A few upsets in the rankings helped to make the final day of qualifying worth watching. Pride of place must go to Lee Drew  who knocked out top seed  and former top tenner Mark Chaloner in an engrossing five game journey that had no logical route map. 

Drew is a fine all-round player and although he is ranked  76 in the world, has a very good line in killer shots. This is not showboating stuff, but an essential part of  the arsenal of any player  wishing to get into the elite ranks.  If a player cannot kill the ball when the opportunity arises, he stays with the nether world of the also rans. 

Drew is also 30 years old which is a bit late in life to make one’s mark in pro squash. He was faced with the great experience of Chaloner, a man who was once known for his ability to run all day, but not for hitting winners.  As he demonstrated today, he has acquired a volley kill shot that has to be seen to be believed  - trouble is, it is moving so fast you can’t see it. 

Drew started well and   hit his way to a 9-6 lead, making life look easy even though he had decided (he told me later) to play at Chaloner’s fast pace to take the edge off him. 

But Chaloner started to hit some of his patented kills while Drew’s low drives, which had earned him a handful of points, were now hitting the tin. Chaloner  took five points in a row and suddenly Drew was a game down. 

The same thing more or less happened in the second game; drew lead 5-1 and then 8-4, again looking comfortable for the winner, but yet again Chaloner  fought back to level the game at 9-9. His unsuccessful effort at high volley gave Drew game ball and he got the game with a penalty stroke to tie the match. 

Drew let up in the third and from 4-4  he committed four errors to put Chaloner firmly in the lead. He climbed back to 7-8  but two outright winners from Chaloner gave him game ball. It was Drew’s turn to hit two winners to get to 9-10  but Chaloner found the nick to end the next rally to win 11-9. 

Drew  was unperturbed by these events  and  increased his winners as he cut down his errors and although he trailed at the beginning of the game from 4-4  he was in charge, moving well, anticipating Chaloner’s moves and taking the game with ease 11-5 to set up a fifth game. 

One of the enjoyable aspects of this match was that Drew accepted every decision without argument and Chaloner only challenged three or four decisions in the entire match. Drew has a good temperament and he demonstrated this in the fifth game when he was staring defeat in the face at 5-9. Despite a couple of dubious calls on Challoner shots, Drew kept his focus and  fought his way back into the match to reach 9-9, still going for his shots when the occasions demanded. 

A forehand volley drop winner put Chaloner at match ball, but Drew, cool as ever, hit a super backhand volley drop into the nick to force a tie break. A forehand drop followed by a backhand drop , both winners, secured the game the victory  for Drew after 81 minutes of  first class squash. 

SCOTT DOES IT HANDILY
 You may remember that one of my dark horse forecast was Scott Handley and for once I can say “I was right”.  He faced  5/8 seed Alister Walker, a player ranked 13 places above his own world ranking of 58.  I have been watching Handley for about five years now because he plays for my club and have always felt that this was a player who had everything needed to be in the top twenty. Everything that is except confidence.  Today he felt good, was untroubled by a pulled muscle that kept him off the court for a week, and played at his best.  Handley is one of those players, like Lee Drew, who uses the boast extremely well, the secret being in playing it at the most unexpected time, when his opponent is certain the ball is going driven down the wall.   But then Handley know exactly what shot to play at what time and when his confidence is at top level, he is a hard player to beat. Walker simply did not have the experience to handle a player of this caliber (ignore the rankings!) and Handley won in just 31 minutes. 

ROSS PUTS OUT GARNER WITH EASE
Ben Garner (seeded 3-4) was another casualty as he went out in straight games in just 31 minutes to Stacy Ross.  Despite passing the 30 year age mark Ross is still campaigning to move up in the rankings and today he made things look easy.

Garner seemed to have no answer to Ross’s game and although he hit some terrific winners, Ross was in control for the entire 31 minutes.  Ross has lost to Garner in the past and I asked him why.

“Ben always got me on pace and fitness. Now I’ve got the fitness, I can stay with him and I was playing well,” he said, adding that he was glad it wasn’t too tiring so that he would be fresh for his first round match tomorrow.  

A LOT OF NOISE
While all was seemly on the underlit showcourt (so badly lit it looks like twilight squash), on the bright Court Two, a vocal drama was being played out as  Jean Michel Arcucci of France and  Ritwik Bhattacharya of India tried to bruise each other and the referee’s ears. Why is it some players can  play without getting in each other’s way while other players seem intent on running through their opponent’s rib cage, destroying the spine in the process. Referee Tony Parker (World level) is experienced enough to know how to keep the lid on this cauldron of  Franco/Indian emotion and even though he had to make 47 decisions  in the 72 minute game, Bhattacharya emerged the 3/1  in one piece  while Arcucci remained his usual humourous self afterwards. 

THE ASHOUR SCHOOL OF HITTING THE BALL A THOUSAND DIFFERENT WAYS
I was thoroughly entertained by  Hisham Ashour’s match against Aamir Atlas Khan, a player so small that he would be considered undersize even in the jockeys enclosure.  Ashour is from the Egyptian school of squash: The shortest distance between the first serve and victory is the nick. He practices this approach  with mind-boggling racket control, disguise, deception and pretty good court coverage. He has also the loudest laugh and boggliest eyes, both exhibited when  the referee failed to call two of Khan’s  balls down.  He was also very cheesed off that Khan did not own up to his double bounces, so relationships on court were quite cool. 

By rights Ashour should have won in three, after all he was seeded 3 /4, but Khan is fast and determined and Ashour can make errors at the wrong time. It was just a joy to watch his  delayed shot that went in a completely unexpected direction,  and a drive that suddenly subsided into a feather drop.  It wasn’t all one way and Khan is also pretty handy with the racket when it comes to the drop shots.  Ashour dropped the second game but took the third  game and then simply overwhelmed Khan in the fourth to win 11-3 in just four minutes. 

LIVERPOOL 08 OPEN

FINAL QUALIFYING RESULTS
[9/16] Lee Drew (ENG) bt [1] Mark Chaloner (ENG) 9-11,11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-10 (2-0)  (83 mins)
[9/16] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt [5/8] Jean-Michel Arcucci (FRA) 11-8, 8-11, 11-10  (2-0), 11-2 (72 mins)
[9/16 ] Stacey Ross (ENG) bt [3/4] Ben Garner (ENG) 11-4, 11-5, 11-5  (35mins)
[5/8] Liam Kenny (IRE) bt Jesse Englebrecht (ZIM) 11-8,11-3, 11-4 (38mins)
[9/16] Scott Handley (ENG) bt [5/8] Alister Walker (ENG) 11-9, 11-2, 11-6 (31mins)
[3/4] Hisham  Ashour (EGY) bt [9/16] Aamir  Atlas Khan (PAK) 11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3 (44mins)
[5/8] Darryl Selby (ENG)  bt [9/16] Simon Rosner (GER) 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 (37mins)
[2] Dan Jenson (AUS)  bt Paul Davis (AUS) 11-3 11-4 11-2 (32 min)

[Revised Main Draw]