Anjema Stays Hot in Rust Belt
Jan 26, 2005, by Ron Beck, SquashTalk,
SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2005 all Rights Reserved;

 [WISPA draw/results]     [PSA draw/results]

Exclusive audio interview with Simon Parke on SquashTalk (click on play button, above, to start)

NO REST FOR THE WEARY
To be fair to John White, he was facing an exceedingly challenging situation. After playing a very tough semi-final (over Jonathon Power) and final (over Amr Shabana) in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday, he was back in action Thursday night in Dayton, after a travel day, to take on the very hot young Dutch pro Laurens Jan Anjema.

Anjema himself, though having a few more days of rest, had to play his way through two days of qualifying in Dayton to reach White. Though neither of those qualifiers "went the distance."

Laurens Jan Anjema upset John White in Dayton tonight (Photo © 2005 by David Barry)

So on the ASB conventional-court surface, as opposed to the Chicago glass, Laurens Jan Anjema duplicated his first round heroics from Chicago (in which he downed world #3 Peter Nicol) and this time upset Chicago Tour Stop winner and former #1 John White in four gritty games. Now that he has proven his ability to win satellite PSA events and to pull off wins over elite player in early rounds of bigger events, Anjema will need to show consistency during a major event to further boost his rankings.

Anthony Ricketts -still looking for his top form (Photo © 2005 by David Barry)

While Anjema was battling with White, Jonathon Power was very economically disposing of qualifier Cameron Pilley of Australia. When Power is healthy, and he is healthy now, he is a very focused and intelligent tournament tactician. Power rarely wastes early rounds of an event, and this match was no exception, as he saved his reserves for later rounds. Anjema will find a rested, focused, and healthy Jonathon Power waiting for him.

Power, an emotional player, who readily admits to having "favorite courts" (Qatar) and favorite locations (Toronto, New York) seems, in the past two seasons, to have quickly warmed to the US "rust belt", of Detroit, Chicago, and now Dayton, as a friendly venue for him.

REMATCH OF LAST YEAR'S FINAL

Mo Abbas Stylishly defeated Wael El Hindi (Photo © 2005 by David Barry)

Earlier on, in the Egyptian "Quarter of death" (boasting El Hindi, Darwish and Abbas), Karim Darwish started the crowd going early on, opening main draw play at 4:00 with an almost clinical win over Graham Ryding. On the adjoining court, the stylish Mo Abbas advance with a win over lower ranked Egyptian Wael el Hindi. The Darwish - Abbas showdown is a rematch of last year's final here at Dayton, won by Karim Darwish. This year again, on paper, the matchup goes to Darwish, but this should be a great demonstration, as Abbas has the firepower to match up with his compatriot.

Mo Abbas Stylishly defeated Wael El Hindi (Photo © 2005 by David Barry)

The Simon Parke versus Alan Grant match followed on the same court vacated by Anjema, which turned out to be the match of the evening. Parke pulled off the win in vintage style in 92 minutes and survived 3 match balls in the 4th game. Grant went up 6-2 in the deciding 5th game, but then Parke rattled off 6 straight points, many of them at the culmination of long rallies, to go up 8-6. Grant battled back to tie it at 8-all, and then back & forth to 9-all, with several long rallies ending in let, before Simon prevailed 11-9.

"It's been a while since I've won a five-gamer like that, Parke told SquashTalk. "I had some downtime over Christmas when I couldn't train but now I'm starting to feel more match fit again." He will have to be, as he takes on old foe Peter Nicol tonight in the quarterfinal.

EBS Asset Mgmt Dayton Squash Open
Men's 1st round, Thursday Jan 27th:
[1] Peter Nicol (ENG) bt Julian Wellings (ENG) 11-8, 11-4, 11-7
Simon Parke (ENG) bt [6] Adrian Grant (ENG) 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-9
[4] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Graham Ryding (CAN) 11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8
[8] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt [Q] Wael El Hindi (EGY) 7-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-2
[5] Jonathon Power (CAN) bt [Q] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-3, 11-4, 11-5
[Q] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt [3] John White (SCO) 11-10 (3-1), 7-11, 11-7, 11-7
[7] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt Dan Jenson (AUS) 11-4, 11-10 (2-0), 6-11, 11-6
[2] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [Q] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) 11-9, 11-5, 11-5

NEW ... Get the New Jonathon Power Instruction Video at the SquashTalk eStore!

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2005. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 102, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2005 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.