RICKETTS BEATS THE OZ JET LAG

Anthony Ricketts and Wael El Hindi were butting horns  for every point. (Photo: © 2006 Debra Tessier)

All the Australian players  who participated in the world doubles tournament  in Melbourne are suffering from jet lag having flown directly to Chicago for the Windy City Open.  Most of them are wide awake at 4 am and say it takes about four or five days to get over the huge time difference.

This lag may account for  Anthony Ricketts  slow start and sometime lumbering movement around the court. Usually he moves fast and surely, but today against Wael El Hindi, he was having problems. "Probably because my mind was still tired and I wasn't thinking clearly," he told me later. What it meant was that he was not anticipating or reading the game as well as he usually does.

El Hindi won the first game in ten minutes - Ricketts had made six errors in nine rallies, putting El Hindi at 7-2. Ricketts drops and volley drops were hitting tin with alarming regularity. He finally stopped going for those shots and tried to play it tight.   He lost the game 11-6  and leading 2-0 in the second decided to try and take some legs away from El Hindi. there following an endless rally which must have been 100 shots long.  It seemed to have the desired effect and he ran into a 6-4 lead at which point he was penalised three strokes in four rallies, putting him 6-8 down. He fought back  and the two players were now butting horns  for every point. El hindi would love to have gone two games up and Ricketts knew that he would have trouble coming from two games down with his jet lag problems.

They fought point for point to 9-all, and then 10-all and then 11-all. El Hindi took the next point with a tight backhand for his second game ball. Ricketts, feeling more confident in his short game  hit two winning backhand drops to get  to 13-12 and then hit a beautiful low drive to win 14-12. Those last ten point s had  been the most dramatic run of play all day and had me sitting on the edge of my seat. It
Ricketts led the third game from start to finish to win 11-8 and in fourth started to boast the ball. A tiring El Hindi was getting to the ball but was unable to do too much with it and Ricketts was waiting to jump all over the weak shots.  He got it right and won 11-5 in just eight minutes to end an engrossing 66 minute match.

I asked him  why he introduced the boasts into his game.

"My drops were not working - I had lost all confidence in my short game and he was keeping it so tight I couldnÕt volley, so I had to do something to get him to the front and spoil his rhythm," Ricketts explained.

MATTHEW TOO TOUGH FOR BOSWELL.

Nick Matthew came out for the third game spitting nails and totally dominated Stewart Boswell. (Photo: © 2006 Debra Tessier)

Stewart Boswell is discovering that it's easier to jump seventy places up the rankings from from 90 to 20 than it is to jump five places from 20 to 15.

Boswell made a dramatic comeback after 18 months out due to injury, but now he's in the top 20 he's going to find the going very hard indeed. Certainly Nick Matthew is 10 spots above him, but Boswell will have to start beating those players in the top ten if he is to get back to his old spot among the top five.

He started well in the first game to gain a 4-1 lead but Matthew got over his slow start to reel him in  11-6 in 26 minutes. Boswell, who plays with very little over emotion, continued his solid game in the second and led from the start to  win 11-9, to even the match. So, we thought wrongly, we had a real fight on our hands. We reckoned without that hard Yorkshireman Matthew, who came out for the third game spitting nails and totally dominated Boswell to win 11-1 in just eight minutes, hitting winners all over the place and leaving the lean Australian standing helpless.

The fourth game was a repeat of the first with Boswell regaining his composure and leading 4-1 only to see his lead whittled away  until it was 6-6. The question was who would take the initiative from there and Matthew's body language said that he would. Even when he was trailing Matthew exhibited an air of confidence. And so it came to pass  and as Matthew drew ahead Boswell started showing signs of anger, both at himself and the referee. Matthew, who has been playing non-stop for ten years, is that much sharper and has more weapons in his armoury, which helped him to take the game 11-7 to finish the 60 minute match.

"We both played terrible squash in the first two games - first him and then me," Matthew said. "I had been hitting the ball very well in practise  but in those games I could not hit a straight ball - everything was flying off the side walls. And because of that I started thinking too much. I felt better after the third game and just got with the game without too much thinking."

