(updated 28-jan-10 20:46 )    [DRAW/RESULTS]     [Read also: Dinerman on Darwish v Palmer]

Quarterfinals (top half)
Report from Martin Bronstein

ANTICIPATION DISSIPATED

Sitting in my office in London (five yards from my bedroom) I eagerly awaited the quarterfinal match between Amr Shabana and James Willstrop. Now that the PSA has gone truly professional with its web- streaming, I no longer have to endure airports and the risk of death at the hands of lunatics suicide bombers. I sit at home, turn on my computer and Grand Central Terminal is brought right into my office.

TOC at Grand Central in New York. photo © 2010 Rob White Photography.

The quality of the picture is light years away from when Horizon initiated webstreaming many years ago with me as the first ever commentator. I spoke into the mike of a laptop computer and watched on seven inch black and white monitor while the real action was taking place ten yards to my left.

The technical delivery is now pretty good, spoiled only by the pedestrian commentary. Of course webstreaming is not as good as being right there in the centre of the Big Apple, but the convenience!

Sadly, my great anticipation was dissipated in very short order as it became apparent after the first game that Shabana was in no mood to fight. In days gone by he would lose for no apparent reason, just that he was too cold or too hot  or simply not in the mood. Lately  however his main concern is his health and fear of injury.   By the  middle of the third game there was a notable limp and he had virtually given up after the first half-a-dozen points. This is one of the game’s greatest players who has shown wonderful form in the previous three months, winning the world open and making the final of other major tournaments. So obviously something was wrong.

Willstrop is now down to seven in the world, but those numbers are now meaningless: any player in the top eight is capable of winning a given tournament.  The lanky Englishman is now over his ankle problem and back to scintillating form. He was meticulous thoughout the 33 minute match, never losing his focus and hardly playing a loose shot. 

The only way Shabana could win was to hit 33 outright winners but Willstop played the ball so tight that even Shabana could not do that. It was a procession rather than a match but squash is now more demanding than, ever having evolved from attritional to explosive movement and injuries have become the promoter’s bugbear.

DARWISH TOO STRONG FOR PALMER
Willstrop will now meet another Egyptian (there were four in the quarters – that’s a 50% domination of the game), Karim Darwish, who has still managed to hang on to his number one sport despite missing two big tournaments through injury.

TOC at Grand Central in New York. photo © 2010 Rob White Photography.

Once again, I would not even bet a quarter on the result of his match against David Palmer.  Yes, Palmer has reached an age when most players have left the game, but he is still strong, precise and as competitive as ever. With Darwish just coming back from injury, Palmer was quite capable of taking out the world number one. And he started in splendid form, taking a 5-0 lead and simply dominating play with his cracking length and court coverage. Although the Egyptians have the reputation as shot makers in this match Palmer showed he knew how make the ball disappear into the nick. Furthermore he knew precisely the right moment to do it.

From 3-9 down Darwish attempted a come-back but he could only get to five  before Palmer won the game on a Darwish backhand volley into the tin.

From the start of the second game Darwish showed that he had warmed up and his first game jitters had gone. He was now hitting winners from both sides of the court and made the right front corner his own. 
Any time the ball landed there, Darwish came away with the point either with a fine drop into the nick or an unexpected drive down the wall. He took a 5-2 lead and never let it slip from his grasp. In just eight minutes he had tied the match with an 11-4 scoreline.

They got down to the real business in the third game and except for Palmer’s discussions with the referee, this was the game of the night. Point for point all the way to 9-9 with Palmer hitting some super winners, one a lunging volley drop and at 7-7  a huge stretch on his backhand to hit yet another volley drop into the nick.

A forehand boast got Palmer back  on level footing at 9-9 and then an attempted dropshot hit the tin to put Darwish at game ball.  By rights the next shot should  have been Palmer’s: he had Darwish out of position at the front of the court and drove high to the back. 

Darwish run jumped high in the air to connect with a backhand volley -  a desperation shot which turned into a winner as it clung to the wall and eluded  Palmer. The 18 minute game was over, 11-9 to Darwish.

They were still playing point for point  to 7-7  in the fourth game but Palmer was a mite slower and getting edgy. When he lost the next point he belted the ball skyward and it never came down. He was given a conduct warning for ‘ball abuse’ (isn’t that a ridiculous term?). 

At 9-7 Palmer showed just how good he can be: three times Darwish had him had him at his mercy and three times Palmer go the ball back, once running the full length of the court and diving to get it to the front wall. Darwish won the point finally with a marvelously disguised cross court to get to match ball 10-7.
But at this crucial point Palmer was forced to leave the court to attend to a really nasty cut on his left knee, the result of the dive. Six minutes later he was back ,  got one more point with a forehand straight nick before calling his own ball down when he failed to pick up a Darwish drop shot. Calling your own ball down on match ball? The guy’s got style.

This was  63 minutes of first class squash and fine entertainment after which I went into my kitchen and had a cup of tea.

Anybody wanna buy a passport?

RESULTS, 2010 Tournament of Champions, Round of 16   [Main Draw]

QUARTERFINALS (TOP HALF (Monday)
[1] Karem Darwish (EGY)  bt [7] David Palmer (AUS) 5-11, 11-4, 11-9 11-8 (63mins)
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [3] Amr Shabana (EGY)  11-5, 11-7, 11-4 (33 mins)
To Play tuesday:
[8] Wael El Hindi (EGY) vs [4] Nick Matthew (ENG)
[5] Ramy Ashour (EGY) vs [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)