BEAUTIFUL, MUSICAL BOSTON
Oh to be in Boston, now that the US Open is here.  Wonderful flight over by American Airlines (loads of leg-room: BA and Virgin please note), a bright, warmy sunny day to view this  eye-candy of a city – especially driving along the Charles River, and  the news of the Democrats taking the Senate as well as the House of Representatives.  (I wonder what God said to Bush this morning?)

Then, in the evening, a fantastic Latin Jazz concert at the Berklee School of Music Performance Center. Bandleader Castrillo is on the faculty of the school, but plays timbale like no percussionist I have ever heard. He is also a superb showman  with a delightful sense of humour. Add to this a 14 piece band of thumping musicians and all sorts of great guests and we had a memorable musical evening. Yes, I stood up at the end, put my fingers in my mouth and whistled.

On Thursday morning we gathered at the University Club for the qualifying draw and despite the fact that the US Open  is now a Super Series event, the draw was undersubscribed. Even Alex Ingham, a 16 year old from England who is ranked  in the 230’s  was able to gain a place in the draw. Under normal circumstances he would  not have had a chance in hell of getting in.

FRESHMAN BEATS GRADUATE
Action started at the Boston Racquet Club  and fittingly the first match featured an American, Preston Quick.  A more than interested spectator was Paul Assaiante, the Trinity coach.  Quick had been one of his standouts and has now graduated. His opponent was a young Pakistani, Basit Ashfaq, who is now a freshman at Trinity and already the new number one. Ashfaq is  big (6ft 4”) and at 20 a formidable talent, having led Pakistan to the  world junior team title. 

The first game was untidy  and without rhythm as both players   got rid of  nerves and  tried to get used to the low tin. Some bad length and careless errors from both players  gave no pointers as to who would  win. They were tied at 6-all, Quick went ahead 8-6, failed to hold the advantage  but then kept his head to win 11-8 in  a game that lasted a scant 6 ½ minutes.

Quick was first to settle down in the second game and his vastly improved length allowed him to control the T and dominate the long rallies. Ashfaq started to cut out his errors and  took advantage of  Quick’s fatal shot — a forehand low drive that ended up at the service box.  It was this shot that was Quick’s undoing; all the intelligent work he had done in a rally would be undone by this weak, pointless shot.

Ashfaq had his own peculiarity — an addiction to the forehand boast, which he played incessantly. It never nicked, so its sole purpose was to take Quick to the front. A more experienced player than Quick would have cottoned on to this habit and found a way to punish the ball as it sat up at the front left.  But Quick tried driving down the left wall and lost a few points on strokes, while his cross-courts never put Ashfaq under duress. High lobs were more effective and  cut down Ashfaq’s options.

Quick lost that second game 11-5, came back from  2-6 down in the third to  8-9 but  was still being punished for his poor forehand short drive and lost it 11-8  after 11 minutes.
Quick again used good length to come from 2-5 down in the fourth to  lead 6-5 and keep up his quality game to get to game ball at 10-9 with one very good rally  that showed that when he really wants to play, he can  play very good squash. He was unlucky to lose that game ball on a penalty stroke and then more bad luck as a high rail came off the front wall at an unexpected angle to give Ashfaq another stroke to put him at match ball. And then another stroke when Ahsfaq could not get to a fine drop shot from Quick at the front left. I thought it a harsh decision as Ashfaq was scrabbling to get there rather than being  in a position where he could have hit a winner.   And so it was all over after 45 minutes and Quick was the first American casualty.

The second was Pat Malloy who drew the tough, experienced Tom Richards,  a former leading English junior who is now in the senior ranks and learning very fast.  Richards simply had too much of everything for Malloy, mostly experience and I thought the game American was lucky to end up with 14 points to his credit after 26 minutes.

“I’m just not used to that pace,” said Malloy afterwards.  “And it would have helped  if I’d played a match with the lower tin. It’s a whole different game with the low tin.”

The final match of the afternoon at the Boston Racquets Club had Raj Nanda of Australia  facing Taweo Kuti of Nigeria. As expected Nanda won but he gave away an awful lot of points on errors and if he is to climb up from his present ranking of 91 he will have to pay attention to that part of his game. Kuti had some nice shots and knew how to use the height of the court, but  it was obvious that he has not had the hardening process of constant match play to raise his consistency.

ILLINGWORTH IN CONTROL
 It was left to Julian Illingworth, twice the US champion, to keep the Stars and Stripes  waving and he did it in stylish fashion. He was playing Ben Howell, former Englishman who now coaches in Greenwich, and Howell simply had no answer for Illingworth’s range of shots, placement and  impeccable weight.  Illingworth has been working with David Pearson in England and it shows.  His shot selection was near faultless, but the joy of his performance was  that he never overhit, making life very difficult for Howell. It was a solid 24 minute performance and Illingworth will go into tomorrow’s match against Darryl Selby with confidence  Selby, the second seed had a bye and may be caught cold in the first game, but Illingworth will have to play out of his skin to beat the small Englishman.