THE JONES BOY ALMOST  GETS THE UPSET

Mo Azlan Iskander regrouped his forces, came out for the fifth at supersonic speed against Gavin Jones. (Photo: © 2006 Debra Tessier)

Qualifier Gavin Jones of Wales almost caused  the big upset when he pushed 14th seed Mo Azlan Iskander to five games over 65 hard minutes.

Jones, ranked 37  in the world  was playing somebody almost 20 places higher, but this difference was not reflected in the match. Indeed Jones won the first game 11-9 to show that he was no pushover. he lost the next two but played extremely well to dominate Iskander in the fourth using a range of shots as well as a good sense in knowing when to play them.

Iskander, who has far more experience than  Jones, was looking ragged  and finished the game with a forehand volley drop into the tin to give Jones the game 11-7. It also gave Jones an optimistic view of the final outcome.

Iskander, however, regrouped his forces, came out for the fifth at supersonic speed and ran away with the game and the match, in very short order, winning 11-4 in just eight minutes.

Jones was slightly disappointed with the result but pleased at his performance.

"The last time we played, Mo chopped me 3/0 in 20 minutes, so this was a good result for me," he said. Asked about the final game, Jones explained: "He picked up pace and I couldn't stay with it. In the fourth game I kept him pinned in the back of the court and when that worked I thought I could win the match, but the pace didnÕt let me do that."

OLLI TOO SOLID FOR JENSON

The fourth was a great struggle with  Dan Jenson trailing all the way until a thundering cross court eluded his opponent to make it 9-9 against Olli Tuominen. (Photo: © 2006 Debra Tessier)

Dan Jenson's ailments could fill a book but he still intends to get back into the top ten. In facing Finland's Olli Tuominen, he came up against reality. The fourteenth ranked player  had power, speed and shots and moved around the court with agility that the tall Jenson could not match. Tuominen  is now developing a valuable talent for disguise and deception so that when he is on form, he presents a considerable challenge to any player.

After winning the first two games, the Finn made four bad errors in the third and Jenson did not waste the opportunity to take the game 11-8. The fourth was a great struggle with  Jenson trailing all the way until a thundering cross court eluded his opponent to make it 9-9. Jenson then earned a penalty stroke to get to game ball 10-9, but Tuominen dug into his bag of  tricks, pulled out a neat little cross court flick that left Jenson standing, then a  forehand chopped drop shot to get to match ball and then, sadly for everyone,  he was given the match point on a penalty stroke, a decision that seemed harsh and had Jenson shouting in disagreement. But the decision stood and Jenson will have to live with that  first round defeat. Tuominen will now play Matthew in the second round, a match I look forward to with much pleasure.

WINDY CITY OPEN2006
FIRST ROUND, DAY TWO RESULTS
 
THE UNIVERSITY CLUB, Chicago IL USA
FRIDAY JANUARY 20 2006

[14]Mohd Azland Iskandar (MAL def Gavin Jones (WAL) 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4 (65 mins)
[3] Anthony Rickets (AUS) def Wael El Hindi (EGY)6-11, 11-10 (4-2), 11-8, 11-5 (66mins)
[8] JohnWhite (SCO) def Ben Garner (ENG) 11-9,11-6.11-7. (29 mins)
[9] Nick Matthew (ENG) def Stuwart Boswell (AUS) 11-6, 9-11, 11-1, 11-7 (60 mins)
[12] Graham Riding (CAN) def Joseph Kneipp (AUS) 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 (31 mins)
[13] Olli Tuominen (FIN) def [Q]Dan Jenson 11-8, 11-7, 8-11
[16] Alex Gough (WAL) def Simon Parke (ENG)
[11] Karim Darwish (EGY) def  [Q] Davide Bianchetti 11-4, 11-1, 11-3 (23 mins)

SECOND ROUND LINE-UP:
 THIERRY LINCOU  VS  MOHD AZLAN ISKANDER
 AMR SHABANA VS ADRIAN GRANT
ANTHONY RICKETTS VS GRAHAM RYDING
JONATHON POWER VS  GREGORY GAULTIER
MOHAMMED ABBAS  VS JOHN WHITE
ALEX GOUGH VS DAVID PALMER
OLLI TUOMINEN VS  NICK MATTHEW
KARIM DARWISH VS JAMES WILLSTROP

More first round action at the Windy City Open. (Photos: © 2006 Debra Tessier)