SquashTalk >News > 2002 Hyder Open Round of 16
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Hyder Open Round of 16
by
Rob Dinerman © 2002 SquashTalk
May
18, 2002 © 2002
Seeds Advance To Hyder Quarters
The first day of this year's annual Quentin Hyder Invitational saw the top eight players advance to today's quarter-finals in upset-free fashion. The quarters will take place at noon and 1 p.m. at the Uptown Racquet Club and the New York Athletic Club, with the semis scheduled for 6:30 and 7:45 at NYAC this evening and the final set for Sunday at 1:30.
Top seed Julian Wellings of England, who was ranked No. 48 in the world two years ago, had too much firepower and experience for Eric Christiansen, who was making his first tournament appearance in a year after having to withdraw from several events this past winter due to a back injury and a lingering case of the flu.
Wellings will face Preston Quick, the only entry who played on last year's U. S. team that placed 19th in Melbourne in the World Team Championships, who survived two close games last night against Mohammed Mustafa, 15-13 and 15-12, before blasting through the third game in more decisive fashion. Third seed Clive Leach, fresh off a stellar season on the ISDA pro doubles tour, demonstrated the form that had brought him a No. 26 world ranking a few years back in his opener against Alex Pavulans of Sweden, who had won a prelim against 2001 Trinity star Akihl Behl but was always on the defensive against the British-born Leach's wiles and shotmaking skills.
Leach's opponent will be Imran Khan, who eked out the closest win of the night, 15-13 in the fifth against Francis Odeh. The bottom half will feature another ISDA star in the formidable person of Damien Mudge, who with his partner Gary Waite won all 17 ISDA ranking tournaments, and who overpowered Behl's classmate Josh Miller. Mudge will go up against Richard Chin, who got a walk-over in his round of 16 when Mark Burke withdrew just hours before play was to begin.
The Aussie Mudge, Leach and the Guyana-born Chin are all currently head professionals at private clubs in New York (the University Club, City Athletic Club and Harvard Club respectively), as are Canadian Dave Kay at the Union Club and another Australia native, Scott Butcher, at Racquet & Tennis, a sure sign of softball's takeover over the past several years.
Two other foreign-born players, second seed Kerim Yehia, the assistant pro at the host NYAC, and New Zealander Daniel Sharplin, who played a major role in the 2-1 victory the Kiwi squad earned over the American team in the World Team championships last fall, will contest the last quarter-final. Yehia rolled to victory over Paul Brogna, but Sharplin was involved in the most intriguing match of the night against Daniel Ezra, winner of the Pool Trophy four years ago as Intercollegiate Individual champion, a title his older brother Adrian won three times in the early 1990's.
Ezra is an extraordinary talent, floating seemingly effortlessly around the court like a butterfly and possessing a soft touch on his volleyed straight drops. He also anticipates wonderfully, and throughout the match he seemed to be moving to the ball and/or preparing his swing before Sharplin had even completed his stroke. But Sharplin, though not as naturally gifted as his adversary, is a fit and gritty competitor, as he demonstrated in that New Zealand-America meeting last October in overcoming an early deficit to contribute a crucial win over Chin.
Though frequently wrong-footed and forced to do the majority of the retrieving, he doggedly hung in, even after a deflating end to the third game, when a 14-11 lead dissolved to a six-point game-ending run that gave Ezra a two games to one advantage. Undeterred by the Ezra's brilliant string of points throughout this potentially pivotal period, Sharplin took advantage of a fourth-game letdown and carried the fifth game to 7-all, the outcome completely up for grabs.
It was Ezra who buckled before Sharplin's unyielding pressure at this crucial juncture, committing several unforced tins born more of impatience and fatigue that an technical deficiency, and Sharplin was able to break away and win eight of the match's final nine points for a 12-15 15-12 14-17 15-8 15-8 victory and a hard-earned spot in the quarters.
Whether he and Khan will be able to recover from their grueling marathons in time to really contest their seeded midday opponents, Yehia and Leach respectively, neither of whom was pressed last night, is one of the key questions that resolved early this afternoon.
RESULTS: <The
Draw>
Round of 16
Wellings d Christiansen, 3-0;
Quick d Mustafa, 3-0;
Khan d Odeh, 3-2;
Leach d Pavulans, 3-0;
Mudge d Miller, 3-0;
Chin d Burke, walkover;
Sharplin d Ezra, 12-15 15-12 14-17 15-8 15-8
Yehia d Brogna, 3-0.
Preliminary Results:
Eric Christiansen def Gary Witcher 3-0
Mohamed Hassan def Brian Mathias 3-0
Francis Odeh def Peter Lubowitz
Alex Pavulans def Akhil Behl
Josh Miller def R Farooq
Richard Chin def D Cukierman
Daniel Ezra def Dan Kapur
Paul Brogna def E Lucena
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