Castelyn And Chifunda Reach U.S. Pro Final
June 27, 2004, By Rob Dinerman; SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004

Top seed Stefan Castelyn and unseeded Patrick Chifunda will
face each other this afternoon on the portable all-glass court at Macy's Plaza
in downtown Los Angeles after each prevailed in four games Saturday evening
in the semis. Castelyn had barely won in five close games (lasting more than
two hours) the last time he had played former PSA No. 26 Clive Leach, in the
same round of this tournament four years ago. Similarly, Chifunda had faced a
fourth-game double-match-point-against situation in HIS most recent meeting with
Karim Yehia in the Orange County event three weeks back.

But both Castelyn and Chifunda won their respective rematches much more
handily this time around, with Castelyn rebounding from a lost first game to
increasingly exert control over the remainder, which he finished off with a
dominant 15-8 fourth-game close-out. And Chifunda, who had lost the first two games of that Orange County final earlier this month before winning a close third
and a too-close-for-comfort 17-16 fourth prior to the 15-8 fifth, seized the
front-court and used his shot-making skills to much greater effect in yesterday
evening's match.

Chifunda also benefited from the characteristics of the portable court,
which were relatively slow and rewarded his short game. In fairness, however, he
has also demonstrated the ability both to win in much livelier court
conditions and to repulse deficits and match-ball predicaments when he won the Mardi Gras final in New Orleans four months ago. In that match, which featured long
points and a ball that would not sit down in the considerable heat, Chifunda
trailed Mohammed Sadiq two games to one before winning 10-9 in the fifth on his
sixth match-ball and after facing four match-balls against him.

But he will likely have his hands full this afternoon against Castelyn,
the winner of this tournament in 2000, who seems well recovered from a recent
back injury and has clearly been sharpened up by an extended stint of league
matches in Europe that ended just two weeks ago. Leach had breezed through his
quarter-final with Imran Khan Friday evening, and his short game is evocative
of the talents he displays these days on the ISDA pro doubles tour, where he
has won tournaments during the past several seasons with both Blair Horler and
Willie Hosey.

But none of these traits, however, were enough to save him against
Castelyn's progressive pressure, which seemed to kick in early in the second game
and enabled him to cruise through that game and the two that followed en route
to today's final.

Semi-Final Recap

Stefan Castelyn d Clive Leach, 3-1; Patrick Chifunda d Karim Yehia, 3-1.

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