World Open Draw Preview

by Dan and Joe Kneipp, Team Kneipp report index
All content © 2002 Squashtalk

Dec 6, 2002

These unassuming courts will become the venue for much joy and heartbreak. The first two round are held here at the Inndigo Club, before moving to a show court. (photo: ©2002 Dan Kneipp)

But the World Title has only been held by 8 people which reads as a who’s who of the champions of the sport. The event hasn’t been staged since 1999 allowing Peter Nicol to hold on to the World Champion title. It supposed to be a yearly event, but the three year wait since the last makes the event’s value even higher if that is possible. Who knows if there’ll be another one next year, or whether it’ll be another three years. What is known is that the event is on now and that eighty-eight of the best squash players on the planet are all gathered and desperate to try to get the title of World Champion. Twenty-four men who have gathered from around the world have already had there chance and had it politely pointed out to them via qualifying that this won’t be their year. (But it’s wonderful to see players from countries that haven’t produced many or any squash players like Russia, Yugoslavia and Greece being given wild card entries into the qualifying event. This can only be good for the long term appeal, strength and variety of the game.)

The draw has been done so that the top 56 ranked PSA members get straight into the main draw. 32 player including the 8 invitees have played the qualifying tournament for the 8 remaining spots into the 64 man main draw. It works so that in the first round the top 32 players in the world play against the players ranked 33 and beyond (not 33 to 64 because of the qualifying exceptions and upsets). Now if everything goes to seeding (which NEVER happens), in the second round all that is left is the top 32 players. The draw is done so that then players from the top 16 compete against players ranked 17-32. Which means 64 players have been halved to 32. By the third round there is 16 players remaining and the top 8 seeds are scheduled to meet players ranked 8 – 16. Then the quarter finals is supposed to pit the top four players against the players ranked 5-8. This way the four top ranked players can’t possibly meet each other until the semi final, and to take the seeding one step further the top two seeds can only play against each other if they both make the final. So that’s how it works in theory and if everything goes to ranking. It makes slightly more sense if you use a player as an example.

Peter Nicol the #1 seed in the first round plays someone outside the top 32, which in his case is a qualifier. If he wins this in the second round he meets a player ranked between 16 and 32 (let’s just pretend all the matches will go to seeding just for argument sake). That would be Paul Price at 19. If he wins this he then for the third round he meets a player ranked between 8 and 16, which would be Alex Gough sitting right at #16. Then for the quarter finals he is supposed to meet a player who is between 5 and 8 in the world. According to seeding that will be Ong Beng Hee (although since the draw was done Beng Hee and Ricketts have swapped places and Ricketts is actually ranked one position higher, but is seeded to lose his match – one of the many reasons that the 3rd round should produce some of the matches of the tournament). So after Nicol meets Beng Hee in the quarters he then plays Boswell in the semis and finally Power for the title.

So that’s how it works for a player ranked in the top four. It’s different for me having a seeding of 13. In the first round I’m supposed to have a player ranked 33+, then in the second round someone from 16 to 32, and then in the 3rd round a player from the top eight. If you are a qualifier then you know that you will get a top 32 player in the first round and have your work cut out for you. Bare with me, I’m getting to a crucial point.

So with the importance of this event virtually every player that could play the event is here. Of the 56 players who get a passage straight into the main draw only a few are missing: (remembering that the draw was done on November’s rankings) #34 Adrian Grant, #36 former #4 Paul Johnson who was also absent at the Qatar Classic, #45 James Willstrop who is trying to win himself a World Junior Title in Indian, and one of the main movers over the past twelve months – Spain’s #52 Borja Golan. With these players missing five very grateful players who would otherwise have to qualify are moved straight into the main draw.

The reason that I’m pointing all of this out is if the draw is done and then a player withdraws it can throw the whole system out of whack. Which is exactly what has happened. Aussies Dan Jenson and Paul Price have both withdrawn with injuries. Jenson is ranked 27th and Price 19th. The most logical and fair way of dealing with this would be for the two player ranked 33 and 34 to be substituted into their positions. This hasn’t happened, instead the top two ranked qualifiers (Glenn Keenan #61 and Derek Ryan #63) have been slotted straight into Jenson and Price’s positions. So you now have Keenan #61 playing Tim Garner #44, and the absurd scenario of the #2 qualifier Ryan moving into the main draw, and into a slot where he will now face a qualifier in the first round. Ryan, Keenan and Garner must be bloody grateful they’re in a Benelux country where they celebrate Sinta Clause (sic) on the 5th of December because they’ve received lovely presents. Rodney Durbach and Del Harris who are seeded at 33 and 34 must be feeling pretty jibbed. Apparently there’s a PSA rule to avoid this scenario for a 32 draw, but not for a 64 draw because tournaments this size are so rare.

