[Main Draw - PSA]       [Also: Evening Session Report]

Wild Action In The West Village

The first round of the 2006 Village Open kicked off today (photo:©2006 Debra Tessier)

The 2006 Village Open kicked off its main draw this afternoon with a pair of matches that went to the brink. First Borja Golan fell barely short against eighth seed Wael el Hindi, who had to survive a fourth-set tiebreaker (12-10) before finally escaping with a harshly contested 11-7 fifth game in a match filled with bumping and lets during the final two games.

Then those latter factors were even more prevalent in an amazingly close five-game marathon between yet another qualifier, Renan Lavigne, and No. 4 seed, former world No. 1 and current No. 11 John White, in what proved to be an exhausting (to play AND to watch) battle in which each protagonist let three match-ball opportunities slip heartbreakingly away before their battle was finally resolved nearly two hours after it began when a White backhand drop volley clipped the tin.

The first four games of the match, all of which had 11-8 stat lines with the odd games landing in White's column, were merely preludes to the climactic fifth. White trailed 5-8 in both the third game (which he ran out by sweeping the final six points, after which his volatile French opponent, incensed by several late-game calls that went against him, menacingly raised his racquet near the referee's face while exiting the court as though planning to smash the ref's face with it) and fourth, in which his attempted late-game rally was doomed when he tinned a backhand volley that would have narrowed the count to 8-9.

TURNING PROTEST TO ACTION
White himself used most of his between-game time prior to the fifth game loudly protesting a "no-let" call against him on the fourth game's final point, but when he picked up his intensity level at the very outset of the fifth game and charged to advantages of 3-0 and 6-2, he seemed well positioned to carry this margin across the finish line. What the 33-year-old former champion may have been giving up in fitness to his much-younger foe seemed more than counter-balanced by his severe ground strokes, experience edge in top-tier play and superior arsenal of weapons, especially on the forehand flank.

But Lavigne's determination and tenacity, underestimated by both his marquee rival and the substantial Columbus Day crowd, rose to the fore at this juncture, during which these traits and some cross-court drop winners caused deadlocks at 6-6 and (from 8-10) 10-all on a tight "no-let" call when White didn't make what the referee felt was a sufficient effort to get to the ball. By this stage, the match was close to getting out of hand, as neither player was clearing, both players were vociferously arguing and the referee's confidence was noticeably flagging, to the point where on one all-court exchange the ref stopped play, claiming that he wasn't sure whether or not a front-court shot early on in the long point had been retrieved and that therefore a let had to be played.

Lavigne got to 11-10 on a forehand blast into the right nick, but he then tinned a forehand working boast and lost a riveting exchange featuring five consecutive straight-drops at the very front-left part of the court, the last of which, off White's racquet, clung too tight to the side wall for Lavigne to steer in back. But the latter then evened the count yet again when his backhand cross-court appeared to hit a sweat spot and take an unusual bounce.

STROKES AND TINS
None of the ensuing four points ended on winners, as a stroke call against White, a no-let call against Lavigne and yet another stroke call against White preceded the latter's match-ending volley tin. Livid at the way the victory had gotten away from him, White noisily and violently slammed his bags to the ground in an adjoining court while Lavigne brandished his fist to the crowd with manic glee. Tomorrow he will face the winner of tonight's match between American national champion Julian Illingworth and fifth seed Modh Azlan Iskandar, while el Hindi will oppose the winner of the match between top seed David Palmer and Shahier Razik in the quarterfinal round.

Village Open, New York
RESULTS First Round: [Draw/Results]
AFTERNOON SESSION
Renan Lavigne (FRA) def [4] John White (SCO) 8-11 11-8 8-11 11-8 11-10(5-3)
[8] Wael El Hindi (EGY) def Borja Golan (ESP) 11-9 5-11 8-11 11-10(3-1) 11-7
[6] Stewart Boswell (AUS) def (Q) Eric Galvez (MEX) 11-10(4-2) 11-1 (retired)
[7] Olli Tuominen (FIN) def L J Anjema (NL) 11-10(2-0) 11-5 11-5
EVENING SESSION SESSION
[6] Lee Beachill(ENG) def Alex Gough (WAL) 11-6 4-11 11-8 11-8 (55min)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) def [Q] Shahid Zaman 11-4 1-0 retired.
[5] Mohd Azlan Iskandar def [WC] Julian Illingworth 11-10(4-2) 11-9 11-4
[1] David Palmer (AUS) vs Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-10(2-0) 7-11 11-9 11-4