Fri 3rd Mar, Finals:
 
[1] Vanessa Atkinson (Ned) bt [3] Natalie Grainger (Usa)
         9/6, 7/9, 9/3, 9/4 (43m)
      
[3] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt  [9] Nick Matthew (Eng)
         11/6, 11/9, 11/4 (40m)

“I knew I had to be good against Nick,” said Shabana,” because he’ll volley everything he can.” “Good” was an understatement for the quality of play exhibited by Shabana in the tournament’s last match, just as it had been most of the week. Every aspect of the Shabana game was in precise working order – his length was perfect, he moved easily to cover all balls and after waiting patiently for the opportune moment to shoot, executed his shots perfectly.

In the 11 years that Shabana has competed at the Tournament of Champions, the crowds have been treated to flashes of his brilliance but he had never sustained the quality of play long enough to get past the semifinals. Tonight’s match was the realization of the potential that has been evident for more than a decade. The decisive victory by 26-year-old from Cairo heralded the arrival of the player worthy of inheriting the mantle of the two champions - Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power- who between them had won this tournament seven times.

“It is nice to be able to win this championship after all these years,” said Shabana, referring to the fact that he started competing in the tournament of Champions as a 16-year-old. “I’ve always had my eye on this tournament because it is one of the majors and it has such a great history. All the great players have won it – Jansher Khan, Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power.”

It was entirely fitting that the championship trophy was presented to Shabana by his sometime training partner Jonathon Power, who had announced his retirement from the PSA tour earlier in the day.

THREE IN A ROW FOR VANESSA

In the women’s draw, top-seed Vanessa Atkinson of the Netherlands won her third consecutive tour title of the year, defeating #3 seed Natalie Grainger by playing an attacking game. The sell-out crowd in the stands under the massive gilt chandeliers got to see two of the purest hitters in the women’s game vie for North America’s most prestigious title. Both players were on a bit of a comeback trail. The 29-year-old Atkinson had stumbled through a confidence slump at the end of 2005 and 28-year-old Grainger had suffered a series of year end injuries sidelined her from the women’s tour.

As she has all week, Grainger started the match like a high speed train, storming out to a 4-0 lead. “Natalie is the best pure hitter in the game and it is not unusual for her to get off to a fast start like that,” said Atkinson after the match. “But I have seen her do that often enough that it didn’t worry me because I know she is not going to keep up that pace.” Indeed, the Dutchwoman turned the first game in her favour, winning 9-6. Grainger stormed out again in the second, taking a 7-1 lead, and on her fourth game ball won the game 9-7.



The second game win for Grainger did not dent Atkinson’s confidence. “The big difference in my game from a year ago is that I feel quite confident that I can go on and win even when I am not playing great matches,” said the player who has been known to have a fragile psyche. When Atkinson stepped up her attack in the third and fourth games, Grainger started to visibly tire and the defending champion won the third and fourth games with relative ease 9-3, 9-4 to hold onto her title.

“I am particularly happy to have won this tournament for a second time because it shows I now have a consistency that has been lacking in my game,” said Atkinson. “And I love winning here at Grand Central. I am a city girl and what better city is there than New York!”
  

World Champion Amr Shabana moved into his first ToC final as he underlined his Egyptian number one status, beating fellow Egyptian Karim Darwish in straight games. It was a scrappy match however, with neither playing at their best, and many errors along with the winners that these two can produce.

The first two games were close, with Shabana just doing enough at the end, and although Darwish led 7/3 in the third, a series of errors cost him the game and match.

"I made a lot of errors," admitted Darwish, "and I felt I was controlling the game, but Amr controlled all the big points.

England’s Nick Matthew and France’s Gregory Gaultier both came off five-game wins yesterday that passed the baton from one generation to the next; Gaultier beating Nicol: Matthew taking Power. Matthew played a strong rhythm in the first, while Gaultier was just the bit more patient in the second game, and caught Matthew out to level.

Matthew extended the rallies to take the third game. “I was a bit more patient in the third and Gregory played more angles.” Gaultier’s angles started getting lower and lower on the front wall as he found the tin more frequently.

