In the first match, Rachael Grinham v Natalie Grainger, the latter had her moments, but overall she was not on her game on the day. The pace she puts on the ball has most of her opponents under constant pressure, but Grinham calmly weathers such storms as she retrieves from all four corners and is content to lob the ball back at medium or even slow speed, waiting either for an opening for a winning drop or for an error from her opponent. Grinham’s superior court coverage and relentless retrieving requires any opponent to be both patient and error-free – all of which demands a high level of concentration in the course of an entire squash match. Today, unfortunately for Grainger, she obliged all too often by hitting the tin.

“Tinnitis” is, of course, largely the result of the opponent’s retrieving ability: if even your best drop-shot is returned, you eventually try to hit an even better drop-shot – but the tin is still nineteen inches high, so the law of diminishing returns takes effect.

The first game was long (almost nine minutes), more because of Grinham’s strategy of keeping the rallies going than because of a close score. Helped by too many errors by Grainger, Grinham won it comfortable 9-3.

In the second game, Grainger fell behind early, as this game followed the same pattern as the first. But down 2-6, Grainger suddenly found her length and width, and the added pressure on Grinham enabled Grainger to slowly claw her way back from 2-6 to 7-6 in one hand. At this point things were looking good for her to level the match, but a slight loss of concentration caused her to give Grinham the serve and the next three points for a 9-7 victory.

Grainger began the third game with the same fire that she had shown in the middle of the second, and she quickly built up a 3-1 lead. However, once Grinham had regained the serve, she took charge of the game and the match, and Grainger served only one more hand, losing the game 9-3. The match had lasted 25 minutes.
 

The final match of the weekend was between the two top seeds, Nicol David and Vanessa Atkinson, and it was therefore only fitting that it produced the best squash of the event.

Once again, David started slowly and lethargically: it is as if it takes her at least half a game (if not a whole one) to remember to play her own particular brand of squash. Her first games typically contain a large number of errors, and within just a few minutes, her opponent has a healthy lead.

So it was today, as Vanessa Atkinson – who is always a very intelligent player on court and exploits the opponent’s weaknesses to her considerable advantage – shot out to a 6-1 and 7-2 lead. It was at this point that David woke up and began to extend the rallies, sending Atkinson on a Cook’s Tour of Court 6 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Atkinson’s injury from the previous two days did not seem to be bothering her: the strapping on her upper thigh appeared to be beneficial to her movement. But David’s ability to be at the ball early gives her many options, and the opponent is placed under great stress by having to push off quickly to retrieve David’s next shot. This scenario has a debilitating effect in the course of a long game, even on a player who is fully fit.

Thus David went from 2-7 to winning the game 9-7, with Atkinson seeing the serve only twice more. David was helped a good deal by Atkinson’s hitting three tins in a row tom enable David to go from 3-7 to 5-7. It had been a long (almost 10 minutes) and gruelling game, during the second half of which David had indulged in her tactic of “softening up” the opponent.

The second game was equally as long as the first, but now David, playing almost error-free squash, was in the driver’s seat, so to speak, and controlled most of the rallies. From 1-5 down, Atkinson staged a mini-rally, getting the score back to 4-5, but thereafter she could make but little impression, as David closed out the game 9-5.

Being down two games to love to Nicol David would dishearten many a player, and when David jumped out to a 7-1 lead most of the spectators surely thought the match was over. But Atkinson is never a quitter, and her professionalism and personal pride (and perhaps her red hair?) drives her to strive to the last and never to give up.

Thus the spectators were now treated to a magnificent display of courage and determination. Perhaps David had relaxed a little, sensing victory, because when Atkinson suddenly raised her game and began to hit really tight drop shots, she went from 1-7 down to 7-7 in a single hand. The match was by no means over!

At this point the players played a succession of brilliant and tense rallies that left the spectators both gasping and applauding loudly. David went ahead 8-7, match ball, but Atkinson came back and tied the game. Again David went ahead and had another match ball, but Atkinson fought back and had a game ball of her own, after a series of long and exhausting rallies.

David won back the serve, and there ensued the longest and most exciting rally of the match, with both players making remarkable returns from seemingly impossible positions. After they had both sent each other to all corners of the court a dozen times in the rally, Atkinson retrieved ball one last time from the back left corner, David played a drop to the front left corner – and the only energy that Atkinson had left was to throw her racket across the floor towards the ball. It had been a valiant struggle, but she had finally lost to the player who must now be the favourite for every WISPA tournament she enters this season.
 

