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[4] Borja Golan

06-Feb, Qualifying Finals:

Martin Knight (Nzl) bt Wade Johnstone (Aus)          11/8, 12/10, 11/4 (56m)
Andrew Mcdougall (Can) bt Ian Power (Can)          11/9, 7/11, 11/5, 11/9 (56m)
Morten Sorensen (Den) bt Neil Hitchens (Eng)        11/9, 11/7, 11/6 (50m)
Tom Richards (Eng) bt Arthur Gaskin (Irl)              11/4, 11/2, 11/8 (33m)


05-Feb, Qualifying Round One:

Wade Johnstone (Aus) bt Michal Reid (Can)            13/11, 11/3, 12/10 (38m)
Martin Knight (Nzl) bt Matt Holland (Can)                11/3, 11/5, 11/2 (24m)
Ian Power (Can) bt Josh Rudolph (Can)                  11/5, 11/5, 11/7 (25m)
Andrew Mcdougall (Can) bt Matt Bishop (Can)         11/2, 11/8, 11/5 (31m)
Neil Hitchens (Eng) bt Mike Smeltzer (Can)             11/5, 11/7, 11/5 (19m)
Morten Sorensen (Den) bt Philip Nightingale (Eng)   11/8, 4/11, 8/11, 11/2, 11/9 (75m)
Tom Richards (Eng) bt Keith Pritchard (Can)           11/3, 11/5, 11/4 (22m)
Arthur Gaskin (Irl) bt John Doiron (Can)                 11/3, 11/4, 11/8 (20m)
 

Draw & Results

Tournament Program

"If there's one thing to say about LJ it would be, perhaps, his consistency.  If it's off it can be really off, but when it's on there's no question he can play with the best."

Ref: "Yes let."
LJ: "C'mon. If you didn't see it, it's okay. If you did see it it's not a let."

Pilley, after five straight errors:
"Is this tin regulation?"

"Razik is one of the hardest players on the tour to beat.  He has a great sense of knowing where the next ball is going before it is even played."

"Golan is an extremely intelligent player, extremely 'wristy', very talented and wonderful with the racquet.  He is the real deal; ''El Corazon'!"

Laurens Jan Anjema and Cameron Pilley met for the first time only a week ago when Pilley upset the seeding to take the title at Washington’s National Capital Open. Opportunities for reversing a result like that don’t always come around very quickly. It can be years before two players meet up again in PSA competition but LJ needed only look this few days ahead for his chance.

The early going was more cautious than had been typical in their previous respective Bluenose matches and getting comfortable on the ball, and on the day, seemed a first priority.

Both were allowing the other’s length and cross court drives to reach the back corners, generally not looking to turn things up too soon with aggressive volleying. While there was the tension of expectation that pace and tactics would ratchet up a notch in short order, sportsmanship was on display from square one. By the time it was 4-2 to Pilley, and the game was in full flow, Anjema had called himself late to two pickups already. Pilley took the score to a healthy 7-4 on a perfectly weighted length that died at the glass but then hit a patch of errors that started with an elaborate deception gone wrong on a drop shot.

After he reflected out loud in frustration “Changed my mind 30 times…” the advantage shifted and Anjema roared back to stand 9-7 up. One more each put Anjema at game ball before Pilley’s execution rose from ‘excellent’ to ‘flawless’ for three points and imminent first blood. Anjema’s retrieving was brilliant at 11-10 down, earning him another chance with a let, but 11-11 came only on a fortunate mishit serve return winner and the momentum stayed with Pilley through the 13-11 final score.

LJ was hungry for points from the start of the second, doing more than his half of the running but getting to 5-2 on some beautifully placed boasts and drops.

Creative and always aggressive rallies were as likely to end in a let for either man as to change the score, but both also took predatory opportunity with a loose crosscourt on more than one occasion to drive the two yellow dots into the nick. At 7-5 for Anjema the ball broke mid rally and with it went all the points Pilley would get this game. The new ball was all Anjema’s as he took the last four points to even the games at one apiece.

The third game was of two halves. The first, to 4-3 Anjema, was as tightly contested as anything to this point in the week. The trip to 11-3, and game to Anjema, was built on an inexplicable series of tin seeking shots off the racquet of Pilley, coming from all corners of the court. Drives, drops and boasts - all of a sudden none of them could be trusted to stay more than 17” off the floor and the Aussie would start the fourth trying to come from behind.