In the fourth, Matthew continued to tire Gaultier. He extended the rallies and looked for the right opportunity to go in as he knew Gaultier is very quick. “I tried not to hit silly drops,” Matthew said as he brought the win home for England with a mix of clinical and astute shot selections. "I tried to mix it up as much and tried to stay patient. I tried to get that balance right."
 

In the second semi-final Grainger took five games to beat  Perry in an erratic display with each player winning a 9-0 game.

Grainger took the first quickly with hard hitting, crisp squash to go up one game 9-0. “In the first game, I got onto it early, played tight and straight and I think Madeline was a bit nervous,” explained Grainger.

Perry settled in the second while Grainger’s error rate increased. “I was trying too much in the second, looking for the winner too soon,” she admitted. Madeline kept it tight off the racquet to take the second.

It was Grainger’s turn to lose 9-0 in the third, but from 4-all in the fourth Grainger pulled ahead on four errors from Perry and a stroke.

In the fifth Grainger controlled the pace by slowing the ball down, hitting high on the front wall frustrating Perry who prefers a quick game and can retrieve with the best. Perry is lethal in the front so it pays dividends not to send her there.

Now Grainger did the pulling forward, but only at the opportune time as she eased through the fifth to move into the final.
   

I have been saying for a long time that the Men’s PSA. World Tour is by far the best it has ever been, that from the last 16 spectators are watching matches good enough to be finals and that anyone of the ten or so players can win.

The two quarter-finals Peter Nicol v Gregory Gaultier and Nick Matthew v Jonathan Power last night more than justified my opinions and add to that, that at 7/5 in the third Nicol and Gaultier played the best rally I have ever seen. It was a rally of such sustained and brilliant attack that the full house at Grand Central Station rose as one and would still be applauding now if the players hadn’t asked for quiet.

Nicol won the first, moving well as he needs to do, Gaultier surprisingly perhaps not taking the game to him. Nicol didn’t follow up, though, and played a fair second as Gaultier drew level.

The match continued at the highest level, both in quality and excitement, since it was impossible to say who was going to win.

At two games all, Nicol looked the fresher player, but Gaultier not only hung on physically, but managed to hold his squash together and it was he who edged home after a quite exceptional match.

Following such a match was no easy matter, but Power and Matthew hardly fell short of the standard Nicol and Gaultier had set.

Matthew had the edge in the first, but lost it in a tie break and when he lost the second he must have thought his number was up, since the Canadian has only lost three times in 155 matches when 2-0 up.

The durable Englishman was close to defeat in the third, but he is never more dangerous that when he is behind and when he won the third, hope was restored. At 6-3 down in the fourth Power inexplicably let the game go – a dangerous thing to do against such an opponent – and although he fought hard again in the decider it was the British Champion who prevailed, testimony to his refusal ever to give up the cause.

So the old order is truly disturbed, as Amr Shabana becomes the old man of the last four. Karim Darwish, 24, Gaultier, 23, and Matthew, 25 represent the younger generation at world level. They were all top world juniors and now they belong at the top of the senior game.

It was a wonderful night’s entertainment for the capacity crowd at Grand Central Station and credit to all the players.

Fittingly John Nimick, tournament chief, made a presentation to Peter Nicol to mark his contribution to the Tournament of Champions over many years. It seems this is Nicol’s last appearance in New York, but as he said in response, he played well enough to suggest his retirement is premature.

GAULTIER AT HIS BEST...

   
A NEW CHAMPION...

After the defeat of Peter Nicol, it was left to Jonathon Power, reinstated as world number one today, to keep the 'old guard', who have won seven ToC titles between them, in the final stages of the ToC.

And it looked good for the four-time champion as he went 2-0 up - albeit both on tie-breaks - against new British Champion Nick Matthew, but a remarkable comeback saw the Englishman take the next three games to reach his first ToC semi and guarantee that a new champion will be crowned on Friday.

Atkinson & Elriani to meet again
Kim Tunney on the women's quarters ...

"Pleased to do that in three. I thought I was moving well today, and I’m glad not to have to play during the day tomorrow."

