(updated 13-jun-09 21:42 ) 

Jack And Tim Wyant Capture U. S. Siblings Crown  

Thirteen sibling tandems turned out in mid-May for the second edition of the U. S. Sibling championships, hosted this year by the University Club of Boston, where 2000 Intercollegiate Individuals finalist Tim Wyant and his older brother Jack, the mid-1990’s Princeton star who currently serves as head coach of the Howe Cup runner-up University of Pennsylvania women’s varsity, emerged victorious. Frustrated finalists 20 months earlier in the inaugural event at Sea Island, where they lost to current ISDA top-10 Matt Jenson and former PSA top-10 Dan Jenson, the Wyants dropped only one game this time around in a three-match march through the draw that culminated in a straight-set final-round victory over Tournament Chairman and three-time U. S. National Doubles champion Preston Quick and his talented younger sister Meredeth, the winner (with Fiona Geaves) of the ’07 U. S. National Doubles women’s title.

CONSOLIDATED DRAW
The original hope was to have three competitive categories, namely a brother/brother, a brother/sister and a sister/sister. But when only two sets of sisters (Julia/Lauralynn Drury and Alli/Kristen Rubin) and three “mixed” sets (Caroline/Chris Reigeluth and Suzanne/Grant Schwartz along with the Quicks) signed up, a decision was made to place all 13 teams in one big ‘Open” draw, to have the Quicks --- who had won the U. S. National Doubles championship in ’06 and barely lost an 18-17 fourth-game final against Narelle Krizek and Paul Price a year later --- forego a brother/sister competition they would in all likelihood have dominated, and to make sure that both sets of brother/sister and sister/sister alignments would meet in the back draws to determine a winner for those respective flights. On this latter front, the Drurys triumphed three games to love over the Rubins, while the Reigeluths did the same 3-1 against the Schwartzes.

In the main draw, the eventual finalists each won their quarterfinal match in three games and each then survived a telling challenge in their four-game semi. Dan Roberts, the assistant pro at the host club who just a week earlier had played so well representing his native Ireland in the World Doubles event in San Francisco (where he and Steve Richardson had almost defeated ISDA standouts James Hewitt and Michael Pirnak, whom the Irish pair led two games to one before losing in five), and his younger brother John, a current varsity player at Yale, took the second game of their match with the Wyants before the latter pair gradually regained control of the final two games. For their part, the Quick pairing were opposed on nearly equal terms by Wilmington Country Club head pro Ed Chilton, just two weeks removed from the U. S. Mixed Doubles 40-and-over title that he and Joyce Davenport had earned in a five-game final over Tom Harrity and Dawn Gray, and his brother, Court. The Chiltons grabbed the opening game in a close-all-the-way match that would have required a fifth game had they been able to survive the best-of-nine tiebreaker ending to the fourth, during which, however, the Quicks asserted themselves in closing out the match with an 18-14 tally.

Tim Wyant, a former semifinalist in the S. L. Green championship during his professional-singles days before becoming the Executive Director of CitySquash during the mid-2000’s, definitely has an ISDA-caliber doubles game, and his brother Jack has been playing a lot more doubles since moving to Wilmington recently. Meredeth Quick, making her first competitive appearance since badly injuring a calf muscle in a women’s-pro-tour doubles event in Denver in mid-March, showed the degree to which she is back at full strength by retrieving beautifully and scoring with mid-court drop-shot volleys.

However, the Wyants full-court multi-pronged attack was able to carry the day, a just reward for this close-knit pair, especially Tim, for whom this tournament represented the conclusion of what turned out to be a three-part springtime “family tour” in doubles; he played with his father, Jack Sr., in the U. S. Father & Son tournament in late April, followed by his entry with his sister Missy in early May in the U. S. National Mixed Doubles in Philadelphia (where Jack Jr. also competed, partnering their mother, Peg Wyant), leading up to his and his brother’s trip to the winner’s circle during the Siblings weekend in Boston.

Tournament Recap
Rd of 16: Meredeth and Preston Quick, bye; Ben and Sam Clayman d. Chris and Ryan Smith, 3-0; Court and Ed Chilton d. Grant and Suzanne Schwartz, 3-0; Chris and Greg Vernick d. Julia and Lauralynn Drury, 3-0; Dan and John Roberts, bye; Chris and Justin Lutes d. Howard and Peter Day, 3-2; Caroline and Chris Reigeluth d. Alli and Kristen Rubin, 3-0; Jack and Tim Wyant, bye.\

Qtrs: Quicks d. Claymans, 3-0; Chiltons d. Vernicks, 3-1; Roberts’s d Lutes’s, 3-1; Wyants d. Reigeluths, 3-

Semis: Quicks d. Chiltons, 3-1; Wyants d. Roberts’s, 3-1.

Final: Wyants d. Quicks, 3-0.

 

Grainger, the in-form No2 seed from Greenwich, crushed England's Jenny Duncalf 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 in just 25 minutes - the fifth seed clearly feeling the effects of her marathon hour-long upset over fourth seed Natalie Grinham in the previous round.

"I'm very happy with how that went - I knew Jenny had a hard match and a good win yesterday, so I really wanted to make sure I was on my game from the start, take my time and make sure my shots were tight," explained Grainger, the reigning US and Pan American Games champions.

"I worked it well, good shot selection and once I got on top it was important to keep it going, you can't afford to let anyone back in.

"Now it's the same routine as before - good food, good sleep, breakfast, a bit of sun and ready to go for the next match!"