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USA Gains Semi-Final Berth
(
Martin Bronstein, Squashtalk reporter on the scene in Penang's
Squash Centre.
[also:
team draws]
All content © 2001 Squashtalk
by Martin Bronstein, Penang,
26 July 2001 (updated 07/27/2001 7:18 AM)
All content ©
2001 Squashtalk. Photos © 2001 Ho Kah Yeow for SquashTalk
USA REACHES
FINAL FOUR FOR FIRST TIME IN ANY WORLD SQUASH COMPETITION !!!
Aidan Harrison and Narsha Tippet kept the US team on the toes during the day's
rest in anticipation of today's quarter final against New Zealand. To be precise,
the team didn't have a whole day off, they were taken to the Arena to practise
on the glass court, which none of them have played on before. Having witnessed
the electric atmosphere of the individual final, this was a shrewd move by
Harrison. "They wanted to be part of that and play on that court," he reports.
THE CARROT WORKS
It was a carrot that worked, as well as the fact that the team wanted to beat
New 
Zealand
to show that their win over Australia wasn't a fluke. The playing order today
put Michelle Quibell on first against Kylie Lindsay and once more the American
showed too much class and experience. Michelle started slowly and fought back
from 0-4 down to lead 7-6 but Lindsay played hard to serve for the game at
8-7.
'Cool -head' Quibelle saved that game ball and went on to win 10-8 after 14 minutes. This was a psychological blow to Lindsay and she felt overwhelmed by the Quibell persistence to lose the next two games 9-2, 9-5 in 15 minutes.
BASIC SQUASH BEAUTIFULLY PLAYED
Ali Pearson's confidence must be sky high but she did not let that deter
her from playing her game, which is very good basic squash. This may sound
dull, but it takes a
great deal of discipline to stick with it. After all, the great Heather
McKay was not known for flashy shots, but a wonderful length. Pearson
won the first game against Catherine McLeod 9-3 and was leading 7-4 in
the second when McLeod fought back, chipping away at the lead until she
had tied it up. Pearson then made some bad shot selection by not taking
note where her opponent was allowing McLeod to continue her run to win
10-8 to tie the match.
Pearson, no emotion showing, came back for the third and her focus was absolute. When she had to play a 12 shot rally down the left wall, she did. Indeed there was one rally where both players were hitting paint strippers down the left wall, with Pearson happy to do it all day long. It was McLeod who cracked first deciding to go cross court, but Pearson's shot had been too tight for her to do it properly, so the ball came out loose by the right wall and Pearson was there to volley drop for a winner. (One of their practise routines in Penang was to play 10 minute rallies down one wall. "It has paid off," Harrison said).
Like I said Pearson plays basic squash very well. She took that game 9-1 and did the same in the four, gave a little jump for joy, knowing that the US were now in the semis and guaranteed a top four finish.
CLOSE AMY, REAL CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR
The third dead rubber was played best of 3, and Amy Gross was pipped in overtime
on both games 10-9, 10-9 by Jaclyn Hawkes. But when you know the match is
in the bag, it is hard to go full out. During this whole match, Pearson was
in the drug room trying to provide a sample with coach Natarsha Tippet standing
by.
Australian Tippet has made this a full
family trip with 14 month old Nicholas being 
babysat
by husband Jim McElhinney and father George who has come in to watch from
Australia. Natarsha (don't they know how to spell Natasha in Australia?) got
to number 19 on the WISPA ranking when she decided, five years ago, to make
money and accepted an offer from Greenwich Club in Connecticut and then later
an even better offer from the famous Merion Cricket Club (MCC) outside Philadelphia.
Finally Jim made an offer of marriage (was this a better offer?) and she moved to Las Vegas. She and Harrison work well together and as she was in Antwerp two years ago with Michelle, Ali and Amy, they have a trusting relationship.