 
Perry takes out two Botwrights
  
Ireland's Madeline Perry followed up her first round win against Becky Botwright with an upset victory over big sister Vicky, the second seed.

Vicky got off to a quick start keeping the ball very deep to win the first, Perry stemmed the tide capitalizing on Botwright’s increased error rate and ran her to control the second, and the third and fourth were shared.

Game five came down to Botwright making errors at the wrong time. Serving to Botwright at 8-4 match ball, Perry showed the utmost in sportsmanship and called Botwright’s return up to give away the serve. Perry gritted her teeth, regained service on the next point, and took a deep breath before winning the point and match with her patented volley kill.

Perry now plays the USA's Natalie Grainger, who dropped the first game before recovering to end the run of Laura Lengthorn in four games..
 

   
For the first time since the event has been staged at Grand Central Terminal in New York, there will be no Australian interest in the men's quarter-finals after both world number one David Palmer and defending champion Anthony Ricketts crashed out in a day of second round shocks.



Gregory Gaultier, the charismatic 23-year-old from Aix-en-Provence had an extra measure of motivation going into his match against the defending ToC Champion as just two weeks ago he had lost to Ricketts in five games, having squandered two match balls in the quarter-finals of the ISS Canary Wharf Classic in London.

A baby cried throughout the first game prompting Ricketts to exit the court at 4-2 and ask Referee Graham Waters to quiet the baby.

“I have no control over that,” Waters replied. Then added,” After all this is Grand Central Station.” Not to be outdone, Ricketts queried with a smile, “Well, does he have a ticket?”

Someone quieted the child and the audience was rewarded with some of the tightest, toughest rallies of the day in a breakthrough win for Gaultier.

Gaultier lured Ricketts with feather light soft strokes into each of the four corners. His strategy was to not be brought into Rickett’s preferred style of play: fast paced with frequent volleys.

At 4-4 in the third, Gaultier played an exquisite rally controlling Ricketts by moving him closer and closer to the front wall. Again, Ricketts took the bait and drew into the front. Gaultier finished the rally by slamming the ball back with pace into a surprised Ricketts at the “T”.

“I told him not to get into his game,” said Renan Lavigne who coached him between games. The only time Gaultier failed to do this was in the third where Ricketts played a fast pace game volleying everything. Gaultier couldn’t take the pace.

In the third Gaultier’s counter strategy was to tire Ricketts by twisting him and keeping up with the pace. “I felt he tired after that in the fourth,” said Gaultier whose strategy prevailed in the end.



Gaultier will next meet three time champion Peter Nicol, who also came off the court smiling broadly after defeating Stewart Boswell of Australia 11-5, 11-5, 11-8 in 48 minutes.

Boswell played ‘keep-up-with-squash” against Nicol, earning 18 points but never able to find a way to put enough shot combinations and patterns together to beat him.

“He kept getting one more ball back. I stayed in there but he controlled the tempo and pace.” Boswell has played Nicol many times in the past but felt this was one of his worst performances against him.

Fellow Aussie Rodney Martin coached Boswell through the match, while Nicol had the services of Malcolm Willstrop.



Karim Darwish, the No12 seed, also had a reason to smile after eliminating world No1 David Palmer. Darwish, who beat Palmer in their last meeting in December, used his classic Egyptian shot-making to best advantage to keep the top seed off balance and off his game.

Palmer made every effort to keep the play at a slow and steady pace due to his sinus infection. “I had a good draw and when I’m healthy, I’m 50/50 against him. So I thought I had a shot at it,” explaining why he decided to play at all given his illness. He conceded the third with the score being reported as an injury retirement in the third.
 

"I got a sinus virus a few days ago, I probably shouldn’t have turned up, but I wanted to do well really, and I felt I had a pretty good draw. "I don’t think I should have won against Parkie yesterday, he just had an awful day. I felt I could play today, and I was desperate to beat Karim, but as soon as I got on court, during the warm-up, I could feel my throat closing down, I couldn’t breathe properly, and couldn’t feel my legs. "I tried my best, but it wasn’t to be. We are flying from New York straight to Melbourne, but I don’t think it would be reasonable to take a plane at the moment, so we’ll probably stay until the final as originally planned… David Palmer    to Framboise

Darwish now meets England's Lee Beachill in the quarter-finals.

