Tournament of Champions Squash at Grand Central in NYC

[TOC DRAW and RESULTS ] [Also Tuesday's Women's Semis]

FANTASTICAL ASHOUR OUTSHOOTS PALMER

Despite his less than inspiring performances in the previous rounds, Ramy Ashour, the world number two and soon to be unassailable champion of the world, entered the court against David Palmer in an entirely different frame of mind. Or maybe I should write, his normal frame of mind. He destroyed Palmer’s first serve and then hit another three winners to go 4-0 up inside a minute. Palmer was caught totally off-guard; nobody starts shooting from the first rally, nobody can hit volley nicks with such sureness, and nobody can hit backhand overhead kills with such easy precision. Except this kid from Egypt called Ramy Ashour.

Palmer got his first point with a lucky mishit and it looked as though that would be the only way he would get points. Two nervous errors from Palmer and Ashour was 6-1 up. Palmer tried to dig in and play solid length down the walls, but Ashour’s constant volleying forced weak returns from Palmer and Ashour jumped on them to put them away for winners. Palmer simply could do nothing and the first game was over in under 8 minutes, 11-4.

SLOW AND STEADY CAN SOMETIMES WIN THE RACE….

Palmer likes to play at a very stead pace, and although he can react to a sudden dynamic exchange, his game is medium pace with extreme accuracy. Ashour gets forward, takes the ball early, volleys whenever he can and destroys Palmer’s pace. The second game continued as the first but Palmer was now up to speed and was ready for those killer drops that Ashour puts in from all over the court. From 0-3 Palmer worked his way into the match and with the aid of four errors from Ashour, all on the forehand, Palmer now led 6-4.

Palmer was now, if not in control, at least on equal par with the young Egyptian and kept up his solid error free performance to win the game 11-7.

The question was whether he could continue to contain Ashour in the same way for the rest of the match. Briefly, the answer was no. Ashour dictated the play in the third game, either his winners – many -, or his errors – few- deciding the outcome of the point. This time Ashour did run away with it to 11-3 to go 2-1 up. The question is would Palmer keep his head?

The fourth game was the tightest of them all. Palmer can play tighter than anybody but eventually Ashour would prise the ball away from the wall, send it to perfect length across court and Palmer would have to shovel the ball towards the front wall and that was the beginning of the end.

Ashour’s great weapon is his speed of thought and racket but, like Peter Nicol at his best, he never gave up a loose shots, regardless of the pressure he was under. But he is also human and errors also come off that magic racket. Palmer was now alert and made Ashour work for every point. Slowly they edged towards 9-9 and the spectators were thoroughly gripped by this age vs youth, shotmaker vs craftsman duel.

Palmer’s delicate forehand drop put him at game ball and the next rally ended when Ashour played a drop to the front right, Palmer was there, his path blocked but his appeal for a let was denied. This sent the game into a tie-break which the packed Vanderbilt Hall did not mind one bit.

A backhand tight drop gave Ashour his first match ball. Palmer saved that with a forehand cross court shot to perfect length to make it 11-11. A backhand slam into the tin from Palmer gave Ashour his second match ball but Palmer saved that with a deft backhand drop to make the score 12-12. It was Ashour’s turn to hit the tin to give Palmer his second game ball. Ashour’s speed of racket produced a lightning react backhand cross court and now the score was 13-13. It was fitting that the match ended with two Ashour winners, both forehand drops, to end a gripping 65 minute match.

In this form Ashour is untouchable. It was also proof that his foot problem has healed well and that his final opponent will need all the luck and the will of the Fates to beat him.

WILLSTROP’S 28 MINUTE WARM UP

Yesterday I asked whether I could be wrong on my forecast for both semi-finals. The answer is yes. I had forecast Palmer and when he lost hoped to get my money back on Gaultier. Gaultier hardly put up a fight in losing to James Willstrop in 28 minutes Worse still I had to pay Steve Line $10 - my 57th losing bet with him. I heard that Gaultier had a wrist injury and didn’t fancy a final meeting with Ashour.

And now there’s another $10 bet on the final. Line has chosen Willstrop. I’ve taken Ashour. Pay for me…

SEMI-FINALS.
Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt David Palmer (AUS) 11-4, 7-11, 11-3, 11-10(5-3) (65mins)
James Willstrop (ENG) bt Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 11-9. 11-2, 11-1 (28mins)

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