... AND GRANT GETS NICKED

Nick Matthew had the early advantage over Adrian Grant. (photo © 2006 Fritz Borchert.)

Olli Tuominen gets the laurels for the first big upset of the main draw by putting out  sixth seed  John White in straight games,  which counts as a win with bells on. However the match of the evening was the dramatic encounter between  two Englishmen, Nick Matthew, the fourth seed, and  eleventh seed Adrian Grant.

What started out as a bit of a parade for Matthew was turned on its head by a tremendous comeback  by Grant, one which - it could be argued – was brought to a halt by a very questionable decision at the end of the fourth game.

Grant can drive you crazy with his  dislike of the volley- he simply feels more comfortable taking the ball of the back wall, an approach to the game that can lead to a  monotonous pace and some very long boring rallies.

Matthew won’t be partner to this sort of squash and loves to volley and keep the pressure on his opponent.

The first game was very much about locking horns and see who blinked first with Matthew taking the lead  after the first six points and never letting go even though  Grant stayed within two points. Finally Grant  pulled level  at 9-all only to commit two  very bad errors  to undo all his good work. After  17 minutes and a good recovery, Grant came away with nothing because of two bad shots at the wrong time. 

This wasn’t monotone squash but  slow periods interrupted by a series of crashing drives before a slow lob to the back cooled it down again.  It looked as though we were in for a long, but interesting, evening. Until the second game started and  suddenly Matthew could do no wrong and Grant could do no right. Beginning with two winners and getting some lucky nicks into the bargain, Matthew had a comfortable 7-2 lead and  Grant must have been wondering if someone up there didn’t like him. Even so, at 10-4 Grant did not give and took four points in a row  with some fine shot making; not necessarily winners, but tight enough to put the heat on Matthew.So 10-8 and coming on strong when a lob along the left wall  went out and the game was over 11-8 for Matthew.  Grant through his racket in anger and got a warning, but it didn’t matter.

Alan Grant almost pulled even but his rally was stopped by a referee's decision . (photo © 2006 Fritz Borchert.)

Two games down is not the place to be against someone like Matthew but Grant somehow turned the head of Gods around and now the luck was running his way. He was now volleying and  going short more, but he was earning real dividends by slamming the ball cross court into the back right corner, which is Matthew’s forehand, but Grant’s (a lefty) backhand. He obviously felt more comfortable there while  Matthew was unable to extricate from the problems that these drives were causing him. Leading 8-4  Grant hit three superb length shots  to take the game 11-4 in just nine minutes.Grant was on a roll and he kept it going into the fourth game to lead 6-2 when he was struck in the face  by a Matthew back swing.

Tuominen keeps on truckin. (photo © 2006 Fritz Borchert.)

There was no blood on the court although there was laughter as the referee asked Grant who was on his knees holding his face “are you alright?”.  “I’m perfect,” replied Grant through his hands, with the irony evident to all.On the resumption Matthew climbed back to 5-8, but it always looked like Grant would tie the match. At 9-8 they had a long rally full of explosive shots which was won by Grant with a fine forehand drop to get him to game point 10-8. And then another rally with slams all over the court despite the fact that they were both showing real fatigue. This time Matthew won  and when Grant hit a backhand drop into the tin, it was tie-break time. Grant hit a tight left wall shot which Matthew failed to scrape off and once more Grant had game ball. Matthew tied it with a backhand volley drop.

The next rally ended in controversy as Matthew blocked Grant’s path to the ball and it looked like an obvious let. The referee said “No let”  which was his only real mistake of the match.

Grant came out to argue that the ball was two feet off the ground. The referee did not agree but the slow motion replay (expertly supplied by Horizon on two monitors) favoured Grant’s argument. “I’ve hunted every friggin ball down and you say I couldn’t get ball that was so high. You’ve made the match worthless,” Grant said, but it made no difference, the decision stood and Matthew had match ball 12-11. Grant ended the match with a forehand drop into the tin to give him yet another “What if..” moment to remember. These are the matches  that Grant should be winning now to move him up into the top ten, if he is ever going to get there.

TUOMINEN KEEPS ON TRUCKIN’
John White’s shots were not working and Olli Tuominen  got everything back. And that really is the story of the straight games upset claimed by the Finn to put him into the quarter finals where he will face  David Palmer. When Tuominen is on form  he is a very hard man to wear down  and perhaps White knew this and wanted to win it on shots.  Just too many errors  and squandering game ball in the third  saw White leave the court throwing his racket and displaying his knowledge of Anglo-Saxon terms.

PALMER QUELLS YOUTH

David Palmer showed some phenomenal speed on court. (photo © 2006 Fritz Borchert.)

David Palmer beat the junior world champion Ramy Ashour in three and did it in great style. Team Kneipp (Joe and Dan) watched the match closely and both were ecstatic about Palmer’s movement asserting that no other player around would have been able to pick up the young Egyptian’s wonderful drops. Palmer was fluid and confident while Ashour  simply was not wise enough. I spoke to his elder brother  Hisham and  Karim Darwish after the match and they both agreed that Ramy’s  youth let him down: he went short too quickly and paid the price.Palmer was full of praise for the way that this player has improved over two years and said all he has to do to shoot up the rankings is  practise length and improve his fitness.

One thing everybody agrees on: Ramy Ashour will be a top ten player.

LIVERPOOL 08 OPENSECOND ROUND  RESULTS.
[1] DAVID PALMER (AUS) bt [15] RAMY ASHOUR  (EGY) 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (32mins)
[9] OLLI TUOMINEN (FIN) bt [6]JOHN WHITE (SCO) 11-7,11-6,11-10(2-1) (48 mins) 
[4] NICK MATTHEW (ENG)  bt [11]ADRIAN GRANT (ENG) 11-9, 11-8, 4-11. 11-10 (3-1) 68 mins  
[5] LEE BEACHILL (ENG)  bt [13] ALEX GOUGH (WAL)  11-6,11-7,11-5 (38 mins)
 [7] GREGORY GAULTIER (FRA) bt [12] STEWART BOSWELL (AUS) 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (63mins) 
 [3] THIERRY LINCOU (FRA) bt [10] ONG BENG HEE (MAS) 5-11,11-8,11-10 (3-1), 11-8 (76mins)
 [8] KARIM DARWISH (EGY) bt [16] PETER BARKER (ENG)    11-10(3-1), 11-6, 11-5 37mins)
 [2] JAMES WILLSTROP (ENG) bt [14] SHAHID ZAMAN (PAK) 11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4 (48mins)

[Main Draw and results]