Down one game against Graham Ryding, between the first and second games Malcolm Willstrop gestured briefly but wildly while coaching Beachill as if to say ‘put some “ummph” into it. “I told him his play ’lacked a bit of bite,’” Willstrop confessed after the match.

The gestures and words seemed to work with Beachill taking the next three. “I played well in the second and third, despite a slow start.”

Assessing the critical third game, Ryding said, “I got the tempo back and I could tell he was tired. But I let him off the hook at 9-6,” explained a disappointed Ryding who now heads to the Commonwealth Games in Australia.



Early in the day, both Amr Shabana and Thierry Lincou looked confident and relaxed in their second round victories. Lincou, who was No1 for all of 2005, has recently slipped to five in the rankings, but after his win at the Canary Wharf Classic looked ready to make another move up the rankings ladder in a satisfying win over tenth seed John White.

Only one player of the two came on court ready to do battle today. And that was Lincou. He was controlled and ‘sange foid’. “I stayed cold-blooded,” said Lincou, who played a slow, steady pace and kept the ball straight and tight.

White is a menace on the volley, so Lincou avoided that during the three-game match. White’s temper was on display arguing in frustration with many of the let and stroke calls. “Stroke to Lincou,”  was the call at the start of each game of the match against a sluggish White.

“I made too many unforced errors,” said the defeated Scotsman after the match. “It is very difficult to get Thierry off the T and I was frustrated that when I did manage to do so, I tinned the ball.”



Lincou’s next opponent will be third seed Amr Shabana. With five consecutive tournament wins from September through January, the world champion from Egypt is the player with momentum.

Today Shabana  had a 15 year reunion of sorts against Junior circuit alumni Olli Tuominen. “We first competed against each other 15-years-ago,” explained Amr. “We’ve always played closed. I think he won that first one in five.”

But today would not be a rematch of their first childhood competition with Olli only managing to take the second game off his childhood rival and friend.

In the second, Olli controlled the rallies by taking the ball early, getting in front of Shabana and capitalizing on his tins. “He read my game better in the second, too” confessed the Egyptian World #3.

Tuominen was unable to capitalize after the second due to his high error rate and lack of patience inside each rally.

During the match, five squash balls were mis-hit and flew out of the court with one landing all the way across Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal. While Tuominen and Shabana waited for its retrieval, one passerby threw a 'Hail Mary pass' worthy of Doug Flutie to get it back into the court.

Tuominen returns to his home in Helsinki now by way of a league match in Germany. He plans to continue working on his game with his coaches Ari Pelkonen, Sime Tarvonen and Tomi Ninimaki.



Although four-time ToC champion Jonathon Power was victorious in three straight games over 35–year-old Alex Gough of Wales, it was a bit of a rough ride.

Teetering between fast, quick pace and slow, steady play, Alex Gough was unable to walk that fine strategy line well enough to beat Power. “It’s a fine line, playing with pace and then backing off. “ Although, at times, it looked like Gough would break through in the second game.

The score throughout the second game was tighter with Gough taking momentary leads at 6-7 and 7-9 saving three game balls. Squandering it though, Gough moved into retriever mode and into a tiebreaker at 10-10. Power took the last five points and the game.

They both came out in the third with quick flicks, fast pace and lots of attacking volleying. Let calls also increased as each player tested the referees on their depth of knowledge of the rules. The game and match ended on a stroke to Power.

The evening’s final second round match saw another minor upset when ninth seed and new British National Champion Nick Matthew eliminated No6 seed James Willstrop in an all-English clash.

Many predicted a long evening with these two players on last with their propensity to play to five games as they did in Chicago at the Windy City Open last month. But the best match of the evening was won in three. With more and more major tournaments under their collective belts, each opponent keeps raising the bar for the other.

Tonight would be different as Matthew came out firing in game one and never looked back. Matthew kept to a simple strategy realizing the win would not be easy. “With each rally my job was to get the middle then take it from there. He plays everything. He’s one of the best shot makers.”