So imagine how I feel when in my first round I have a former top 16 player who is now ranked just outside the top 32, and Derek Ryan who is currently ranked #63 gets a qualifier in the first round who is ranked in the high 70s. Pretty crappy.

So the main draw gets underway in a few hours. Because the 32 matches consist of the top 32 guys in the world playing against players 33+, I thought we’d look at players who are ranked above 32 and who have been ranked below that at some stage of their career and are more likely to be able to cause an upset.

Rodney Durbach. Ranked 33 for this tournament the guy who suffers the most from the draw debacle I’ve just mentioned. The number one South Africa player has been ranked as high as 24 at the start of this year and showed at the YMG Classic that he is very capable of causing upsets, taking Martin Heath out in the first round. He meets Canadian Graham Ryding in the first round which should be a tough, close match that both players will feel they can win. The last time Durbach and Ryding met in a PSA event was at the same venue last year when it was merely the Flanders Open. Ryding won a very closely contested match 15-13, 17-14, 8-15, 17-16. There’s every chance their first round match will be just as tight.

Del Harris. Ranked 34 for this tournament but one of the stars of the game who got as high as #5 in March of 1996. Due to meet the upcoming French player Gregory Gaultier for their first ever PSA encounter. If I was a betting man I would keep my money in my pocket. This should be a great match.

Mohammed Abbas. The number 35 from Egypt managed to crack the all important top 24 at the beginning of this year. His reward for slipping out of the top 32 is the joy of spending some court time with Stewart Boswell. This will be their fourth meeting over the past couple of years. At the Heliopolis Open in 2000 Boswell won in four closely contested games in the first round. At last year’s Qatar Classic Abbas had a great tournament upsetting Beng Hee in the first round, Shahid Zaman in the second round then finally falling to Boswell in the quarter finals in straight games. Their most recent meeting was a couple of months ago at the US Open. Abbas clawed his way through the qualifying tournament then lost to Boswell in four. We shared a car with Abbas this morning to have a practice hit, and as you can imagine he’s over the moon that he gets to play Boswell while Tim Garner gets Glen Keenan and Derek Ryan gets a qualifier.

John Williams. He should be in the top bloody 32 and I shouldn’t be playing him in the first round. It’s as simple as that. He didn’t play the recent Qatar Classic which has led to him being overtaken by other players. Johnny is a strong player that never gives you an easy match. He reached a career high ranking of 15 last year and in doing so kicked me out of the Australian team for the World Team Championships. If I didn’t have enough reasons for being prepared for a tough match this evening that’s one more reason. We have played twice of the past couple of years in PSA matches. Johnny beat me in the first round of the 2000 Motor City Open and I returned the favour in the first round of January’s Pittsburgh Open this year. I’m still not certain why he wasn’t at Qatar recently and I’m curious as to how his match fitness is. When I’m not getting injured my fitness is very good at the moment so we’ll know how his is by half way through the first game. Should be a long tough match.

Tommy Berden. Ranked 37 for this tournament he had a career high in January of this year getting to 22. Tommy has struggled with injury problems for quite awhile now. He game is based on being fit and moving well, so even small injuries cause his game a lot of trouble. He meets Egypian Wael El Hindi in the first round for their first encounter together.

Peter Genever. Ranked 38 for the tournament and playing fellow Englishman Nick Matthew. Genever got to a career high ranking of 23 last year. The last official PSA match between these two was a few years ago at the 1999 South of England Championships. Matthews won their quarter final meeting in a tough five-setter on his way to making the final.

Tim Garner. Ranked 44 but has been as high as 28 a few years ago. As already discussed at length he meets #61 Glen Keenan. I played Tim recently in a Bundesliga match in Paderborn and won a tough battle in four. It would be a surprise if he doesn’t win against Keenan, as he did in their last meeting at the Alcatraz Internation in 1999. But both players will be aware that they should be playing higher ranked opponents and to make the most of some good fortune.

Derek Ryan. Same story except Ryan got as high as #7 in the world in 1999. His qualifier is Davide Bianchetti who can be a tough opponent. A few pros have said this morning that they expect the tall lanky Italian to beat the oversized Irishman. It will be interesting to see if any balls make the back walls seeing as these two on court will look like two albatrosses preparing to land. I can’t think of any players that have greater reach and arm span than these two.

So there are the players that from past results have shown that they are capable of winning and competing against top 32 players. Naturally there will be some upsets, but we’ll have to wait to see who causes them. The first two rounds are on normal courts, with the third round onwards played in a beautiful building on a perspex court. We keep telling everyone that if most of the seeds make their way through to the third round there will be some amazing contests. If you’re on this continent you should come and watch.