2007 Tournament of Champions Squash, New York

[1st: session 1][1st: session 2] [1st rnd-Day2] [2nd rnd] [Quarter-Finals] [Semis][Final] - [Draw]

SHORT, SHARP AND OCCASIONALLY INTERESTING

The evening session was just one of those things, one of those days when everything seems to droop. It cannot be squash overkill, we’re still in the first half of the first round.

To put it bluntly, none of the matches caught fire, they failed to engage to heart or the mind. To start with Hisham Ashour and Omar Aziz, a further pair of Egyptians (They’re taking over!!) played a match that was bitty, without rhythm and sometimes without skill. The sort of silly errors you get at club level with the occasional burst of brilliance that proved that they were professionals. The most damning comment came from three young kids from CitySquash who were sitting next to me. “They are not that good, are they?” It was a rhetorical question.

Hisham Ashour can be very very good, but tonight he felt that his opponent would not give him too much trouble. The errors flowed from his racquet and Aziz did his best to match him. It was squash without rhythm or any seeming strategy and Ashour won the first game 11-8 in 11 minutes. I found myself admiring the chandeliers in the Vanderbilt Hall, inspecting the spectators to see if I spotted any friends or celebs (None) and musing on the success of the three ref system (very successful – not one argument.)

The second game started, more of the same : “error strewn’ was scrawled across my notes. Suddenly Aziz was leading and Ashour roused himself to get serious which was when he showed how good he was by hitting superb length. He got back to 7-7 but Aziz found the nick to get to game ball at 10-7. Ashour put together some good rallies to win five points in a row and take the game 12-10. It had taken just 12 minutes for those 22 rallies, an indication that neither player intended to go to bed tired.

Ashour relaxed in the third, Aziz became more determined and ran to a 6-1 lead. Once more Ashour played serious squash but he had left it too late and the nine minute game was over in Aziz’s favour 11-8.

The ever smiling Ashour decided to get really, really, REALLY serious and rattled off the fourth game 11-5 in six minutes. There were no standing ovations.

SHABANA HAS A MILD WORKOUT

Geoff Hunt’s rallies used to last longer than the match between world number one Amr Shabana and Jean Michel Arcucci, which was all over in 21 minutes. We should have some sympathy for the Frenchman who was having back problems which was hampering his normal game. He told me later that his back has been troubling him for some time and despite some chiropractic treatment, he was in pain and should have been resting rather than playing. Nevertheless he participated in some interesting rallies and hit some nice winners of his own, but Shabana never seemed concerned about the outcomes and when he won the third game 11-5 in four minutes, we were all slightly relieved that the ordeal was over for Arcucci.

SOMEBODY UP THERE DOESN’T LIKE STACY ROSS

Let us all spare a moment of sympathy for Stacy Ross, the Englishman who found himself facing John White. Last evening Ross should have gone on court at 5:15 in his final qualifying match but instead didn’t get on court until 7:30. He took the first two games off Julian Illingworth and then – he told me- “stupidly got up tight” and found himself in a 93 minute five game marathon which he won. Now here’s the bit that demonstrates that if the Gods have it in for you, you are in deep shtook. After all that hard work, it was announced there would be a lucky loser because LJ Anjema, the Dutch champion had been forced to withdraw. Who gets pulled out of the hat? Julian Illingworth. Now this is where the salt gets rubbed into Ross’s wound. Illingworth gets drawn against Dan Jenson to play on Sunday, giving the American a nice 48 hour rest period. Ross, the winner, you remember, gets John White on Saturday, barely 24 hours after his marathon.

Yes, Ross was tired and he played much of the time like a man who would rather be in bed or an ice bath or in the black hole of Calcutta – anywhere but on the court in front of 600 spectators playing the mercurial John White.
White won the first game 11-4 in 5 minutes, the second game 15 in six minutes and looked ready to do the same in the third when Ross finally found some strength (and pride?) an showed why, 20 years ago, he was the best junior in Britain before he gave up the game to make money in the finance market. He fought back from 4-6 down to 9-9 and had John White cursing under his breath when he hit two of his serves into the nick for dead winners. However White won the next point when Ross mishit and then the final point with a beautifully disguised forehand short boast to finish the 24 minute match.

GOUGH AND ALARCON SAVE THE EVENING

Nobody thought that the final match of the evening would hold much attraction because of the disparity of the rankings between Alex Gough (ranked 23) and Rafael Alarcon (37) but that fine old veteran Welshman Gough is still playing at elite level despite him being well into his fourth decade. He and Brazillian Alarcon put together a real squash match, one that had the spectators involved and applauding with enthusiasm. They played rallies that lasted more than six shots and Gough showed everybody that you can play topspin shots in squash if you do it the right way. It’s a shot that has his opponents going every whichway, being unable to read the preparation.

Gough won the first two games and led the third 10-3 when Alarcon put together a wonderful streak and climbed all the way back to 9-10. Each of his winners greeted by cheers as the spectators got involved in the fight back but in the end Gough managed to get his match point as Alarcon vainly appealed to the referee that there had been interference. But all three officials had decided no let and so the two players shook hands and the audience applauded. The match had lasted 37 minutes, making the average match time for the four matches 31 minutes each. Did I ever tell you about the first game between Geoff Hunt and Jahangir in the 1981 world open? It lasted 56 minutes. Oh shut up Bronstein, you old bore.

Nobody thought that the final match of the evening would hold much attraction because of the disparity of the rankings between Alex Gough (ranked 23) and Rafael Alarcon (37).. (photo:© 2007 Fritz Brochert)

First round results:

[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Jean-Michel Arcucci (FRA) 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (21mins)
[16] Hisham Ashour (EGY) bt [Q] Omar Aziz (EGY) 11-8, 11-10(2-0),8-11, 11-5 (45mins)
[6]John White (SCO) bt [Q]Stacy Ross (ENG) 11-4, 11-5, 11-9 (24mins)
[6] Alex Gough (WAL) bt Rafael Alarcon (BRA) 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 (37mins)
[4] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [Q] Yasser el Halaby (EGY) 11-6,11-8, 11-3 (29mins)
[9] Wael el Hindi (EGY) bt Eric Galvez (MEX) 11-6, 11-4, 11-9 (42mins)
[5] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Bradley Ball (ENG) 8-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-7
[15] Shahier Razik (CAN) bt Matthew Guiffre (CAN) 4-11, 11-6,11-3, 11-2 (59mins)
[11] Borja Golan (SPA) vs Chris Gordon (USA)
[7] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) vs Stefan Casteleyn (BEL)
[13] Joey Barrington (ENG) vs Liam Kenney (IRE)
[3] Thierry Lincou (FRA) vs Renan Lavigne (FRA)
[10] Olli Tuominen (FIN) vs [Q] Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[8] Lee Beachill (ENG) vs [Q] Miguel Rodriguez
[Q] Dan Jenson (AUS) vs Julian Illingworth (USA)
[2] David Palmer (AUS) vs [Q]Mark Heather (ENG)

For more TOC 2007 photos