Matthew knew not to relax after winning the first game. “I’ve never won the first against him then thought it would be easy from there,” confided the seventh-seed. “Been there in Hong Kong and lost.”

But Matthew stayed with his plan, “stuck in positive and (gained) the middle of the court. I was prepared to crawl off the court,” he said describing his mental toughness this evening. This produced some of the best rallies of the evening with Matthew stretching the 13-odd-stone Willstrop from corner to corner at times in dramatic fashion.

“My goal this year is to win a major tournament,” said Matthew after the win. Will this be the one?

Brits Advance to
Women's Draw

Four Britons came through the qualifying finals to earn places in the first round of the women's event which gets underway at Grand Central Terminal today.

England's Becky Botwright dashed six-times US champion Latasha Khan's hopes of a main draw place with a 9-4, 10-8, 8-10, 9-6 victory, and is joined in the main draw by Pamela Nimmo, Dominique Lloyd-Walter and Fiona Geaves.

Botwright meets Madeline Perry in the first round. A win over the Irish champion could take the 24-year-old from Manchester through to her first ever WISPA World Tour meeting with older sister Vicky, the second seed who faces France's Isabelle Stoehr.

Willstrop on round two ...

Monday saw the exit of the holder Anthony Ricketts and the top seed and World No 1 David Palmer.

Ricketts and Gaultier played a match of the highest quality at Canary Wharf recently which Ricketts survived narrowly. This time he was under pressure from the word go. Gaultier attacked, moved well as he does and as he has never lost from 2-0 up, Ricketts cause looked lost when the Frenchman led by that score.

However Ricketts gave hope to his supporters by winning the third, but that was as far as it went and Gaultier romped away with the fourth for a notable and impressive victory.

Palmer’s loss to Darwish was no surprise, since he had lost to him in Saudi Arabia and Darwish had continued in fine form. In truth the Egyptian never looked like losing and won comfortably 3-0, and Palmer was clearly suffering from ill health.

Darwish will face Lee Beachill in the quarters. Beachill has been easing through the draw unnoticed and although Graham Ryding offered plenty as he always does, there was never a feeling that he would win. He took the first, but from then on it went Beachill’s way with increasing ease.

If Peter Nicol moves well he quickly feels comfortable and it was evident early on in his potentially difficult match with Stewart Boswell that all was well. The score line did little justice to Boswell’s efforts and 11-5 11-5 in the first two was harsh indeed.

However Nicol was impressive as he will need to be against Gaultier tomorrow.

Evergreen Alex Gough continues to defy old age and with his two young children on hand to offer support he gave another good account of himself against Jonathan Power. The Canadian, in fact, looked less and less at ease as Gough harried and chased. The Welshman was unlucky not to have won the second as he led 10-7 and was worth a game.

Power will now face Nick Matthew and on last night’s evidence will need to step up a gear or two if he is to get the better of the British Champion, who played very well to beat James Willstrop in three tight high quality games. Willstrop led in all three games, lost them all narrowly and will be wondering how on earth he lost 3-0. Matthew showed again how good he is when he is losing. His performance in the final game of the British Championship against Beachill when he won from 6-10 was remarkable and he showed similar qualities last night. He will take some beating whoever he plays.

World Champion Amr Shabana was untroubled against Olli Tuominen, but although Thierry Lincou beat John White 3-0 it was a close affair and refereeing decisions were an issue for the American resident.

The quarter final line up reads as follows:

Beachill v Darwish
Lincou v Shabana

Gaultier v Nicol
Power v Mathew

None of these are cut dried and each match would be worthy of a final. Three of England’s World Championship winning team, two Egyptians, two Frenchman and a Canadian provide an international mix. No Aussie in sight, but maybe Melbourne is on their mind.

