Puertas Wins Selection Event
Feb 23, 2004 © 2004 by Alec Decker

Highlights from the MSRA (New York) Grand Open:

Veterans of the MSRA’s Grand Open streamed into the ToC’s Grand Central venue throughout Sunday afternoon, and had their complete squash weekend capped off perfectly when - having arrived from the Sports Club/LA, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Clubs - they were treated to the riveting come from two-games-down upset of David Palmer by World Junior Champion and 6’5” front court artist James Willstrop.

Known as one of the best ways to experience the Tournament of Champions, 152 amateur players from across the US descended on NYC to compete and take in the brilliant opening weekend of ToC squash. The Grand Open players shuffled between the respective venues to the nearby Grand Central and New York Athletic Club. With tickets to all 4 weekend sessions included with the Grand Open, amateurs were able to watch the pros up close to gain inspiration for their matches, and the quality of play throughout the weekend seemed to indicate that there was plenty of inspiration to go around.

US Pro Team Selection Event
For the first time, the Grand Open held a US Citizens-Only US Pro team selection event. 11 Players gathered to contest for the $2,000 prize and important ranking points for inclusion on the US National Mens Team.

The opening round had standout performances from Francis Odeh who managed to shake off NYC local Andrew Merrill after a physically bruising 5-game crucible, and from Ed Cerullo, a junior from the vaunted Heights Casino program who showed his dramatic recent improvement in taking NYSC Uptown pro Eric Christiansen to the limit before Eric’s experience and ability to keep Cerullo scrambling took its toll.

Quarter final action saw Mike Puertas over a distinctly sick and tired Ryan Donegan, Dartmouth’s #1 player and the #3 ranked player in college squash. Jamie Crombie managed to finish off the part of Francis Odeh that Andrew Merrill had left standing, and Richard Chin was required to withdraw after incurring an injury during a qualification match for the ToC.

The final quarter saw a knock-down, drag-out match between Round Hill pro Dylan Patterson and junior standout and US Junior World Team member Chris Gordon. The warm courts aided in perpetuating the long points and attritional strategies both players utilized. Coming from down 2-1, Gordon was able to finish off the recent Harvard graduate as fatigue and blistered feet felled Patterson.

The semi-finals saw two disparate matches, with St. Louis resident Puertas taking a relatively quick win over Christiansen, whereas Chris Gordon was able to manage a
second marathon match in 5 hours time as he pushed Crombie – a member of the US Pro Team that competed recently in Austria – to five.

The Crombie v. Puertas match was an exception display of two competitors with very similar strategies dueling to the end. In the first game, Crombie was able to come out with a quick pace – despite his extended match against Gordon – and seemed to take Puertas on his heels, taking the first game 9- 4. But Puertas soon awoke, and exerted his precise and patient play against the pace that Crombie threw at him. Crombie seemed to lose some momentum after losing the second and closest game of the match 10-8, to see the third game drift away, 9-5. But the former PSA standout Crombie increased his intensity, and accompanied by sometimes humorous outbursts, forced a fifth game with a 9-7 victory in the fourth.

The fourth game carried over to both players performances in the fifth, with Crombie coming out quickly and with the intensity and pace which saw his quick victory in the first. However, his momentum stalled at 5-1, and Puertas jumped all over the opportunity, as point by point he buried balls in the nick and moved Crombie almost at will. Crombie was unable to muster a second wind as he and Puertas traded
service at 6-all, before Puertas moved ahead for good – taking the final game 9-6, and the match.

Inspired Amateur Flights
The amateurs in the 11 tournament flights fed off of the excitement of the Natinoal Team Selection matches as well as the ToC matches, and turned in rousing performances of their own.

Headlining the Women’s flights was a final between veteran player Juliana Lilien and high-school senior and Princeton-bound Lena Neufeld. Neufeld was able to put significant pressure on the deliberate style of Lilien, keeping the pace high and never letting Lilien settle in and find her comfort zone. After a back and forth struggle in the first, which Neufeld took 10-8, Lilien was unable to challenge for another
game, as Neufeld showed great tenacity in maintaining pressure throughout her 3-game victory in the Women’s A.

