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Hyder Open Preview
by
Rob Dinerman © 2002 SquashTalk
May
16, 2002 © 2002
Strong Field Gears Up For Quentin Hyder Open
The 2002 version of the annual Quentin Hyder Invitational, which returned several years ago to its original stomping ground at the New York Athletic Club at the foot of Central Park in midtown Manhattan, will feature a strong 24-player Men's Open draw consisting of a number of foreign-born mostly America-based players and offering $1500 in prize money to the winner of Sunday's 1:30 final. There will also be an eight-player Women's pro draw and a host of age group and skill level amateur flights as well.
The men's event begins early Friday morning, with the eight seeds byed to the round of 16 that afternoon and evening. The quarter-finals will take place early Saturday afternoon at several New York clubs, with the semis scheduled Saturday evening at 6:30 and 7:45 respectively back at the NYAC.
Julian Wellings of England is the top seed and, if form holds, he will be playing S. L. Green finalist Preston Quick in one of Saturday's quarter-finals. Quick has mostly been concentrating on the ISDA pro doubles tour during the two-plus months since the S. L. Green event, in which he defeated '99 S. L. Green winner Dave McNeely in the semis before losing to defending champion Damian Walker in the final. With the conclusion of the 17-event seven-month ISDA tour early this month, Quick will now re-focus his attention of softball, where he is considered a prime candidate to earn one of the four spots on the U. S. Pan American Federation competition.
The trials to determine the composition of that team will be held next month in the metropolitan area, and this is one of several events that Quick, a member of the U. S. team that finished 19th in the World Team Championships in Melbourne this past autumn, will be playing to prepare for that eight-man qualifying event. His Melbourne teammate and class of 2000 contemporary Tim Wyant, a semi-final loser to Walker in the S. L. Green after defeating longtime U. S. team member Richard Chin for the third straight time last winter in the quarters of that Americans-only national championship tournament, was prevented from playing in the Hyder due to a groin injury he incurred two weeks ago, but is expected to be fully recovered in time for the trials six weeks hence.
In the draw's second quarter, Imran Khan is seeded to play the fourth-seeded Englishman and former world No. 26 Clive Leach in the quarter-finals, but he will first have to defeat the winner of a preliminary match between several times USSRA 30-and-over champion (and finalist this year) Francis Odeh and former Penn star Peter Lubowitz. Leach, who blossomed into stardom on this year's ISDA tour, where he and Blair Horler earned three trips to the finals and the No. 4 overal team ranking, will debut against the winner of another intriguing match, this one between the Sweden-born University Club assistant pro Alex Pavulans and recent Trinity Bantam star Akihl Behl.
Leach was plagued by a wrist problem that forced him to retire from an early-round match in last year's Hyder event, and lost in a close five to Canadian Viktor Berg in the semi-finals two years ago, but has kept his softball form this past year, defeating former World No. 3 Brett Martin in the finals of a PSA/NA tourney in Hartford this past winter and reaching the final of another PSA/NA stop in Los Angeles last summer before bowing to compatriot and 2001 British Open finalist Chris Walker. Currently the head pro at the City Athletic Club, his first New York stint was as an assistant at the NYAC, and he is very much looking forward to making a triumphant return and redeeming the disappointments of the past few editions of this popular annual extravaganza.
The most recognizable faces in the draw's bottom half are third seed Australian native Damien Mudge, who, astoundingly, combined with Gary Waite to capture all 17 ISDA titles during a perfect 53-0 season, and the aforementioned Chin, a three-time ('94, '97, '01) S. L. Green finalist and record five-time U. S. team member in World Team Championship competition, who is likely to face Mark Burke for the right to play Mudge in the quarter-finals. The latter was considered a softball star in the making before a bout with chronic-fatigue syndrome a few years back sidelined him for almost a year, though anyone who saw the way he and his superstar partner dominated the strongest pro doubles field in squash history can see the degree to which he has recovered his strength and fitness, both of which were understandably sapped by the debilitating condition that beset him.
Kerim Yehia, the second seed and NYAC assistant pro, should have an intriguing quarter-final battle against the winner of a match between Daniel Sharplin, who won a crucial swing match against Chin in the USA vs. New Zealand team match in Melbourne to account for his country's higher placement, and '98 Intercollegiate champion Daniel Ezra, who won the Gold Racquets Invitational this past December and who earlier this spring led the Harvard Club to the 2002 MSRA A League championship with a final-round victory at No. 1 over the Yale Club's John Musto. Sharplin is a gritty and workmanlike player, while Ezra possesses exceptional touch and talent.
Squashtalk will provide full coverage of all three days of what should be a highly entertaining and competitive tournament.
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