Malcolm Willstrop

Sun 26th Feb,
Round One, bottom half:

[14] Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt [Q] Mark Chaloner (Eng)
         3/11, 11/5, 11/2, 11/2 (36m)
[7] Peter Nicol (Eng) bt Cameron Pilley (Aus)
         11/4, 9/11, 11/3, 11/10(2-0) (58m)
[11] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt [Q] Bernardo Samper (Col)
         11/7, 11/3, 11/7 (31m)
[4] Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt [Q] Liam Kenny (Irl)
         11/3, 11/8, 8/11, 11/6 (53m)
[9] Nick Matthew (Eng) bt [Q] Mark Heather (Eng)
         11/4, 8/11, 11/5, 11/2 (44m)
[6] James Willstrop (Eng) bt Mohammed Abbas (Egy)
         11/8, 11/8, 11/7 (38m)
[16] Alex Gough (Wal) bt [Q] Simon Rosner (Ger)
          11/8, 9/11, 11/4, 11/6 (53m)
[2] Jonathon Power (Can) bt [Q] Matthew Giuffre (Can)
          11/1, 11/0, 11/1 (16m)

Women's qualifying results

Past, Present & Future
of Squash in NY
Beth Rasin reports from New York

The past, present and future of professional squash were all on display as the first round of the men’s draw concluded on the glass court in Grand Central Terminal in front of a lively crowd.

The stands were packed for New York fan favourite,
Canada’s Jonathon Power, but the crowd didn’t get to see much squash. Four-time champion Power allowed his opponent and countryman, qualifier Matthew Guiffre, just two points in the match which lasted only 15 minutes.

Colombian qualifier Bernardo Samper, who was a national intercollegiate champion at Trinity University in Connecticut, had a very vocal cheering section but opponent Gregory Gaultier of France was undaunted. The first Colombian player ever to make the main draw at the Tournament of Champions, Samper was thunderstruck by his opponent’s pace. “The pace at which the top guys play is just another stratosphere“, Samper said after the match.

Defending champion Anthony Ricketts needed four games to dismiss Ireland’s qualifier, Liam Kenny. “I had some good patches and some bad patches out there today,” said Ricketts, for whom winning the 2005 championship was a major turning point in his career. “Winning this tournament last year really got my career back on track, and I’d be thrilled to win it again, but I have to take it one match at a time.”

Qualifier Mark Heather, an assistant teaching pro at New York Athletic Club where the qualifying matches were played, had a big contingent in the stands who were thrilled when he snatched a game from ninth seed Nick Matthew.

Three time titlist Peter Nicol, playing in his last Tournament of Champions, took almost an hour to defeat the young Aussie Cameron Pilley. “I am feeling quite strong and fit,” said Nicol, “but I will certainly have to play better in the next round.”

The day started with the most improved player of the past year, 28-year-old Australian Stewart Boswell, facing 34-year-old Mark Chaloner. Boswell, who reached a career high #4 ranking three years ago and then was off the tour for two years with a back injury, secured a place in the second round with consistent play.

England’s top player, 24-year-old James Willstrop, described his straight game victory over Egyptian Mohammed Abbas as the “best possible result”, keeping him fresh for his second round encounter with Nick Matthew. “I want to win this tournament, and to do that, I’ll have to beat five bloody hard blokes in a row,“ Willstrop said.

Fittingly, the day’s play ended with 18-year-old qualifier Simon Rosner of Denmark, who surprised everyone (including himself) by qualifying to play in the marble halls of Grand Central against 36-year-old Alex Gough. The veteran Welshman knows Grand Central well, having played in every Tournament of Champions held there. Although the young German made everyone sit up and take notice with his attacking style of play, quickness and fast stroke work, it was the veteran who carried the day for the opportunity to play Jonathon Power in the second round.

Malcolm Willstrop looks at the last 16 ...

So the last 16 looks like this:

Shabana v Tuominen
Palmer v Darwish
Lincou v White
Beachill v Ryding

Nicol v Boswell
Ricketts v Gaultier
Power v Gough
Willstrop v Matthew

World Champion Shabana, Beachill, and Power should prevail, but the rest are all open to doubt, with massive matches in prospect. Several in fact would be very acceptable as finals and as interesting as it is for the spectators, for the players involved the prospect of last 16 matches as demanding as these are is quite daunting.

Shabana and Power look guaranteed, Lincou and Beachill should win; and the other four are too close to call.

Anyway my opinions are not usually worth much and if you have an opinion, get on to Betfair.

Malcolm Willstrop