The fourth seemed to be Pilley’s to claim in the early going. There were winners and strokes, all in his favour to 4-0 in only a few minutes. On the last of these it was Anjema admitting, sportingly once more, that he didn’t get there in time. Pilley returned the kindness in the next rally to make it 1-4. A couple of mishits for points were shared equally as well, but, by 6-4 for Pilley, the tin made itself heard twice to tie it up. From this point forward, with the exception of a stroke against and a let not given, Anjema owned the points and crafted them out of pure effort.

After one let given to Pilley on match ball the cupboard was bare and there was no protest when Anjema advanced to the finals on a “no let” call.

Shahier Razik and Borja Golan’s only career meeting previous to today was held between the same four walls less than twelve months ago. It was over two full hours long and came down to a few missed drops off Golan’s Dunlop in the difference, as Razik became a Bluenose Champion.

Both players were firing on all cylinders that day but a year later, in the first game of this semi-final, a lot had changed. It took four minutes and the only point Razik got was from a Golan error. Famed as a slow starter Shahier wasn’t able to get even remotely in a groove and the game was a loss for the Canadian. Early on Golan unintentionally caught him in the leg with a drive but it wasn’t just for that reason that Razik needed the break to reset.

The second game was a thorough improvement. There were more hits in its first rally than in the whole first game put together. Golan still got to an early lead but by 6-6 the cooperative flow of last year’s final was rediscovered. The rallies weren’t as long, on average, but the athleticism that both players possess was being tested to its full extent to end them.

Golan kept one point ahead up to game ball before Shahier forced his way back to even on a desperate Golan get that went out of court as well as a rare stroke. The next rally, at 10-10, was epic. Eighty to ninety hits after it started Razik misjudged a drop shot that grazed the red angle at the top of the tin. One more just like it and Golan was firmly in command at 2-0 in games.

Ignoring the anomaly of the first game Razik and Golan were as tightly matched as their rankings would suggest and with that forced mindset Razik put together eight straight points in the middle of the third game. At approximately the 5-1 mark Golan stopped pushing against the tide and let the game go. He took a couple of cracks at nicks near the end, successfully, but after seven minutes they were opening the door in the glass and looking for some water.

With three games down, but only the second truly contested, there was energy aplenty to fill out a lengthy fourth game. Golan had a 4-0 lead before Shahier could fully respond but over 28 minutes both players worked each other over every board in the floor.

There were lengthy rallies, and lets to reset them, while Borja somehow managed to amass an 8-3 lead. With the flow and intensity of play there was no safety for Golan in such a spread as Razik showed no intention of quitting. Instead he staged a five point comeback, managed to stave off one match ball in the push for a fifth game, but went down to a “no let” decision.

Golan is through to his second consecutive Bluenose Squash Classic final.
 

Draw & Results

Tournament Program

Neil Harvey, well known coach to Peter Nicol, Laurens Jan Anjema, Ong Beng Hee and many other accomplished players, has recently moved to the Halifax area.  During a break between the first two matches Matt Bishop (let's call him The Voice of Nova Scotia Squash) held an interview with Neil that started with the obvious question: 



"What are you doing here?" 

"I actually applied to be an announcer but that job's obviously taken." 

Informing the crowd of the real reason Neil explained that he was now working for the "Coalition for Kids International", a foundation for terminally ill children based in Halifax www.coalitionforkids.ca/

Seedings aren’t a random thing and while there were quarter-final moments, minutes, and even entire games to reflect on for each of the top seeds here in Halifax, the results matched the expectations of their world standing.

Pilley settles in

In the first match of the evening Cameron Pilley (AUS) settled in early against Liam Kenny of Ireland. The ball was well ready via the five minute hammering it took in the warm up but Kenny may not have been as he was late to two drops by Pilley in the first 30 seconds of the match. “That’s two cheap ones.” he observed and Pilley had to take a few seconds to recover from a laughing fit before the game could go on.

When it did though, Kenny was ready to go. They traded strokes for the next three points before Kenny put three intended winners out of reach to take a 5-3 lead. Pilley came back to even and then some as he upped his pace both during and between the rallies, wanting to serve as soon as the he had the ball. Getting to 8-6 on a missed Kenny drop that didn’t make it to the tin Pilley seemed to have the control he wanted. Closing things out took a wealth of lets and gets though, four in a row by Pilley on beautiful drop shots, as well as a contentious discussion between Kenny and the ref at game ball. In the end: 10-7 to Pilley.

