Burke Starts Slow But Wins
Oct 17, 2004, By Ryan Barnett, SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004;

[Calgary Open Main Draw/Results]

South Korean Cinderella Stopped at the Ball

Lee Hai Kyung shocks Lauren Briggs (photo © 2004 Gerry Gibson)

Melanie Jans Burke(Can) defeats Lee Hai Kyung(Kor):
5-9, 9-4, 9-2, 9-7,-54mins.

Focused, excited and a bit nervous are the three words that best described Melanie Jans Burke as she prepared for her championship encounter with upstart Lee Hai Kyung from Korea. Jans Burke headed into the event seeded 5th and using her 15yrs of experience and tournament savy she booked her place in Sundays Airdrie Chrysler Calgary Open final.

Her opponent Lee Hai Kyung, a relative unknown from Korea, who first won her way through qualifying and then dispatched the events 8th, 1st and 4th seeds in dominating fashion. The 29yr old ranked 149th on the WISPA radar screen was the talk of the tournament. Hitting consistent length coupled with an outstanding volley (both forehand and backhand) were the reasons why she was still playing Sunday afternoon at the Calgary Winter Club. Perhaps some badminton in her background? Nope, according to her coach Lee Byung-Hyuk she gets this skill from playing soft-ball tennis in Japan.

As the match began to a standing room only crowd of approx 200 I noticed the Lee’s right leg was bandaged. Five matches in 4 days no doubt making things a bit tender. Anyways, showing no signs of injury, Lee took it to the Canadian building an early 4-0 lead due to her tenacity and attacking style. Lee was hunting every ball and volleying absolutely everything to keep the pressure on Jans Burke. It worked to perfection. Lee built and 8-3 lead and took the first game by a 9-5 margin.

I asked Jans Burke post match if she was surprised by the Korean’s attacking style in that opening game? She said “Well to be honest that’s one of the things I need to work on. Throughout my whole career I’ve basically been a slow starter. I tend to use the first game as a feeler outer so to speak to see what my opponent brings and then make the necessary adjustments. I wasn’t really surprised I just wasn’t playing effective squash but I learned awfully quick to keep it out of her volley zone. She loves to take it short and its such a nice quick soft drop that you have to run so far up to the front wall to get it.”

As the score line indicates Jans Burke definitely made the adjustment. In the second game she began hitting the ball higher on the front wall, forcing Lee deeper into the court and then when presented with the opportunities hammered the ball low and hard. Jans Burke also discovered a kink in the Korean’s armour. You know one of those shots that work and if your opponent has no response keep on using it type things? Well the shot I’m talking about is the backhand-attacking boast played from the service box area. This gave Lee fits. Time and time again Jans Burke worked the rail waited for the loose reply and then fired in the boast which Lee visibly had a hard time getting. Jans Burke took the 2nd 9-4. At this level it’s the shot before that produces the winner and the backhand-boast was the set-up.. Jans Burke said “I really like to boast, sometimes I can do it too often but it can be really effective when I use it well. I know there were times when it caught her by surprise and even if she did get to it she had to really work hard to get there.”

Lee speaks very little English however the words “ Let Please” are two that she knows quite well. With game #3 about to begin I figured we could start to see more decisions being asked of referee Adeline Clements and that’s exactly what occurred.
We now had ourselves a best a three affair and Jans Burke decided to strap on her hard hat, dig in, and make this an attritional battle. Up and down, up and down, drop the loose ball, lob when sent to the front, hard cross to apply pressure and assume the T. As Chris Walker likes to say “this paid dividends” Lee began to tire and her error count rose. A tired opponent often means slow clearing and a lot of Lets. Jans Burke remained focused despite the stoppages and frequent requests by her opponent. She took the third easily by a 9-2 score.

As the players took to the court for game #4 you could sense that Jans Burke knew today was her day and would not finish in second. I wonder if she even blinked during this final game as she appeared to be concentrating so hard. Lee, to her credit, showed that she wasn’t going down without a fight. The players went point for point and at 7-7 it was crunch time. Jans Burke took the next rally with an absolutely beautiful forehand drop that Lee could not scrape off the wall. So now it’s 8-7 and we have the rally of the match. Lee wins it with a tight forehand drop of her own but cannot get the next point and after three service changes it’s the backhand boast from Jans Burke which gives her the championship.

A very enjoyable final and by all accounts an excellent tournament. Jans Burke wins her first ever WISPA event on home soil. Time to call it a career and make way for the young whipper snappers? She says “I want to get my WISPA ranking back up as I feel like I have allot of good squash years left in me. I actually feel like I’m playing better then I have in a long while. I’m 31 yrs old and I feel that I’m quicker and moving around the court better as I’m taking care of my body. I still enjoy training and playing and feel I still have another couple of years.”

If Sunday was any indication of what’s to come, I agree.

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