"They are beginning to trust us now, that we know what we are doing. We get together a couple of weekends in the year and then we had a week together before we came here. " ... Ali has really improved, she has only started to volley and go for drop shots in the last ten days. Before that her game was all depth... They were asking things like 'where do we aim for a serve?' basic stuff, but now they are all beginning to understand the game," explains Tippet in between following Pearson's natural functions and Gross's progress on court.
LOOKING GOOD
The US Team is looking good to the eye. Each of the players raised over $5,500
to help with the expenses and a couple of days before they left, their off
court kits had not turned up. Harrison had to buy replacement stuff retail
and managed to get USA stencilled on the back of the Nike gear, so their waistcoats
now have 'USA Nike' on the back. Does Nike need free publicity?
Hopefully they'll repay the team next time with some hard sponsorship. In
contrast, their opponents in the semis, England, had all their expenses paid
out of the lottery World Performance program.
ENGLAND STILL NOT CHALLENGED
The England team are still to be given a stiff challenge. Germany were
unable to do this despite selecting their strongest team. (Many teams
faced with an impossible win will field their weakest side, saving their
strength for the 5-8 playoffs). Jenny Duncalf lost the first game to the
talented Kathrin Rohrmuller, but soon had the large German running around
the court.
Duncalf took the next three games because while Rohrmuller's superior racket skills got her out of trouble, she simply does not have the fitness of the England players. She came off the court exhausted while Duncalf could have played another match. Alison Waters beat Sandra Ziemelis in three and Laura Jane Lengthorn took the dead rubber 2/0 Immediately afterwards the England team left for the Arena to practise on the glass court. David Champion is no fool.
EGYPT AND MALAYSIA IN ROUTINE WINS
The Egyptian and Malaysian girls powered ahead, trouncing India and
Australia respectively. These were fairly routine wins, so I will save
my reporting energy to give you a full report on the semifinals tomorrow,
which promise to be really exciting stuff.
RESULTS;
Playing order 1-3-2
ENGLAND 3 GERMANY 0
Jenny Duncalf beat Kathrin Rohrmuller 5-9, 9-0 9-4, 9-4. Alison Waters bt
Sandra Ziemelis 9-3, 9-1, 9-5. Laura Jane Lengthorn bt Jennifer Post 10-8,
9-3. (best of three).
USA 2 NEW ZEALAND 1
Michelle Quibelle bt Kylie Lindsay 10-8, 9-2, 9-5. Alison Pearson bt Catherine
McLeod 9-3, 8-10, 9-1, 9-1 Amy Gross lost to Jaclyn Hawkes 9-10, 9-10. (best
of three)
EGYPT
3 INDIA 0
Omney Abdel Kawy bt Joshna Chinappa 9-3, 9-2, 9-1. Sara Badr bt Supriya
Balsekar 9-7, 9-1, 9-3. Amna el Tarabolsy bt Vaidehi Reddy 9-4 9-4 (best
of three)
MALAYSIA 2 AUSTRALIA 1
Nicol David bt Lisa Camilleri 9-1, 9-1, 9-0. Ooi-Ean Teng lost to Georgina
Davis 9-5, 4-9, 4-9, 1-9. Tricia Chuah bt Amelia Pittock 9-4, 7-9, 9-5,
9-1.
9-14 RESULTS
CANADA 3 SINGAPORE 0
Ruchika Kumar bt Janice Wong 9-3, 9-5, 9-1. Anne Christine Lajoie bt Mui-Yen
Goh 9-0, 9-3, 9-3. Kyla Grigg bt Pei-Qi Tan 9-4, 6. (best of 3) Canada
now plays Ireland.
NETHERLANDS 2 HONG KONG 1
Milja Dorenbos lost to Karen Lau 7-9, 9-3, 2-9,7-9. Orla Noom bt Connie
Choi 9-6, 9-6, 9-6. Magriet Huisman bt Frances Ho 9-1, 8-10, 9-3, 9-0.
Netherlands now plays Switzerland
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