ISS Canary Wharf Classic, London England Squash Racquets

QUARTERFINALS WEDNESDAY MARCH 12 2008

Martin Bronstein reporting from Canary Wharf,London

Alex Gough - James Willstrop Canary Wharf Squash

WILLSTROP WINS BUT GOUGH MAKES HIS MARK

It was difficult to forecast Alex Gough getting a game from the on-form James Willstrop in their quarter-final match. Gough had worked hard to beat Olli Tuominen in five in the first round while Willstrop had not been really tested.

But never underestimate the value of experience and the 37 year old Welsh champion goes on court with mountains of that most valuable commodity. While Willstrop can fool a lot of his opponents with his Three D’s (disguise, delay and deception) it takes a lot to fool Gough.

Gough started slowly – very slowly and looked as though he had yet to get out of bed. On the other hand Willstrop, who had a period of slow starting (it was chronic in the World Open in Bermuda last December), started very well, running through the first game in seven minutes 11-3.

Gough pulled his head together for the second game and hit the court running on overdrive, pushing Willstrop into a couple of errors on the way to a 5-1 lead. Unlike the first quarterfinal between Lee Beachill and Joey Barrington, there were few attritional rallies as Willstrop kept the ball well distributed, the kind of game that Gough can handle as well as those length duels that can sometimes make paint-drying seem interesting. With Gough now contesting each point Willstrop was not quite so assertive and was missing kill shots. Gough, full of confidence, led 9-6 and should have won this game, but Willstrop is very hard to beat these days and he worked his way back with fine winners to get to game ball 10-9 and then hit the tin with another attempted winners, a forehand drop, to send the game into a tie-break. Another forehand drive put him at game ball again and Gough made one of his few errors to end the game 12-10, to put Willstrop at a t wo-game lead.

Gough again started well in the third game and managed to make Willstrop twist and turn at the front. This paid good dividends and from a 6-1 lead Gough took a firm hold of the game – and the rallies – while Willstrop’s motivation gradually diminished to the point where he was hardly contesting the final three points, giving Gough an 11-4 game.

It was fairly predictable that Willstrop would come out for the fourth game in a less than generous mood and he moved up the court, started to take the ball unbelievably early and by the time he reached 5-2 Gough’s will had been badly dented and five quick errors ended the game 11-2 in favour of Willstrop in six minutes.

BEACHILL BACK TO FITNESS

It was a case of the English Old Guard repelling the pretenders when Lee Beachill, recently recovered from an operation, beat Joe Barrington one of the new Young Turks on the Brit landscape. Beachill should have won in straight games, but had a lapse in the second game to allow Barrington to recover from 6-9 down to win after an extended tie break, a 26-minute game that had more than its share of long rallies.

The first game was notable for its lack of real attack and although Beachill can shoot with the best of them, he was content to explore the back corners for much of the game. He won 11-8, but the game took 20 minutes, which gives some idea how long the rallies lasted.

In the interval Barrington’s corner man told him to play the forehand because Beachill was much too strong on the backhand. Suddenly Barrington was hitting winning drops into the front right corner and leading 6-3 in the second game. But then he forgot the game plan and every time Barrington hit to the left side of the court, his advisor, who was sitting next to me, gave a moan of despair. There was a lot of moaning in my left ear. Beachill tied the game at 6-all and then 8-all but facing game ball at 9-10 he tried the dreaded forehand boast which hit the tin.

So game tied 1-1 after 53 minutes of squash.

One thing was sure – the game would get shorter. And the third game was over in 11 minutes with Beachill beginning to go short a little more often. The unexpected aspect of this game was that it was not the old man who looked tired but the young man, which was surprising because Barrington has probably played more 90+ minute matches this last 12 months than any other player.

The fourth game game was a series of errors from Barrington as Beachill waltzed it 11-2 in 8 minutes. Not a gripping match, but encouraging in the sense that Beachill, despite being written off by many observers, still intends to remain a force at the top of the game.

CLUB SQUASH COMES TO CANARY WHARF

The third semi-final was a pain. Alistair Walker, last night’s hero after knocking out second seed Gregory Gaultier, managed to beat Renan Lavigne, another Frenchman, by hitting two good length shots in the entire match, His length was constantly short, the ball often hitting the sidewall, and many shots were feet from the sidewalls. (This was after we had witnessed Beachill and Barrington taking the paint off the wall with almost every drive).

Lavigne fishes for strokes so much he should be given a rod and line next time he walks on court. There were constant cries of “Play the ball” from the cried – one bloke even trying to get through in French: “Jouez la ball”.

And if anyone wants lessons on how to get the refs and the crowd against you, contact M. Lavigne. After being denied yet another appeal, he opened the door and said to the referee “You must be English too.” You can imagine how this very London crowd reacted to that!

Obviously Walker was suffering from a bit of an anticlimax, because the standard of squash was no better than my club’s first team matches. It was pedestrian without the slightest bit of sophistication.

CANARY WHARF CLASSIC
Quarter-finals
Lee Beachill(ENG) bt Joey Barrington (ENG) 11-8, 10-11(3-5), 11-9, 11-2 (76mins)
James Willstrop (ENG) bt Alex Gough (ENG) 11-3, 11-10 (2-0), 4-11, 11-2 (43mins)
Alisdair Walker (ENG) bt Renan Lavigne (FRA) 5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 (56mins)
Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Peter Barker (ENG) 11-1 6-11 11-9 11-8 (66m)

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