus Sarah Fitz

© 2003 Martin Bronstein for SquashTalk; all rights of reproduction reserved.
Feb 18, 2003             

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New York becomes the venue of the first major tournament of 2003 and there
are a lot of scores to settle in both the men’s and the women’s tournaments.
Let’s start with the Ladies: despite the absence of Sarah Fitz-Gerald who
has now retired from the WISPA circuit (the story broke first on Squashtalk)
there will be some real interest as to who will assume the top spot. Carol
Owens must be favourite; even though she can get ragged at the most
unexpected moments, she still shows more consistency than the next top four
or five players. Natalie Pohrer can be quite stunning when she’s on form,
certainly the most adventurous shot player that WISPA has to offer. Now she
is playing under the Stars and Stripes, and with the home crowd behind her,
she may produce her best and walk off with the Arader & O’Rourke Trophy
in Grand Central Station.

She is seeded two but has a tough half of the draw: first she has
Stephanie Brind of England whose hard-nosed approach to the game could well
overcome Pohrer’s sporadic brilliance. If she gets past Brind she finds
herself in the quarter facing Rebecca Macree whose results this year have
surprised everybody. Her vitriolic clashes with fellow Englishwoman Linda
Charman, seeded three, are now becoming legend. They both accuse the other
of blocking and at the end of each match they must retire to the changing
rooms to count the bruises. If Pohrer beats Macree she then faces either
Cassie Jackman or Charman. Now that is one helluva tough road to the final.

If all she had to face in her half was Jackman, it would be an unenviable
task. Jackman has come returned from her second back operation leaner and
hungrier than ever. She has played two tournaments and won them both. Her
victory in the British nationals last Sunday, when she beat Macree fairly
comfortably, was probably the most unexpected result of the tournament. One
source who has watched Jackman since she was a young girl says that she is
actually moving better than she has ever moved around a squash court.
Jackman herself feels the two operations have freed up her back to give her
more flexibility. Remember this player was the world champion just four
years ago, a year when she beat Michelle Martin three times in a row. So
this is a class player coming back stronger than ever. A very good bet for
the title.

In the top half Owens seems to be in for a cruise: Vanessa Atkinson,
Rachael Grinham and Tania Bailey are her probably opponents - in that
order – and unless Owens blows a mental gasket she should have very little
trouble making the final. This is not to belittle Atkinson who has made
tremendous strides over the last year; if she has upped her fitness count,
she has the weapons to beat Owens, but the red-headed Dutch champion always
seems to be one lungfull short of a title.

Rachael Grinham too has improved enormously over the last year since moving
to Cairo, and some of that Egyptian magic has rubbed off on her. Rachael was
always an original player with her very own ideas on stratagy, which the
coaches tried to knock out of her. She admits that with her move to Cairo,
she is enjoying the game again and using all her considerable skills.

Tania Bailey, England’s former world junior champion and one of the few
great hopes to come out of England in the past five years has had her share
of health problems –a virus during the British Nationals stopped her
challenging Jackman fully - but she lacks a real hard mental edge and the
self-confidence needed when she gets in with the big girls. But it took
Sarah Fitz-Gerald even longer to stand up to the top players, so there is
still hope that Bailey will make her way to the summit.

PAYBACK TIME FOR THE MEN
The enlarged draw for the men will make the Harrisdirect Tournament of
Champions one of the year’s major tournaments (with no British Open in view
and the world open still in the hands of the Indian promoter who took a five
year agreement in 2000 and has yet to stage a single tournament.)

After the shocks of last year’s world open in Antwerp when John White
knocked out Peter Nicol and David Palmer literally knocked out Jonathon
Power (with a racket to the eye), New York should see some real revenge
matches.

The good news for Power is that Palmer is in the top half of the draw with
Nicol. Which means that the can only meet in the final. The first time
Palmer beat Power was in the British Open three years ago, when a body
charge by Palmer left Power writhing on the floor moaning. An unrepentant
Palmer stood over him telling him to get up, thinking that Power was
pulling the drama-queen act. So no preliminaries with Palmer is good news
indeed for Power. The sad thing for Canada is that the two top Canucks meet
in the first round, which is wretched luck for Graham Ryding who hasn’t
beaten his team-mate for years.

Power has John White and Thierry Lincou in his half of the draw. If Power
and White do meet, it will be a match worth watching, Power’s extraordinary
racket skills and reading of the game against White’s quite stunning
ability to hit winners. It has been said before but it is worth repeating:
When White is on form, he can knock anybody off the court in three straight.
(Just ask Nicol what happened in the world open). White was within half an
inch of becoming world champion when he held match ball in the fourth
against David Palmer in the final. A cross-court drop just brushed the tin
and cost him the point, the game and finally the match. Since then White
has been beaten in English league play, but then it is foolish to put to
much store in league results.

Lee Beachill has regained his form and only just lost the British national
title to Nicol, so he could be a threat. He should meet Ong Beng Hee in the
second round, and I can promise you this match will go well past the hour.
Beng Hee has had a miserable year losing in five rather than winning in
three or four. Ranked nine he missed the protection of the seeding, so will
be trying hard to get back on the winning streak that took him into the top
five 18 months ago.

In the top half Nicol could be troubled by Anthony Ricketts in the quarters
because this tall Australian has really put it together this past year,
adding some brains to his powerhouse hitting to reach world number seven
status. He certainly has the fitness to stay with Nicol – who has shown
signs of age lately – but Nicol always has the iron hard mental approach,
an asset that has pulled him through on countless occasions. If the seeding
holds good and Nicol meets Palmer in the semis, it will be a very good
battle of wills with Palmer trying to slow the game down and keep Nicol
running while Nicol will attempt to keep the pace up and volley Palmer into
submission.

Where will the upset come from ? And there always upsets. Keep an eye on
the Egyptians, Kareem Darwish and Amr Shabana, the latter a fearless
shotmaker who could well take on John White in the second round. And there
is always one qualifier who can upset the Big Apple cart. It all starts on
Saturday in the Grand Central Terminus and I shall be there reporting the
action for Squashtalk.

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