Sunday afternoon play at Harvard University

Lincou and Arcucci battled it out in the opening match. (photo ©Ron Beck )

WILLSTROP FIGHTS OFF DUTCH CHALLENGE
In an eighty-minute match that kept the packed gallery at the Harvard Squash Centre glued to their seats,  Laurens Jan Anjema, the Dutch champion who is ranked 24 in the world, came within three points of beating the current world number four, James Willstrop of England, when he led 8-4 in the fourth game.  Although Anjema will head back to The Hague thinking of what might have been, he will also have proved to the world that he is good enough to be in the top ten. Willstrop, on the other hand, will be thankful that he lives to fight another day.

The two players put on an impressive display of cracking, attacking squash,  both could hit superb winners as well as distribute the ball around the court either high or low.

Anjema’s results have not been that good recently, but he went in today’s match full of some hard training and determination.  From the very beginning he took on the talented young Englishman, unfazed by the 20 places difference in the rankings.  His secret weapon was a killer of a forehand volley drop to the front left. As he is left handed, he was constantly fed the opportunity as Willstrop  - like all right handers – tend to favour the left wall, hoping to exploit a weak backhand. What Willstrop did have was the ability to send his opponent the wrong way with disguise and deception and this gave him some valuable points.

From the very beginning this was a very close match, played at a cracking pace with neither player able to open more than a two point lead. Anjema showed no respect for his higher ranked opponent and  hit some fine winners. The admirable thing about both contestants was their willingness to go for shots when the occasion arose – and sometimes when it didn’t.  Anjema did manage to squeeze ahead at 7-5 but the lead disappeared with a perfect drive from Willstrop  and an unsuccessful attempt at a cross-court drop from  Anjema. Undeterred, the tall Dutchman hit two sublime winners on his way to a 10-9 lead. Anjema thought he had the winning point but the  referee reversed the marker’s call to award a let.  Anjema made sure of the first game a by ending the next rally with a screaming forehand drive and had the game 11-9 after a very tense and exciting 15 ½ minutes. If ever an upset looked likely, this was the time.

Anjema came within three points of a great upset, in the best match of the day. (photo ©Ron Beck )

It even looked more likely when Anjema turned  a 0-4 deficit into a 6-4 lead in the second, taking six points on the run and looking the superior player. But Willstrop  never knows or admits that he is beaten; he recovered to 7-7, but Anjema kept to his game and arrived at game point 10-8 to look certain to capture a two-game lead.  The referee denied him a let on two consecutive points – one a very cruel call – and now it was 10-all and a tiebreak. A solid forehand volley-drop put Willstrop at game ball and he was then denied a let to make the score 11-11. The next rally demonstrated just how hard it is to beat Willstrop: twice  Anjema had him out of position and twice Willstrop managed to save the point – and then went on to  win it.  It was the sort of point that takes the heart out of the opponent. Anjema ended the next rally by crashing a drive into the tin and Willstrop took the game 13-11 to tie the match.

They had played at breakneck speed for 35 minutes and the score was 1-1.

The third game was totally different. Anjema, hit two errors  and then four winners on the way to a 7-4 lead at which point Willstrop’s shoulders seemed to droop  and his work rate dropped noticeably. The end came quickly, 11-6 in Anjema’s favour after just  8 ½ minutes and the big upset seemed more likely.

Anjema came out for the fourth full of confidence and ran to a 6-1 lead and his future looked rosy. Willstrop is never more dangerous than when on the brink of the abyss and hit three unbelievable backhand dropshots to get back into the match.

Anjema stopped the rot with a low drive and then a backhand drop to get to 8-4 – three points from a famous victory.  But then three very, very costly unforced errors (he admitted later that he got nervous) helped Willstrop to tie the game  and move to game ball – with the help of two no let calls against Anjema, and close out the game  11-9. to force fifth  game.

Anjema started the final game brightly to lead 3/1 but Willstrop has been here more times than Anjema and knows how to dig deep in the final furlong.  He remained just that bit stronger to stay on top and win the game 11-7  after 80 minutes   of gripping sport. It was certainly the game of the day as most other promising battles petered out into 3/0 results.

SELBY FLOUNCES OUT
 Most controversial match so far involved Daryl Selby of England and Wael el Hindi (surprise!).

I didn’t actually see it but after I spoke to Daryl Selby, not knowing the result, he said he retired at 2-1  and when I asked why, he said,"the refereeing." I thought he was kidding and pressed him for the truth. Then he said he was injured and when I asked where, he pointed to his brain.  ( I resisted saying “ah, a recurring injury” much to my credit) and decided not to  pursue questioning him. After much research it seemed that the two players will not be having dinner tonight: they were arguing and accusing each other of all manner of unsporting things including blocking and asking for unfair lets. In the fourth game Selby was penalized for throwing his racket and wasting time and then he refused to get on with the game saying he could not play in with such reffing. He shook el Hindi’s hand and walked off.
So far no information regarding disciplinary action.

LINCOU EXHAUSTS ARCUCCI
 In the French Civil war Jean Michel Arcucci was totally outplayed in the first game by  Thierry Lincou but then came back strongly to  win a very long (18 minute) game in a tiebreak. This was a surprising turn of events and to show it was no fluke  Arcucci stay with Lincou to 9-9 in the third game, playing extremely well and making Lincou work hard. He lost the game and in the dying rallies showed signs of fatigue. In the fourth game Arcucci was really hurting, at one point bent over in the agony of exhaustion.  He faded fast and Lincou took the game 11-5 but Arcucci had kept him on court for 57 minutes.