There are no easy matches in Los Angeles this weekend. In effect, with the four women who are here, we are looking at the potential four semi-finalists for a number of WISPA events this coming season. Thus every match that these four women play is at least at the level of a WISPA semi-final, if not a final.

The first two matches of this unique event lived up to their promise and offered diametrically contrasting styles: the first a long, drawn-out, tactical chess match, and the second a fast and furious Blitzkrieg.

In the opening match, Vanessa Atkinson (ranked number two in the world) and Rachael Grinham (ranked number three) entertained the spectators with a fascinating display of tactical and positional squash. While both women are capable of hitting hard drives and cross-courts when they choose, they prefer to attempt to manoeuvre their opponent around the court with drops and lobs, until an opening presents itself.

In the first game, which lasted over fourteen minutes, Atkinson was the more successful, opening up a 5-1 lead, thanks to a succession of very tight drop-shots and a few errors by Grinham. Although Grinham had the serve fourteen times, she failed to score many points, and Atkinson won the game rather easily 9 –4.

The second game followed the same pattern and was over in half the time. Grinham had the serve only six times, as Atkinson’s superior control of the four corners of the court led her to win the game 9-3.

Those who thought that the match would soon be over, were in for a surprise. The third game was a close and tense affair, with Grinham finally finding her touch and hitting as many tight drops as her opponent. The difference was that Atkinson hit a few too many loose shots that her opponent was able to exploit, and Grinham won the game 9-7 in just over 12 minutes.

As the fourth game began after 35 minutes of play, it quickly became clear that something was bothering Atkinson. She was not moving at all well and gave up on several drop-shots by Grinham that earlier had presented no problem. In just four minutes Grinham had won the game 9-1 and levelled the match. As Atkinson hobbled of court, the only question was: Could she continue?

During the break between the fourth and fifth games Atkinson requested a three-minute injury time-out, and when she emerged to commence the fifth game, she seemed to have recovered, because as play resumed there was no apparent impediment to her movement. She played as she had in the first two games and leaped into a 5-1 lead: she looked as if she was on her way to victory.

But Grinham dug in, and after she had won back the serve, she gained five points in one hand, thanks to her determined play and perhaps the fact that Atkinson’s mobility began to decline again as the long game progressed. In fact, Grinham was now throwing up high soft shots, as if to invite Atkinson to do her best with them. Another hand took Grinham to 8-5, match ball, and despite Atkinson’s regaining the serve a couple of times, she could score no points, and Grinham closed it out with her third match ball. The match had lasted a gruelling 54 minutes.

In the second encounter both Nicol David (number 1 in the world) and Natalie Grainger (ranked number 5) got the attention of the gallery with a rapid bombardment from the very first serve. This was clearly a different brand of squash compared to the trench warfare that we had just witnessed. Grinham hits the ball with great velocity and has excellent racquet skills, but David, who must be both the fittest and the fastest player on the WISPA circuit, can not only retrieve almost everything, but when she chooses to, she can also turn on more power than her slender frame would seem to possess.

David’s amazing speed not only enables her to reach even the tightest drop-shot, but she is there is such good time and with such good balance that she has a variety of shots at her disposal. In effect, she turns the opponent’s offensive drop-shot to her own advantage. If she has one weakness, it is the tendency to make too many errors – a feature that gives her opponents some ray of hope.

Grainger, on the other hand, while not as fit as players such as David, is never to be taken lightly because of her outstanding talent. She is always dangerous thanks to her power from almost any position on court. Loose shots are punished mercilessly, and the opponent finds herself chasing hard, deep drives into the back corners of the court. A weak return off a deep drive sets up Grainger for the inevitable drop-shot.

The first game was very close and competitive, with both women exchanging drives and drops at quite a furious pace. Grainger stayed with David until the last few points, when David closed out the game at 9-6 in eleven minutes.

In game two, David poured it on: the speed and depth of her drives was matched by the tightness of her drops and trickle boasts, as Grainger could find no weakness to exploit. Grainger had the serve only six times, and David’s relentless retrieving of the best that Grainger could throw at her caused Grainger to attempt ever tighter drop-shots, with the predictable result that they hit the tin. In just seven minutes David had won the game 9-0.

The third game was the most entertaining of the match, as Grainger came out with renewed determination and rather quickly built up a lead of 6-0. At this point David visibly raised the level of her game, and having won back the serve, began to play very tight squash. Both players delighted the spectators with some spectacular rallies and brilliant exchanges. At 5-7 David served the ball – and Grainger smashed it cross-court into the dead nick. Hand out, 7-5. Then Grainger served the ball – and David hit it cross-court into the dead nick! Touché!

