Quarters: Women's Open Upsets
April 2, 2005, Rob Dinerman in New York
SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2005 all Rights Reserved;

Scharff and Quick Engineer Mens Open Upset   [complete draws & results]

Seeds Tumble In Man's And Women's Open
With the rousing five-game upset win engineered earlier today by the unseeded though nine-time defending champion Alicia McConnell and her new partner Pochi Holdefer over the No. 1 seeded team of Jessica Dimauro and Karen Jerome, it is now the case that both the top two seeded teams in this eight-team event have been eliminated. Second seeds Meredeth Quick and Dana Betts lost yesterday to Brooke Cooper and Kristin Fullam, also in five, but those surprise winners fell today to the twin sister team of Berkeley Belknap Revenaugh and Mary Belknap McKee, who won the Mass States women's open event last spring. Revenaugh won this title in '94 with Demer Holleran, whose extended run with McConnell began two years later, so both will now shoot for their first women's national doubles title with a partner other than Holleran tomorrow afternoon at the University Club in the final.

The men's Open also witnessed a five-game thriller, as Preston Quick, who has won this event the last two years with Eric Vlcek, and Steve Scharff out-lasted second seeds Scott Butcher and Josh McDonald in a decisive tiebreaker, an outcome that was all the more remarkable for occurring on the home Butcher/McDonald Racquet & Tennis Club turf. They will play tomorrow's final round against the winner of the top-half semifinal between No. 1 seeds Morris Clothier and Gary Waite and Vlcek and Alex Pavulans, a match which is being played as this article is being written.

In the men's A draw, the top-half semifinal pairing has emerged, with No. 1 Whitten Morris/Ryan O'Connell having dispatched Tom Clayton and John McAtee in three games and No. 3 Tom Harrity/Imran Khan surviving a five-game marathon against Duncan Pearson and Greg Park, who just two weeks ago defeated Harrity and Harrison Sebring in a five-game final round of the Philadelphia Racquet Club championship. The bottom-half quarters pit fourth seeds Mark Barber and Addison West against Philadelphians Ted Bruenner and Baird McIlvain (who got that far via a surprising 3-0 win over Peter Burke and Mac McAndrew) and second seeds Geoff Kennedy and Beau Buford against the Wyant brothers, Jack and Tim.

The three luminaries populating the 45's draw are all safely through to the semis, namely Peter Briggs, who with Peer Pedersen defeated Kip Gould and Richard Millman in four games early this morning, Todd Binns, who with Tom Boldt four-gamed last year's 40's finalists Patrick Miller and Jamie Heldring, and John Nimick, who with Jay Gillespie beat Rob Hensel and Frank Fairman. Nimick won a number of WPSA pro doubles titles with Clive Caldwell, and Binns and Briggs are both former multiple North American Open doubles champions and WPSA Doubles Team Of The Year honorees. Joining this formidable trio in the semis will be '03 U. S. 45's winners Doug Rice and Andy Nehrbas, who earned their way with a five-game victory over Eben Hardie and Mick McGorry.

The No. 1 seeds in the men's 40's (Joe Fabiani and Rich Sheppard), 50's (Derrick Niederman and Sandy Tierney), 55's (Gordy Anderson and Mike Pierce), 60's (Len Bernheimer and Tom Poor), 65's (Ritchie Bell and Michael Wilson), and 70's (Dick Will and Howie Rober) have all been unscathed through Saturday's action, but top women's A seed Icy Frantz and Stephanie Barrett lost in four games to Kellen Heckscher (whose father, Maurice, won this event three times, the first one partnered by Pierce 30 years ago) and Margaret Brehman, who will now face Elizabeth Del Duca and Wendy Nolan in tomorrow's final.

Results, US National Doubles: [Draw/results]

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