About thirty people packed the few benches behind the glass back court where qualifying matches are being played on the seventh floor of the University Club. They had come to cheer on Beau River, who is now based in Chicago, He was facing the very determined – and very fluent - Miguel Rodriguez from Columbia (ranked 73) and found that his opponent had too much speed and accuracy as well as a wonderfully sure touch on his drop shots.

River (ranked 109) started slowly and seemed powerless to counter Rodriguez’s stream of length drives, cross court slams and drop shots. On top of that Rodriguez had luck with him getting at least three points from fortunate nicks or strange bounces that left River powerless. The first game went to Rodriguez 11-2 in eight minutes.

In the second game with the score at 3-3 it appeared that River had settled down and was competing on equal terms, but suddenly there were some unforced errors and Rodriguez – who never seemed to get tired or get caught out of place – was 9-3 ahead. (Later River was to say this was due to one of his mental lapses for which he has no explanation).

He turned the tide with a forehand drop, followed by an almost identical winner, got to 6-9 with a smashing forehand straight nick and was then within striking distance with a cracking backhand slam to perfect length. The small audience were getting excited, hoping their local hero would pull the game from the flames, but then Rodriguez spoiled their party with a well-disguised forehand drop from the very back of the court, a shot that brought applause all round. River still fought on and got the next point with another backhand drive to length to make the score 8-10 and give him a fighting chance. But the courageous Rodriguez hit a sizzling forehand crosscourt volley into the nick to end the 10 minute game.

River managed to finally get his mental frame right and the third game saw him take control for the first time in the match. Although Rodriguez hit some winners to lead 5-3, a couple of errors evened the score at 5-5 which was when River really hit his stride, dominating the play and pushing to a 9-7 lead. In the next rally he was still in command forcing Rodriguez to dive for a shot and while he was scrambling to his feet River had the court at his mercy. His backhand roll corner hit the top of the tin – a very costly error - and Rodriguez was now just one point behind 8-9. He won the next point to even the score and River hit another error to put his opponent at match ball. The next rally was a real corker and when Rodriguez hit one of his near-perfect length shots it really did seem all over for River. But the lanky American used all of his 6ft 4” frame to just scrape the ball an inch from the floor and send it to the front wall. It was a superb save and he kept the pressure on to send the ball tight down the wall to win the point and force a tie break. Sadly another error on his backhand gave Rodriguez match ball again and the final rally ended with a cross court from Rodriguez that even River’s long arms could not reach and the game was over 12-10 for the very talented Columbian who will now play Ben Garner in the final qualifying round. And all I can say is ‘look out Ben, this Rodriguez is a real handful.’

River was philosophical about the result, happy to have this sort of run in preparation for upcoming tournaments in Dayton and Virginia, but none too happy with his slow start.

“It’s very hard coming back from two games down. His speed took me by surprise and I just didn’t expect him to hit so many really good drop shots. I have a theory that these guys from the hot countries learn to feather the ball into the nick, which is something you don’t learn playing with a colder ball,” River told SQUASHTALK after the match.

After graduating from Dartmouth College (John Power, Jonathon’s dad, was the coach) River went to live in England to be coached by David Pearson, the England national coach.

“I gave myself four years to get into the top 50 and when that didn’t happen, I had to be realistic about earning a living because I had gotten married. Here in Chicago I don’t get the opportunity to play with top players, so this week is good for me being able to train with people like Nick Matthew who is a good friend. And then Adrian Grant will be staying with me so we’ll be training every day, which will be good preparation for Dayton and Virginia,” said River who is now studying to be a clinical psychiatrist.

Asked about his near win in the third game River said:

“I finally got myself keyed up and my movement improved, which is the key. It’s as though my body suddenly woke up and I was much quicker on the ball. When I saw him begin to look heavy I took heart. But he played the right game, keeping the ball low when you play a big guy like me and he took advantage of the low tin.”