COLLEGIATE REPLAY
At the University Club, Bernardo Samper, the Colombian with ultra-quick hands, took on Harvard senior, Siddharth Suchde. Samper is one of seven present and former members of the vaunted Trinity College juggernaut of a team, playing in this event. Samper and Suchde had met in college matches on several occasions, with Samper undefeated against the tall, lanky Indian. Too, Samper is now on the tour and playing well at that, so the smart money had him holding the edge.

The squash these two played was electric at times, and definitely an exciting variety. Nothing, seemingly, would be a winner on the hot University Club courts. Samper, also, seeminly had the advantage in that he was relentlessly varying the pace while Suchde's game was straighter and more predictable.

A see-saw battle came down to a few final points in the fifth game, in which Suchde seemed hungrier and possibly a touch fitter, and a few fortunate bounces proved the difference in a very even contest.

FATHER AND SON?
Over at Harvard, the action started with the youngest player in the tournament, Alex Ingham, 16, taking on one of the oldest, Ahmed Hamza. It looked like a father giving his son a game, Ingham is still quite small while Hamza looks older than his 29 years. But  young Ingham from England was far from outclassed and gave a very good account of himself. This was good solid squash from both players with very few  unforced errors, The difference in the end came down to the Hamza’s  ability to finish a rally with authority but Ingham made the older man work  for almost every point.

Ingham said later that he could not find his length in the first game, which he lost 11-4, but came out with more vigour in the second, after words from Tom Richards, who comes out of the same Surrey stable as Ingham, (that of Danny Lee’s St Georges club which has produced some fine juniors.)

Ingham was in control from the start and  Hamza found he couldn’t catch the youngster out with delay and wrist deception.  Ingham was also helped with a few errors from Hamza and he took full advantage of them to take the game 11-6 and create hopes of an upset.
The third game was the longest at 11 minutes  and they were level at 5-5  before Hamza surged ahead, using his dangerous forehand to hit fine drops and disguised boasts to get to  8-5. Ingham just kept running and getting to the ball to reach 8-9 but could not finish the rally when the opportunity occurred. Hamza could and took the game 11-8  and them moved easily through the fourth to win 11-5 in  seven minutes.   Once Ingham  adds winners  to his game, he will become a tough opponent, regardless of his age.

US OPEN 2006, RESULTS, Qualifying first:

Alistair Walker (ENG) bye
Ahmed Hamza (EGY) bt Alex Ingham (ENG) 11-4 6-11 11-8 11-5 37min
Eric Galvez (MEX) bye
Mark Krajcsak (HUN) bt Reggie Schonborn (RSA) 10-11(2-4) 11-7 11-7 11-7 60 min
Shawn Delierre (CAN) bye
Raj Nanda (AUS) bt T Kutic, 11-7 11-10(2-0) 11-3
Tom Richards bt Pat Malloy (USA) 11-3 11-7 11-4
Basit Ashraq (PAK) def Preston Quick (USA) 8-11 11-5 11-8 11-10(2-0) 45min
Omar El Borolossy (EGY) def Badr Aziz (SWE) 11-5 11-7 11-7
Sid Suchde (IND) bt Bernardo Samper (COL) 11-3 10-11(0-2) 11-4 5-11 11-8 75min
Tony James bt Lafike Ragontse (BOT) 11-7 11-9 11-5
Dylan Bennett (NL) bye
Wade Johnstone (AUS) def Ben Oliner (USA) 11-2 11-8 11-8 29 min
Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) bt John Fulham (USA) 11-3 11-3 11-6 25 min
Julian Illingworth (USA) bt Ben Howell (ENG) 11-5 11-5 11-3 24min
Darryl Selby (ENG) bye.

Qualifying final round matchups are:
Alistair Walker (ENG) vs Ahmed Hamza (EGY) @Harvard
Mark Krajcsak (HUN) vs Eric Galvez (MEX) @Harvard
Shawn Delierre (CAN) vs Raj Nanda (AUS) @BRC
Tom Richards (ENG) vs Basit Ashraq (PAK) @BRC
Omar El Borolossy (EGY) vs Sid Suchde (IND) @UC
Dylan Bennett (NL)vs Tony James (ENG) @ UC
Wade Johnstone (AUS) vs Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) @Harvard
Julian Illingworth (USA) vs Darryl Selby (ENG) @Harvard