David took the score to 8-7, match ball, but Grainger was in no mood to capitulate: she clawed back to 8-all and still had a good chance to take the game. But in the end David’s superior speed was the decisive factor: when Grainger put her up front with a drop-shot, David was there is a flash and no one – least of all her opponent -- knew where the ball was going: a counter-drop, a trickle boast, a cross-court drive? With an arsenal such as that the war was fated to be short-lived, and she ran out the game 10-8, and the match 3 –0, in just 27 minutes.

Both of these matches were played is the correct spirit: players hit their shots and cleared immediately, they called their own shots down or not up, and no one strove to take an unfair advantage. These two matches were models of how squash should be played, and all four players are wonderful ambassadresses for their sport. If the remaining four matches in this series live up to the standards of the first two, this is going to be a very successful weekend of squash.
  

DAY TWO

On day two of the 2006 CB Richard Ellis Investors Women’s Invitational Round Robin at the Los Angeles Athletic Club the high level of squash that we had witnessed on the first day continued, with two matches of, once again, contrasting styles.

In the first match Vanessa Atkinson and Natalie Grainger presented a battle of guile versus power, in which the former sought to defuse the latter’s cracking drives with high, deep lobs that put her opponent in the back corners. For her part, Grainger used her power wisely, mixing it up with drops in order to keep her opponent guessing.

The first game – which took over ten minutes -- was a fascinating contest in which neither player could gain any outright advantage. Grainger’s precision and power gave her a 4-1 lead, but Atkinson’s judicious and tight drops got her back on level terms. Then Grainer surged ahead again 7-4, and the serve went back and forth as each woman strove to gain the upper hand. After Atkinson had levelled the score at 7-all, Grainger stepped on the throttle and won two quick points – helped by Atkinson’s errors, that caused the latter to throw her racquet into the back corner of the court in disgust.

But she came out for the second game with renewed intensity and determination. Her drop shots caught Grainger on her heels time and again, and in just two hands and four minutes Atkinson had closed out the game 9-2 and was back on level terms.

The see-saw battle continued into the third game, but this time it was Grainger’s turn to jump quickly ahead, and in no time she was up 7-0 and 8-1, game ball. At this point she hiccupped a couple of times, but eventually took another one-sided game 9-2.

Would Atkinson be able to turn the tables and come back in the fourth? Unfortunately, after a promising start the upper-thigh injury that Atkinson had sustained on the first day reappeared, and from 1-all she won the serve back only twice. Grainger had a fairly easy time of it, hitting drop after drop that Atkinson bravely struggled to retrieve – but all to no avail. After just 5 minutes Grainger closed out the game 9-1 and the match three games to one. It was a brave effort by Atkinson, but Grainger’s clever mixture of power and subtlety won the day.

In the second match the spectators were treated to a running and retrieving fest by two of the smallest, yet quickest players on the WISPA circuit. Nicol David can run almost anything down, and Rachael Grinham was not Number 1 in the world for seventeen months for no reason: she covers the court with amazing speed and reach.

In the first game Grinham had rather an easy time of it, thanks to David’s propensity for hitting the tin. All Grinham had to do was to keep the ball in play, and sooner or latter David would oblige her by tinning it. Six minutes for an opening game at this level is unusually short, and it must be a very rare event for Nicol David to lose the opening game so quickly and so decisively, 9-2.

However, David came out for the second game with a new attitude and played almost error-free squash. This was a long and gruelling struggle, in which David sent Grinham to all four corners of the court time and time again. By the time the game ended – 9-6 for David – it had taken more than fifteen minutes – David seemed to have achieved her purpose: Grinham was visibly winded.

Winded, perhaps, but not broken, for Grinham came out for the third game with renewed spirit. Once again the gallery was treated to long, testing rallies as the game went back and forth, until David squeaked it out 9-7.

Although Grinham put up a brave struggle in the fourth game, the writing was on the wall early. David was now clearly the fresher of the two and seemed to be under no threat at all from whatever her opponent tried. She got to 8-4, match ball – and went to sleep again. Grinham clawed her way back into the game and the match, until at 7-8 she seemed to have a chance to take this game to extra points. Unfortunately, fatigue took its toll and a couple of mental errors gave David the serve back as well as the next point. It had been 43 minutes of spectacular retrieving by two of the most entertaining squash players on the world circuit today.