Windy City Open Squash

2006 Event

25-Jan, FINAL:

[5] John White (Sco) bt [4] Amr Shabana (Egy)
11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (40m)

WHITE HOT IN COLD CHICAGO

The seats were packed and the crowd came ready to cheer on the players to their best efforts. Noisemakers ... bells and rattles were provided by the tournament committee to cheer the competitors on to victory.

Amr Shabana seemed to be flawless in the semi final against Beachill yesterday, but he couldn't find the right answer to John White's game today. It was all White in a 40 minute fast paced final that showed White's incredible accuracy and power as well as retrieving ability.

Shabana seemed to have things figured out in game two, after an onslaught of White's shots found the nick in the first game, but it wasn't enough. The pace was rapid and relentless, as both players launched attacks to the front court, a pace that favoured White, who was able to keep his errors to a minimum.

In the third game Shabana became frustrated and looked heavenward for some help, but none came. Power had been patient in his attacking game against White in the semi-final, but Shabana obviously decided to go for the shots as they came and hope to hit the nick before White. This happened rarely as White proved accurate, relatively error free and strong thoughout the match.

This was White's first tournament victory since the English Open in 2003, and should help him start to climb the rankings again after slipping to a lowly number twelve.

Full report from Phil Yarrow

©2005 SquashSite

The University
Club of Chicago

DRAW & RESULTS

PHIL YARROW REPORTS

2004 Event

SSA Global
sign up again ...

After the match, SSA Global President and Chief Executive Officr Mike Greenough announced that SSA Global would commit to being title sponsor in 2006 and make the effort to take the tournament to an even higher level.

Mr. Greenough encouraged the other sponsors to folllow suit.

24-Jan, Semi-Finals:

[4] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [1] Lee Beachill (Eng)
11-3, 11-8, 11-3 (35m)

[5] John White (Sco) bt [7] Jonathon Power (Can)
7-11, 11-10 (4-2), 11-7, 10-11 (2-4), 11-4 (94m)

Semi-Finals of Contrast
From Phil Yarrow's reports ... FULL REPORTS

The 2005 SSA Global Windy City Open semi-finals involved two pairs of players with contrasting styles.

The first match involved the skillfully deceptive Canadian Jonathon Power and the aggressive hard hitting Aussie born Scot John White. The second match, the silky smooth, consistent top seeded Englishman Lee Beachill and the rather erratic, but highly talented little Egyptian Amr Shabana.

White wins Thriller

White started poorly, a few errors helping Power to a 6-1 lead in the first from which he never recovered. Power was looking comfortable, moving well and striking the ball with authority, but unusually it was Power's opponent who was dictating the outcome of most of the rallies.

In the second White's error rate dropped, and the winners started flowing as he levelled the match on his fourth game ball with a well executed forehand cross court volley that was just out of Power's reach.

The feeling was that the match was going to rest on whether White could hit more winners than tins as he aggressively attacked the front of the court, and it paid dividends in the third, White taking it 11/7.

The fourth game was as tight as the previous two, and a no let and a tight forehand drop gave White match ball. But a loose forehand that ended in a stroke to Power followed by two tins by White and suddenly Power had game ball. On the next rally, Power lost his racket as he made his way into the back corner to retrieve a White drive, and was anguished to receive a 'no let'. But Power saved two more match balls to the delight of the crowd, and levelled the match in the tie-break.

After the disappointment of not closing out the match in the fourth game, White got himself off to a perfect start in the fifth building a quick 5-0 lead, and Power was not able to close the gap as White progressed to the final.

[5] John White (Sco) bt [7] Jonathon Power (Can)
7-11, 11-10 (4-2), 11-7, 10-11 (2-4), 11-4 (94m)

Shabana’s Magic too
much for Beachill

The crowd took a few minutes to catch their breath before the second semi-final. For Amr Shabana this tournament marked only his second time advancing beyond the quarter-finals of an event since his World Open win in December 2003, while Beachill has grown accustomed to reaching the final stages.