Kenny spotted Pilley the same lead at the start of the second as in the first but came back again by exactly the same score line to 4-3 ahead. Pilley’s boasts were exceptionally tight but Kenny found the equalizing game ball first at 10-8, only to have Pilley draw even on two strokes at 10-10. The Pilley winner for a 2-0 games lead was a well executed hesitation that rocked Kenny onto his heels before a trickle boast ended it. An unhappy Kenny had lost a great opportunity.

The Irishman came out firing in the third, fully focused, and took the early lead but then hit a stretch of difficulty in keeping his drops down. Pilley took about three or four for winners to the opposite back corner, going on a virtually uninterrupted ten point rampage. Kenny’s sportsmanship gave Pilley one of those points when he agreed with the Aussie, over the ref, that his own shot was low. Kenny staved off three match balls but finally fell 11-8.

LJ downs Delierre again

The mercurial Shawn Delierre of Canada again drew the top seed for his quarter-final match, as he did at last year’s Bluenose. This time it was in the form of world #19 Laurens Jan Anjema. As neither Delierre nor LJ hesitates to play aggressive squash they challenged each other on every level, point for point most of the time. This was a physical and tactical dog fight. The first game was 25 minutes long and though that could hardly be sustained, the quality of the entertainment never suffered. Delierre had two game balls in the first as Anjema collapsed on contact with a knock to the calf and had to give up the 10-8 ball. The collision galvanized him though and he resisted Delierre’s earnest effort to finish him off, drawing even again at 11-11 and 12-12. These last points were settled in a haze of lets over many minutes as neither would blink to go down a game. It took a “no let” to Delierre on 13-12 and Anjema’s perseverance was borne out.

Delierre’s four point run in the middle of the second game put him in control. A couple of uncharacteristic errors by Anjema helped the Canadian’s cause and at 10-5 there was too much ground to be made up. The final score settled at 11-7 for Delierre.

The razor thin margins for error were fraying nerves at the start of the third as Anjema broke a racquet in frustration then Delierre received a conduct warning and conduct stroke for his expressed points of view to go down 6-3. They both settled for the last half of the game and concentrated on some creative and lung busting exchanges. Each seemed to be able to pick up almost anything and so errors on drops were the only source of points for a let infested four straight minutes. At 9-8 to the good, about to go a point away from a 2-1 games lead, Shawn agreed that his swing was one bounce too late. To be then tied and not looking at the wrong end of a game ball, Anjema’s appreciation was genuine. Delierre’s sportsmanship would be rewarded only in reputation however, as a “no let” followed by his own crashing service return catching the tin gave the leg up to Anjema.

Game four seemed to have an unannounced time limit as both players played, if possible, faster and riskier. The sound of a lot of lets and a lot of tin was heard while the softer thud of many a nick punctuated the back and forth. Two three point runs by Anjema from 5-5, and an emphatic “C’MON” at game ball serve pushed the match to completion on a streaking passing shot Delierre couldn’t reach. All together, 70 minutes of tense and entertaining stuff.

Borja advances

Borja Golan’s balanced game seems able to defend or attack with equal ability and he does both with a courteous attitude that wins over a crowd within a short time of their meeting. Playing Australian Scott Arnold in the third match of the day made for a competitive but good willed contest. Arnold never held a lead, playing from behind in every game, but was in every rally.

His own creativity brought out the best of Golan’s wares and, in the third game in particular, threatened to turn the tables. But for a few untimely errors Arnold would have held momentum long enough to put an upset on the table. His towering lob saved many a point from being lost at the front, particularly when Golan went to his backhand boast, and regularly reset his chances to even with its vertical descent at the back wall.

It took 50 minutes, and the third game 20 of that, good will and all.

Razik outlasts Galvez

The final match of the night, late to start and later to end, was a test of concentration and persistence across four games. Shahier Razik’s early jump was a gift of errors from a slow starting Eric Galvez. Galvez seemed to be stuck between two gears, the one he was in the day before against David Phillips (a speedball of attack and counter attack) and the one that Razik forced on him with methodical execution and high percentage shot selection.

