SquashTalk Player Profiles

SQUASHTALK   PLAYER PROFILES
	Profile Index PSA players WISPA players Hall of fame players College players Junior players Teaching pros Player of the month Player Video Interviews

[Davide Bianchetti summary and statistics]

At only 22 years old, Davide Bianchetti is already the most successful Italian squash player of all time.

As a junior, Davide won the Italian national Under 14 and Under 16 titles, and twice claimed the Under 19 title. His junior success continued throughout Europe, where he won the 1995 French Junior Open, Swiss Junior Open, and Italian Junior Open, and reached the semi-finals of the European Junior Championships.

Born and based in Brescia, Davide led Italy to a memorable final against England in the European Junior Team Championships in Israel in 1995, and in the same year he established a unique Italian record when he won both the Italian Junior and Senior National Championships.

Bianchetti's national success continued in 1996 when he won the Italian Senior Championships for the second successive year. After turning pro in 1997, he claimed the national title again the following year, and is currently number one in the Italian national rankings.

A committed team player, Davide has led his club team Brescia Squash to four Italian club titles, and represented Italy at the European Senior Team Championships in 1995 and 1996 and at the Men's World Team Championships in Egypt in 1997.

His first success on the PSA Tour came immediately after joining the players' association when he reached the quarter-finals of the Bolzano Open in his home country in May 1997. Exactly a year later, he capitalised on his wildcard entry to the Mega Italia Open in his hometown of Brescia by beating Australian third seed David Palmer to reach the last eight of a PSA Tour event for the second time.

Dunlop's Davide pulled off a devastating double in Mexico in July 1998 when he achieved the rare distinction of winning two PSA Tour titles within seven days - and in both cases gained his success after coming through the qualifying competitions.

Firstly, in the Puebla Open, he dismissed 6th seed Oriol Salvia, then the top-seeded Finn Mika Monto to reach the final where he defeated England's Bradley Ball - remarkably winning all his matches without dropping a single game, while also becoming the first Italian ever to win a PSA event!

Travelling straight on to Mexico City, Davide again resisted the challenge of three seeds - 5th seed Renan Lavigne of France, 3rd seed Ong Beng Hee from Malaysia, and 2nd seed Olle Poutiainen of Finland - before clinching the Mexico Open title by beating England?s Chris Tomlinson 15/8 15/12 15/5 in the final.

Later in the year, Davide beat top seed Stefan Casteleyn (the Belgian who the following month reached the last four of the World Open in Qatar) in the first round of the Pittsburgh Open in the USA, before losing to fellow Dunlop player Billy Haddrell in the semi-finals.

Davide's triumphant success in 1998 included qualifying for the prestigious Al Ahram International in Egypt and also for the World Open in Qatar 98 -and also reaching his highest position of 40 in the Dunlop PSA World Rankings.

Davide Bianchetti lives in Italy but trains in Caversham, near Reading in England, with noted coach Mike Johnson, alongside fellow Dunlop players Sarah Fitz-Gerald, Dan Jenson and Scott Handley.

"Davide's endorsement has been key to Dunlop?s growth in Italy, where we have over 40% racket share," said Daniel Beswick, Marketing Manager for Dunlop in Italy. "Italians are very proud of their champions. The fact that Dunlop has established itself as the leading performance brand in the country is not only due to the link with world champions like Jonathon Power and Sarah Fitz-Gerald, but significantly also because of the endorsement by Italy's greatest ever player.

"Dunlop has hosted more than 20 sell-out exhibition events throughout Italy in 1999 featuring Davide Bianchetti, and these have created unprecedented demand for our product," added Beswick.

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2005. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 102, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2005 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.