Shabana got off to a good start taking leads of 4-0 and 6-3, finding the nick from anywhere on the court and denying Beachill the opportunities to put him under pressure. The Egyptian rattled off the last five points to close out the game 11-3 in only 8 minutes.

Shabana continued his domination into the early part of the second game building a 5-2 lead, and although Beachill started to extend the rallies and started to find a little rhythm, Shabana still had enough winners in his racket to take a 2-0 lead.

Beachill battled hard in the early part of the third game. But he was having a hard time putting the ball away, while Shabana was demonstrating his wizardry with the racket. His touch at the front was incredible and he was finding the nick at will. From 2-3 down he rattled off the last nine points to close out the match.

[4] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [1] Lee Beachill (Eng)
11-3, 11-8, 11-3 (35m)

Windy City Open 2005 Chicago, USA, 22-25 Jan, $50k
Round One Jan 22	Quarters Jan 23	Semis Jan 24	Final Jan 25
[1] Lee Beachill (Eng) 11-5, 11-10 (2-0), 11-5 Mohammed Abbas (Egy)	Lee Beachill 11-7, 11-3, 11-1 (33m) Wael El Hindi	Lee Beachill 11-3, 11-8, 11-3 (35m) Amr Shabana	Amr Shabana 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (40m) John White
[6] Nick Matthew (Eng) 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8 (80m) [Q] Wael El Hindi (Egy)
[4] Amr Shabana (Egy) 11-3, 11-2, 6-11, 22-4 (40 m [Q] Cameron Pilley (Aus)	Amr Shabana 8-11, 11-6, 11-6,11-6 (50m) James Willstrop
[8] James Willstrop (Eng) 11-3, 11-7, 11-9 (35m) Anthony Ricketts (Aus)
Graham Ryding (Can) 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 (32m) [5] John White (Sco)	John White 11-6, 4-11, 11-7, 11-10 (2-0) (55m) Laurens Jan Anjema	John White 7-11, 11-10 (4-2), 11-7, 10-11 (2-4), 11-4 (94m) Jonathon Power
[Q] Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 (40m) [3] Peter Nicol (Eng)
[Q] Simon Parke (Eng) 11-4, 11-2, 11-4 (30m) [7] Jonathon Power (Can)	Jonathon Power 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-4 (60m) Thierry Lincou
Dan Jenson (Usa) 11-4, 11-4, 9-11, 11-9 [2] Thierry Lincou (Fra)

* [5] Gregory Gaultier w/d injured

Qualifying:

Finals, 21-Jan:
Simon Parke (Eng) bt Jonathan Kemp (Eng) 11-9, 4-11, 11-5, 11-3
Cameron Pilley (Aus) bt Shahid Zaman (Pak) 11-10 (3-1), 11-8, 11-8
Laurens Anjema (Ned) bt Mark Heather (Eng) 11-7, 11-9, 11-6
Wael El Hindi (Egy) bt Joey Barrington (Eng) 11-8, 10-12, 11-10 (4-2), 8-11, 11-7

Round One, 20-Jan:
Simon Parke (Eng) bt Jago Nardelli (Eng)             11/1, 11/3, 11/1
Jonathan Kemp (Eng) bt Kumail Mehmood (Pak)   11/3, 11/6, 11/5
Shahid Zaman (Pak) bt Stephane Galifi (Fra)        11/7, 3/11, 11/9, 11/7
Cameron Pilley (Aus) bt Beau River (Usa)            11/8, 11/4, 11/3
Mark Heather (Eng) bt Shahier Razik (Can)          5/11, 12/10, 11/5, 11/7
Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) bt Nick Kyme (Ber)    10/12, 11/6, 14/12, 11/7
Joey Barrington (Eng) bt Niall Rooney (Irl)           11/4, 11/6, 11/5
Wael El Hindi (Egy) bt Rob McFadzean (Usa)         11/2, 11/4, 11/5

WINDY CITY REPORTS