That noncommittal state rendered a number of drives to the tin as he looked for a foothold in the match. While testing Galvez’s resolve Razik rarely probed for new angles of attack so when they did come they were usually effective in surprise and result. A drop to the front left nick, while standing at the middle of the back wall with his hand on the glass closed game one in Razik’s favour.

Game two was more of what Razik wanted to impose. At 7-5 for Razik the ref replied to Galvez with his second “no let” of the game and the frustration of effort poured into an ineffective strategy manifested itself in four straight errors for a 2-0 games lead to Razik.

The third game seemed to be going the way of the other two, perpetual rallies and many lets to 7-6 for Razik, until Galvez, perhaps in desperation, re-discovered what got him there. The Mexican started to power through the ball, step up, cut off and make some riskier choices. The change started paying off and Razik had to respond more quickly than he wanted. Galvez forcibly extracted from him the next five points to take the game.

Game four started in Galvez’s hands and he shaped it with what was working at the end of the third. A standard rally still went well over fifty hits but Galvez wasn’t letting anything go stale within it. Unfortunately for Galvez’s prospects of a fully realized comeback the return of the volume of errors from the archives of the first game undid all he had achieved. Razik took ten points to his opponents two and closed out the match.

The 3rd Bluenose Squash Classic, a not for profit event and part of the Canadian Squash Circuit, is being initiated and organized by the Nova Scotia squash community in memory of Marcella Davar (May 8, 1954 – July 21, 2004).

 

Draw & Results

Tournament Program

Martin Knight (after doing 90% of the running in a long rally but getting the point):

"Do I have to do that again?"

Sorensen (to self after a high counter drop that Delierre pushed wide and deep):

"AAAAAAGGGGGG...what a lazy shot!"

Delierre (to self after missing Sorensen's second straight drive at back right):

"You were just here!"

In the adjoining court Adil Maqbool (PAK), a late call up to the main draw, met Scott Arnold (AUS) and took it to the higher ranked player for a surprise 1-0 games lead.

Arnold initially had trouble with his timing in the back corners and also had to contend with Maqbool’s being able to rub his drives against the side wall on the way back, causing them to die forward of the service box. Cross court showdowns where each attempted to wrong foot the other in seeking the right combination of width and delay were fierce but Maqbool lost his early points advantage in the second as Arnold evened 1-1.

A delay for bandaging before the next game gave each time to regroup and in the third Maqbool turned a 5-3 deficit into an 8-5 advantage only to eventually surrender the last three points and lose 11-9. The same ending on the end of a seesaw fourth was even more frustrating for Maqbool as they all came from errors to tin. Well played by both as Arnold was finally able to look to the quarters.

Number two seed Shahier Razik began the defence of his Bluenose title in convincing form. Qualifier Andrew Mcdougall took the court against someone 120 world ranking positions ahead of him and could find only one answer to Razik’s eleven questions in the first game.

Mcdougall settled down quickly in the second though, getting to 8-6 and playing more patiently throughout. This was a game with more pace and Razik eventually re-established control of it, and the T, in the final stages, quashing thoughts of an equalizer for Mcdougall.

The challenger had established, however, that his focused play of the day before was more than a memory and in response Razik brought the strengths of his own game to the fore in the third going up 8-2 in decisive fashion.

Mcdougall pulled back two more but put one to tin for match ball Razik, who obliged with a nick to finish it. It was a successful start for Razik and a successful run for Mcdougall.

Shawn Delierre’s return to Halifax, for the third time, began assuredly with a quick 3-0 points lead over Morten Sorensen of Denmark. Able to keep it close at 5-7 Sorensen’s planned recovery was derailed by a Delierre service return to the nick, followed by two of his own tins for game ball to the Canadian. Delierre mistimed a routine drop shot to return the serve to Sorensen for 6-10, but then crashed that simple offering cross court into the nick to end the game.

The second game found Sorensen reeling and never able to string together a run. He was rattled and frustrated with himself enough that he barely moved on at least two Delierre offerings on the way to 2-0 down.

A mentally rejuvenated Dane arrived on court 90 seconds later, taking a more aggressive approach and volleying as much as possible to take the third 11-8. Delierre reasserted himself in the fourth and three of the last five rallies ended with him dropping the ball from the T to the right front, conspiring with physics to make a Sorensen pick up impossible. The final game scored 11-4 but it was 45m of enjoyable squash.