KENNY BEATS DONEGAN
The headline sounds like an Irish football result, but although Liam Kenny, the number one seed in the qualifying event, plays for Ireland, he is actually Australian. And although Ryan Donegan sounds as Irish as they come, he is a Chicagoan out of New Orleans. Or even Pontefract in northern England where he is being coached by the doyen of British squash coaches, Malcolm Willstrop, father of James Willstrop.

Kenny is ranked 44 in the world while Donegan is 199 – so the gap between the two is quite wide. Sure enough Kenny won in three straight but needed 45 minutes to do it. Donegan started nervously and made at least unforced errors in the first game to allow Kenny an easy 11-6 victory. Even so, Donegan – who I must admit, I had never heard of before – showed marked signs of quality and a court coverage well above his ranking.

Kenny is enormously experienced by contrast and hit a golden stretch at the start of the second game to lead 7-0 and was about to bury Donegan but the 23 year old American started showing signs of real confidence and was taking Kenny on in the front left corner and hitting some beautifully soft drop shots. While they played in that area of the court, Kenny had the dominance taken away from him. Donegan managed to get five points in the game before Kenny hit two perfect shots to length to win 11-5.

The third game was more of a fight and it was Kenny who was making the errors. Donegan was now able to show his true standard and for someone ranked so low, it was very good. He actually led Kenny 5-3 and was on par with Kenny at 6-6 and hung in to trail 8-9, not slowing down and still testing his opponent on the drops, but Kenny hit two winners and won 11-8 after a 13 minute game.

Donegan was, like Beau River, a Dartmouth man and has been training with Willstrop in England since June of this year. He’ll be going back in April for more training which should be interesting.

“The big difference Malcolm has made is in the pace of the game I play and my drop shots. I have put a lot of hard work into making sure the drops stay tight. I have given myself 1000 days of hard training and then I shall go on the circuit,” he told me

FIRST ROUND QUALIFYING
Remaining three matches.
Mark Heather (ENG) bt Michael Joint (AUS) 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-10 (2-0). (41 mins)
Miguel Rodriguez (COL) bt Beau River (USA) ll-2, 11-8, 11-10 (2-0). (35 mins)
Liam Kenny (IRE) def Ryan Donegan (USA) 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 (45 mins)

Also Monday First Qualifyin Round Results from Chicago:
Laurent Elriani (FRA) def Dylan Patterson (USA) 11-7, 11-3, 11q-7 (43 mins)
Gavin Jones (WAL) bye
Chris Gordon (USA) def Robert MacFadzen USA) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 (29mins)
Simon Parke (ENG) bye
Mark Heather (ENG) vs Michael Joint (AUS)
Davide Bianchetti (ITA) bye
Arshal Iqbad Burki (PAK) def Lefika Regontse (BOT) 11-2, 11-10 (2-0) 11-6 (31mins)
Mark Chaloner (ENG) bye
Darryl Selby (ENG) def Bernard Tissot (FRA) 11-5, 11-7, 11-1(30 mins)
Ben Garner (ENG) bye
Dane Jenson(AUS) bye
Patrick Bedore (CAN) def Wade Johnson (AUS) 11-5, 11-7, 11-9 (33mins)
Borja Goland (ESP) def Patrick Chifunda (ZAM) 1-6, 11-9, 9-11,11-9 (73 mins)
Renan Lavigne (FRA) bye.

LINEUP FOR FINAL QUALIFYING ROUND (Wednesday):

Liam Kenny (IRE) vs Laurent Elriani (FRA)
Gavin Jones (WAL) vs Chris Gordon (USA)
Simon Parke (ENG) vs Mark Heather (ENG)
Davide Bianchetti (ITA) vs Arshad Iqbal Hurki (PAK)
Mark Chaloner (ENG) vs Darryl Selby (ENG)
Ben Garner (ENG) vs Miguel Rodriguez (COL)
Dan Jenson (AUS) vs Patrick Bedore (CAN)
Borja Golan (ESP vs Renan Lavigne (FRA)