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Rochester Pro-Am 2005, NY, USA
24-Jan:
Rochester Reward for Ritwik
 Top seed Ritwik Bhattacharya fulfilled expectations in the
Rochester Pro-Am in NY, although it was far from an easy weekend for
the Indian.
Forced to recover from 0-2 down in both his first round and
quarter-final matches, Bhattacharya eventually came through a
close final against England's Sam Miller, winning 11/8, 11/9, 9/11,
12/10 to claim his fourth PSA tour title, and his second inside a
fortnight.
Then, with extreme weather conditions in the area, getting away from
Rochester proved to be a bit of a problem.
"Finally made it out," said Ritwik on arrival in New York City. "The
Egyptians and Ryan and Paul Johnson were at the airport at 3.30pm
yesterday and finally we all left at 1.30 am!
"I only got to the airport at 10 so wasn't that bad. It was all due to
some aircraft going off the runway at JFK due to the adverse weather
conditions." |
 “The
tournament was great ... I didn't play half as well as I did in
Barcelona, but the weather was a main
factor.
“The first round was tough and in the quarters Daryl played really
well ... I just had to dig deep as I wasn't playing my best.
“Sam played really well in the finals ... he was extremely fair, it
was quite a long game, and the scores were very close. Funnily
enough even though the temperature was -12 degrees outside the court
was fairly bouncy!
“The support was great and as usual the people really look after us,
especially in the smaller events in USA.”
Ritwik
Bhattacharya |
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Rochester Pro-Am
2005
Rochester, NY, USA, 21-23 Jan,
$3.5k |
Round One
Jan 21 |
Quarters
Jan 22 |
Semis
Jan 22 |
Final
Jan 23 |
[1] Ritwik
Bhattacharya (Ind)
6/11, 11/5, 8/11, 11/5, 6/1 rtd
Mohamed Ismail (Egy) |
Ritwik Bhattacharya
5/11, 12/14, 11/3, 11/8, 11/8
Daryl Selby |
Ritwik Bhattacharya
11/7, 11/6, 11/4
Ahmed Maged Hamza |
Ritwik Bhattacharya
11/8, 11/9, 9/11, 12/10
Sam Miller |
[7] Daryl
Selby (Eng)
9/3, 9/5, 9/6
Betrand Tissot (Fra) |
[3]
Patrick Chifunda (Zam)
15/17, 11/4, 19/17, 12/10
[Q] Ahmed Maged Hamza (Egy) |
Ahmed Maged Hamza
11/2, 11/6, 11/7
Mark Price |
[5] Mark
Price (Aus)
8/11, 11/9, 11/7, 1/11, 12/10
Andrew Thompson (Can) |
[Q] Rob
Sutherland (Wal)
12/10, 6/11, 2/11, 11/9, 11/5
[6] Duncan Walsh (Eng) |
Duncan Walsh
11/8, 11/8, 11/6
Sam Miller |
Sam Miller
6/11, 11/5, 12/10, 11/4
Siddarth Suchde
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[Q] Tom
Richards (Eng)
16/14, 11/3, 11/9
[4] Sam Miller (Eng) |
[Q] Siddarth Suchde (Ind)
6/11, 11/9, 11/5, 11/5
[8] Robin Clarke (Can) |
Siddarth Suchde
2/11, 12/10, 11/9, 11/3
Reghardt Schonborn |
Mohamed
Elkeiy (Egy)
11/6, 11/2, 11/4
[LL] Reghardt Schonborn |
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Qualifying,
20-Jan:
Finals:
Hamza bt Schonborn
3/11, 11/4, 5/11, 11/6, 12/10
Suchde bt Reid
11/3, 11/7, 11/3
Sutherland bt Johnson
11/7, 11/4, 7/11, 11/7
Richards bt Ryan Thompson
11/3, 11/3, 11/2
Round One:
Schonborn bt Scheel 11/5, 11/8, 11/7
Richards bt Kahn
11/7, 11/5, 8/11, 1/11, 11/5
Sutherland bt Harris
11/1, 117, 11/4
Reid bt Rawden
11/8, 11/4, 11/9
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REPORTS
21-Jan, First Round
Eric Hernady reports from Rochester
The first round of the main draw had some exciting matches
including Duncan Walsh's recovery from 1-2 down to outlast Rob
Sutherland in five. Walsh's steady retrieval paid off after Sutherland
displayed brilliant shot-making throughout the first three games.
Sutherland volleyed aggressively to keep Walsh moving, while taking
numerous oppoortunities to attack the front left of the court. Walsh,
however, returned a steady diet of lobs to slow the tempo of the match
and ultimately turn the momentun to his favor.
We also saw three qualifiers, Ahmed Maged Hamza, Regardt
Schonborn, and Siddharth Suchde, advance to the
quarterfinals with strong showings. Hamza had the hardest road with a
very contentious match with Patrick Chifunda of Zambia which went the
full five games.
Qualifying, 20-Jan:
Eric Hernady reports from Rochester
 In
the first round of qualifying Imran Khan and Tom Richards
engaged in a very entertaining match. In the first two games Richards
used precision and good length to keep Khan on the defensive. He
continually created opportunities to attack the front court and
maintained pressure. Seemingly on the verge of victory Khan found his
game in the third by increasing the pace and countering Richards' hard
crosscourt play. After leveling the match at 2-all it appeared that
the match would be Khan's, but at 5-all in the final game Khan's error
into the tin seemed to turn the tide and Richards continued his steady
play to win in the end.
The final round of qualifying saw Reghardt Schonborn and
Ahmed Maged Hamza play a grueling attritional match which often
featured rallies nearing 50-70 strokes. Schonborn's classic style and
technique was in contrast to Hamza's reach and retrieving ability.
Both players moved their opponent to all four corners of the court,
with Schonborn often controlling the center of the court. Despite
excellent deception in the frontcourt and penetrating crosscourt
drives Hamza retrieved everything. Hamza utilized a variety of pace
in his shot selection to keep Schonborn off balance including numerous
straight kills on the forhand side. With nearly the entire gallery
watching, Schonborn and Hamza staged an epic fifth game.
After nearly 2 hours of squash, it was unfortunate that someone had to
lose. The ending was a bit unexpected, when Hamza won on a "no let"
call to the shock of Schonborn and the some in the audience.
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