Wildcard entrant Robin Clarke of Canada stayed close to Liam Kenny for two of three games. He went point by point with the higher ranked Irishman in the first and matched his runs in the third with a couple of his own. Two strokes quickly given up to offer a game ball in the first, and a final lob out of court by Clarke in the third, meant the spoils weren’t to be his in either case.

These two critical sets of rallies, combined with a frustrating second game (indicated by a conduct warning against the Canadian) tallied to a 3-0 score against. The effort was made across a solid 45 minutes though and on another day Clarke could expect more for his troubles. Kenny deservedly advances on this day, playing sensible and consistent squash.

Laurens Jan Anjema’s (NED) top billing in the seeds was to be tested by Jan Koukal (CZE). The Czech #1 had to contend with LJ’s aggressive intentions as he powered through most drives and sought winners frequently. The first game ended on two Koukal drops to the tin as he tried to alter the pace of Anjema’s attack without success. Koukal’s best chances were in the second when he upped his own offence and earned lets that he wouldn’t have tallied earlier.

Despite an early deficit Koukal went point for point through the rest of the game but just ran out of room on the score sheet. A perfect hold and snap to the back right by Anjema on game ball left his opponent unable to reverse engines in time and down 2-0. Anjema saw the opportunity to close in the third, lost only one point in the middle of his run to 11 and the match was done in 36m, although not before a tangle of bodies at the front right ended with Koukal on the floor with only a couple of points to go. No injury and no insult were had in either direction.

David Phillips (CAN), like a number of others in the draw, had also made the trip to Halifax twice before and came out looking to make the 3 Star version memorable. Mexico’s Eric Galvez, as the 5th seed in the tournament, outranked Phillips but was down 7-4 and 9-7 at the mid and late phases of the first game. While both players got the mixed results – winners as well as tin - that probability demands from aggressive shot selection, the intangible of luck played a part as well. Phillips went up 9-7 on a desperate retrieving boast from the back left that Galvez was well established to finish at the front right but had to pick up from a roll instead.

Doubting only briefly, Galvez responded with a no look drop to the nick two points later, then outlasted Phillips through a furious final rally of the game as the Canadian boasted a hair too low to lose the first. Phillips again had the upper hand in the second but gave up the last five points after a “no let” derailed his momentum and would have been bewildered at that point to be playing well and with nothing to show for it. The third game was close again, finishing 11-8, but Galvez never surrendered the lead within it or had to recover as he had in the first two frames.

Tom Richards was unstoppable in the final qualifying match of the previous day and his crisp contact was present again versus Spain’s Borja Golan, runner up at last year’s Bluenose Squash Classic. Not afraid to go for winners, especially backhand volleys to the front right nick, Richards would have liked for Golan not to have been so resilient in retrieving these and did earn points from a few. The threat of these though, was not enough to unbalance Golan’s favoured backhand boast to the right front.

Richards would often be busy enough moving north-south that he had his hands full without, usually, having the upper one. While using the boast strategically Golan seemed never to need to break out the defensive version. Every deep lunge to the corner by the Spaniard brought the ball back down the same wall. Fighting Golan to a 5-5 draw midway through the second game was as close as Richards could get but it was by no means a walkover – total match time 40m.

 

Draw & Results

Tournament Program

Wade Johnstone (after counter dropping to the top of the tin on a Knight dig):

"All balls were good?"

Ref: "All balls were good except for the one at the end that took the tin."

Power (after serving and McDougall asking for a let as he wasn't ready):

"If you call the score he has to be ready."

Ref: "No, he doesn't"

Gaskin (on Richards' backcourt straight drop to the nick):

"That's normally my shot." "Good shot."

Draw & Results

Tournament Program

Wade Johnstone

Martin Knight

Ian Power

Andrew McDougall

Neil Hitchens

Morten Sorensen

Sorensen v Nightingale

Tom Richards

Arthur Gaskin

Tournament Programme

Founding sponsor Zal Davar will again be joined by A.H. Bishop & Associates Inc., Coady Filliter Barristers & Solicitors, Seven Wine Bar, Jim Mitchell Electric, Benchmark Investment Consulting, Truefoam, Domus Realty and Dr. Chris Petropolis in continuing support of the tournament. Additional contributions for 2008 will be provided by Graham Waters and others to be named later.