When I asked Arcucci how he had turned it round he said that he had played Lincou’s game in the first, which is straight but in the second he started to mix it up and take Lincou to the front.

“But at the end of the third at 9-9- I just lost confidence and then I got very tired,” he said, adding that he was happy with his performance.

Lincou’s version of the second game was somewhat different.

“I just lost concentration. You know it’s hard playing a friend. We haven’t played each other in a tournament in ten years, so it was pretty special. I couldn’t find the motivation to push hard.”

BENG HEE’S REVENGE
 One of the matches I thought would produced fireworks would be  that of Ong Beng Hee and Cameron Pilley.  In Malaysia, Beng Hee’s home territory, Pilley had beaten  the local hero. Today Beng Hee exacted  real revenge in running over Pilley in three straight games to earn the right to play number one seed Amr Shabana in the second round.  Shabana and fellow Egyptian, Omar el Borolossy, played an entertaining match with nobody in doubt who was going to win. There were smiles all round as they played tricks on each other. After Borolossy smashed a cross court into the nick, Shabana smiled wryly and  said “Nobody saw that shot,” and he was right, it was like a rocket. Shabana could afford to laugh as he won 3/0 in 33 minutes.

GRANT GRINDS IT OUT
Another match that disappointed was between two young Englishmen, Adrian Grant and Alister Walker.  It  ended in a 3/1 decision for  Grant, ranked 13 in the world,  who managed to impose his slow methodical length game on Walker, who failed to produce the same sort of form shot making that saw him win his qualifying match. As one player pointed out to me,  if your opponent doesn’t open up the court then it is very difficult to play shots. And one thing Grant does very well is to keep the ball tight.

DIFFERING FORTUNE FOR THE ASHOUR BROTHERS
 World junior champ Ramy Ashour played  the number two Canadian in the tournament, Shawn Delierre  and took the expected 3/0 decision but not before Delierre had shown that he can also be a shooter. Indeed he pushed Ashour  all the way to 10-9 before giving Ashour the final point with an error. He has fast hands and good racket skills, but his movement is far from efficient and the biggest contrast between the two wasn’t the rackets skills but the movement around the court, with the Egyptian  being totally smooth on his way to the ball, always it seems with loads of time. 

Big brother Hisham  almost had the upset of the tournament…there’s that word ‘almost’ again.  He took on the impossibly talented John White head to head on shotmaking and won the first two games 11-9, 11-7.  White rarely comes across players who can do so much with the ball and produce shots that nobody has seen before.  But White also knows that Hisham hasn’t the consistency that is a requisite of being at the top.  Back came White  and soon Hisham was being too ambitious and the error rate rose as White put on the pressure. Soon the right order was imposed and White took the next two games 11-4 and persisted in the fifth to win 11-8 to earn a second round  match against David Palmer.

GUTZY GALVEZ  PUSHES PALMER
Eric Chavez  of Mexico looks and plays like Danny de Vito on speed.

He even walks like the American down-sized actor. He is a terrier on court and made life very difficult for David Palmer. Whether Palmer was rusty or not expecting the energy and determination that Galvez brings to the court, he soon found himself 5-9 down to a player ranked 37 places below him. Galvez just keeps running and he can sometimes appear to be in two places at once. But once Palmer got up to speed, he pulled it back and took six points in a row to win the game 11-9.  In the second we saw Palmer in full flow – great reach, power when needed and near perfect placement. Run as much as he could  Galvez could not stop the Palmer tide coming in and   lost the second game 11-5 and the third 11-3 as his tank ran dry.

Tomorrow we move to the stage of the John Hancock theatre for second round action, when there should be more than one good match to report on.  

US Open 2006, First Round RESULTS:
First round played at Harvard University:    [Complete draw]
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) def [Q] Omar Elborolossy (EGY) 11-6 11-7 11-6
[14] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) def Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-9 11-4 11-7
[7] Nick Matthew (ENG) def [Q] Tom Richards (ENG) 11-6 11-5 11-7 37min
[15] Olli Tuominen (FIN) def [Q] Aaron Frankcomb (AUS) 11-4 11-6 11-6 37min
[4] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) v Mark Chaloner (ENG) Stadium Ct. 4:45 pm
[11] Ramy Ashour (EGY) def [Q] Shawn Delierre (CAN) 11-9 11-4 11-6
[5] James Willstrop (ENG) def Laurens J. Anjema (NED) 9-11 11-10(3-1) 6-11 11-9 11-7
[16] Graham Ryding (CAN) def [Q] Dylan Bennett (NED) 11-4 11-9 11-5
[12] Wael El Hindi (EGY) def [Q] Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-7 11-10(2-0) 7-11 7-3, retired (argument with referee).
[6] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) def Liam Kenny (IRL) 11-5 11-9 7-11 11-8
[10] Stewart Boswell (AUS) def Mark Heather (ENG) 11-4 11-1 11-5
[3] Thierry Lincou (FRA) def Jean-Michel Arcucci (FRA) 11-4 10-11(2-4)11-9 11-5
[13] Adrian Grant (ENG) def [Q] Alister Walker (ENG) 11-8 11-9 7-11 11-8
[8] Lee Beachill (ENG) def Rafael Alracon (BRA) 3-0
[9] John White (SCO) def Hisham Ashour (EGY) 9-11 7-11 11-4 11-4 11-8 45min
[2] David Palmer (AUS) def [Q] Eric Galvez (MEX) 11-9 11-5 11-3