The Men’s 6.0 followed no consistent storyline. Nasir Farooq won a relatively swift final over Michael Semprucci, but the story of this flight was in previous rounds. In the lower half of the draw, all of the excitement was in the first round. Todd
Wood of Dartmouth pushed the eventual winner to five.

Taking the first two games, Wood had an opportunity as the showdown of this match developed in the fourth game, but Nasir barely managed to outfight the fit and athletic Wood for a 10-9 leveling of games at 2-2, before efficiently taking the
fifth game and the match. Also in the first round, Alec Decker pulled out a mutually exhausting 10-8 victory after a back- and-forth battle with NYSC Uptown pro Aydita “Eddie” Kapur.

In the top half of the draw, Semprucci used his remarkable level of fitness and quick movement to the front court in a 3- 2 victory over Rizwan Farooq in another showdown of mutually assured exhaustion.

In what looked to be a predictable 5.5 draw, with perenial favorites Vinay Asthana (2 tournament victories this season) and Jay Warshaw (semi-finalist and finalist already this season) Rob Endelman of Printing House managed to turn expectations upside down with a remarkable display of athleticism, determination, and mastery of crucial points. The tipping point of Endelman’s tournament victory seemed to come in the quarter-finals as he stood at 7-7 with Charles Goodwin, with Goodwin up 2-1 in games, having taken the last at love. Service was traded several times with Endelman knowing that a point to Goodwin would bring him to match ball, and Endleman was able to wrest the next two points – and game – before taking the fifth 9-6. That was the closest anyone would get, as Endelman cruised past a seemingly
shell-shocked Jay Warshaw in three before taking on the incredibly dangerous Asthana.

The final was deceptively close. The final score of 9-1, 6, (0), 5, belies the hard-fought games. Asthana was unable to keep the guns blazing that he displayed (slam drop nicks from the back, cross-court rolling nicks, and rocket drives for depth) in the lightning-quick third game. Though put on his heels temporarily, Endelman
managed to begin the fourth game with a mysterious inertia that saw him through to a 9-5 victory, and the tournament win.

The most remarkable flight of the 2004 Grand Open was the 32-man field of the 5.0 tournament. Not one withdrawal saw 16 matches contested on Friday evening. Newcomers to the Sports Club/LA venue were commonly heard to utter
exclamations at not only the size of the field, but also the depth and quality. Among the 32 entrants, it was believed that as many as a dozen had an excellent chance of winning the tournament. Some of the perrenial favorites like Paul Marotta (US National 5.0 Champion, 2002), Peter Blatchford, Chetan Vig, Patrick Coster, Marc Levin, and Eric Hernady were among those principally discussed as potential victors. But David Vogel managed to compile a phenomenal record of 15- 4 in the 19 games he played over the course of 40 hours, including two 10-9 game victories (in the first round!), in completing a remarkable run through the draw and comeback (down 1-2) win in the finals against Paul Marotta.

Vogel’s victory was a crowning moment in a very energetic MSRA season to date. With every draw filled to capacity, the winners of each division will know that they had to overcome incredibly deep fields of players to emerge as the victor.

Complete Finals Results:

Men’s US Pro Selection Event: Mike Puertas def. Jamie Crombie, 3-2

Women’s A: Lena Neufeld def. Juliana Lilien, 3-0
Women’s B: Elena Glasberg def. Ali Nortier, 3-1
Men’s 6.0: Nasir Farooq def. Mike Semprucci, 3-0
Men’s 5.5: Robert Endelman def. Vinay Asthana, 3-1
Men’s 5.0: David Vogel def. Paul Marotta, 3-2
Men’s 4.5: Muzakir Andrabi def. Pierre Kory, 3-1
Men’s 4.0: Kevin Daly def. Joseph McManus, 3-1
Men’s 3.5: N. Darveau-Garneau def. Dirk Dunlap, 3-1
Men’s D: Robley Moor def. Johan Peppiatt, 3-2
Men’s 50+: Robert Gibralter def. Jim Coddington, 3-0
Men’s 60+: David Katsky def. B. Kreitler, 3-0

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