Tournament of Champions Squash at Grand Central in NYC

[TOC DRAW and RESULTS ] [Also Sunday's Princeton-Yale Mayor's Cup]

ABBAS MAGIC FAILS TO QUELL PALMER

David Palmer and Mohammed Abbas served up a dish of glittering squash on a golden salver to give this marvellous venue a match it deserves. It was a display of majestic skills and superb athleticism from two players who approach the game from different angles but with the same end in mind: as Nasrullah Khan one said when asked to explain the tactics of squash: “Man here, ball there.”

It wasn’t slam bang nor was it slow ball down the wall, although the match had lots of both of those dynamics. At times it was like watching a chess match – this was a game of wit rather than brawn. And sometimes it was like like listening to Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan freewheeling on no particular theme.

What Abbas does with consummate ease and with absolute confidence is chop the ball into the front corners from all over the court. He does it so well that even Palmer cannot read the shot – and even if he could, he would not be able to get to the ball. One of the great advantages of getting to Palmer’s age and having spent so much time on the pro circuit, is that you read the game so well. You’ve seen it all before and you know what your opponent is going to do even before he does, so that if someone like Abbas can come up with a shot that fools someone like Palmer it has to be good.

Palmer too has a refined the boast to be just as effective as Abbas’s drop shot. Palmer always seems to time his use of the shot when his opponent is waiting for the drive. Suddenly the ball has hit the front wall an inch above the tin and died. Palmer does this from the back of the court and best of all at the front with a rapid clip boast which his opponent hardly sees.

Abbas was out of the blocks quicker while Palmer was not quite so positive as in his previous two rounds. Abbas took the first point with a forehand drop and continued with his impeccable shotmaking to retain the lead, even though Palmer got to within a point of him several times, but the balance was always in Abbas’s favor.

After 16 minutes Abbas had the first game 11-8, but Palmer left the court looking untroubled. The mind games continued in the second but this time the balance had shifted in favor of Palmer. They were playing at a very high level, every shot perfection and placement that was nothing short of clinical. Palmer can do this with ease and finally reached game ball at 10-7. Abbas took the next point with a tight backhand which Palmer could not scrape off the wall. Abbas earned the next point with some slamming shots, Palmer saved the point twice but failed to pick up the third cannonball shot. And then to rub salt into the would – and tie the game, Abbas reached up high on his backhand and sent the ball across the court into the nick. Wonderful, breathtaking stuff.
Having lost three game balls, Palmer must have been psychologically damaged but he brushed that setback aside, hit a tight backhand to get to game ball again and then closed out the game with an audacious backhand cross court flick.

So we had a tied match and one that looked as though it could go on forever. The third game was an absolute cracker: Palmer opened up a 7-2 lead but Abbas stroked his way to a run of six point to lead 8-7. Palmer stopped the run with a drop, drop, drive combination, got a penalty stroke to get to 9-8 and then used the killer short clip boast to get to game ball. Once again he could not close out the game, despite a frantic dive across the court to pick up a ball.. Another tie-break and another six rallies with Palmer once again coming out on top 14-12 after 21 minutes of gripping squash.

It was always on the books that Abbas would tire but Palmer would keep up the pace and the pressure. And so it was and with Abbas hitting a few tired shots and giving up some penalty strokes while Palmer made no errors and moved him around. It wasn’t a walk through for Palmer but he never seemed trouble as he took thegame 11-8 to end the 69 minutes of pure bliss. I was glad that every seat in Vanderbilt Hall was filled to witness this fine contest.

ASHOUR AND EL HINDI TEST THE REFEREE AND OCCASIONALLY THE FRONT WALL

The second quarter-final of the afternoon brought the tone down quite considerably. Ramy Ashour was careless and petulant while Hindi had decided that all decisions should be questioned. This led to a match which, for the most part dragged on without excitement or tension. Ashour hit errors to gift the first game to Hindi 11-8 and hit another five errors in the second to lose 11-7. This really should not be the sort of squash played by the world number two and I got to the point where I wanted to leave the hall and see what bargains were available in Macy’s. However professional pride kept me in my seat as well as the only tension so far: would Ashour lose 3/0?

There is also the question of El Hindi’s hips which always seem to get in the way of his opponents on their way to the ball. The appeals for lets were innumerable and always it seemed from the lips of Ashour as he was blocked on his way to the ball. There were points when he was really quite angry which may have accounted for his behaviour and petulance.

Hisham, Ashour’s elder brother must have had some harsh words in the break. Ashour came back for the third game with some real purpose. The errors changed into sparkling winners and he took the game 11-5 with ease. He did the same with the fourth, 11-4.

The interference continued and the two carried on this desultory, niggling match to 8-8. It could have gone either way, but Ashour hit a withering backhand to perfect length, to reach 9-8 and then there was a flurry of cracking shots ending with Ashour hitting a lightning reaction shot down the middle of the court and El Hindi mis-hitting his shot to put Ashour at match ball. Ashour finished it all with a forehand drive to put an end to 79 minutes of less than inspiring action.

Following these two matches, teams from Princeton and Yale took the center stage and a co-ed Princeton team defeated the Yale Elis in an exhibition match for the first ever Mayor's Cup (read more.)

QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS (TOP HALF)
David Palmer (AUS) bt Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 8-11, 11-10(2-0), 11-10(4-2) 11-8 (69mins)
Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Wael El Hindi (EGY) 5-11 7-11,11-5, 11-4, 11-8 (79mins)
MONDAY:
[5] Stewart Boswell (AUS) vs [4] James Willstrop (ENG) (Monday)
[7] John White (SCO) vs [2] Gregory Gaultier (Monday)

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