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Site updated on 02/05/2001
The CSFBdirect
Tournament of Champions 2001,
presented by NYSC Feb 3 - Feb 9 2001,
Grand Central Terminal, New York
Tournament of Champions round one, day one.
Reported by Martin Bronstein
TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS 2001
Martin Bronstein reporting from Grand Central Terminal Saturday Feb 3 2000.
SUPER SATURDAY
After the disappointment of yesterday's qualifying matches, we were rewarded
with some fine first round squash in the sun-splashed Grand Central Station.
John Nimick improves the tournament year by year and this year it was the
seating - no builder's scaffolding to be seen in the enlarged seating area,
just solidly built bleachers with decent seats. He even promised special seating
for the press. It was a good move to start on Saturday, giving the usually
sparsely watched first round matches a pretty good attendance starting at
noon when Del Harris and Lee Beachill fought an all-England battle.
NOT SO OLD LEGS AFTER ALL
I'm being careful to avoid the very large Mr Harris since the end of the match;
yesterday I suggested that the fast-rising Beachill might just be too much
for the aging legs of Del Harris. Wrong again. Del still moves well, thinks
well and hits some crashing winners and while he dropped the second game quite
lamely, he fought well in the third to come back from 9-12 down to win 15-12.
The game was a little longer than it should be because the door of the court kept opening as though the ghost of a long-dead railroader was haunting the place. It is strange that we can put people on the moon and clone sheep but cannot come up with a decent door lock for a squash court. I cannot tell you some of the finger-breaking devices I have seen on courts costing up to $100,000
Anyway, Nimick made his claim for a place next to daVinci, Henry Ford and Alexander Graham Bell by coming up with a super hi-tech device to make sure the door stayed closed. An elastic band. It worked. Beachill seemed to lose heart in the fourth - he could not have been tired - and went for silly shots. Harris was in full flow and his specialty - the overhead smash into the nick- was put on display a couple of times. Del took the last game 15-9 in 12 minutes to show that the emerging Brits still have a lot of learning to do before they take over.
NOT LONG FOR ONG
Ong Beng Hee and Derek Ryan provided a feast of thinking-man's squash. Ryan,
the Irish number one, has been around a long time and rarely plays a dud shot.
He knew how to handle Beng Hee - slowballing him with lots of high lobs. Beng
Hee said that his game plan, hatched by his coach Neil Harvey, was to volley
as often as he could but on the slow court with Ryan giving him difficult
lobs, this was difficult to do. This was wonderful squash using the entire
court and both players attacking at the slightest chance. Beng Hee won the
first game at a canter 15-4 but Ryan took the second 15-13 after trailing
most of the game. Beng Hee then raced to a 10-2 lead in the third but Ryan
fought back to 8-12 before Beng Hee ran to 15-8.
The fourth game for me was the match and they were rarely a point apart. Although Ryan is ranked well below Beng Hee who is now up to 13 in the world, on this showing there was very little between them and certainly no obvious winner, even when Beng Hee opened up a gap to lead 12-9, Ryan was still fighting and pulled back to 13-all and then 14-all. A rare error by Beng Heeputg Ryan at 15-14 and then the young Malaysian nonchalantly hit a forehand cross court into the nick to even the score. It was Ryan's turn to hit the tin to put his opponent at match ball for the second time and this time Ong Beng Hee put the ball away to go through to the second round.
BIANCHETTI TONED DOWN
Yesterday's villain was better behaved today and although he lost in three
straight to Simon Parke, Davide Bianchetti showed that he could hold his own
with the world number four despite being ranked 40 places below. There were
some wonderful attacking rallies between the two and on this showing Bianchetti
demonstrated that it only a matter of time before he is in the world top 20.
It took the lightning fast Parke 70 minutes to get his 15-9, 15-11, victory
and Bianchetti should go home to Brescia satisfied with his performance.
THE TALLEST AND THE BROADEST?
At 6ft 4" David Evans, the new world number three, is reputedly the tallest
player on the circuit while South African Rodney Durbach could be the broadest,
he certainly wouldn't look out of place in the front row of a rugby scrum.
Once again there was a huge difference in the rankings - 26 places - but for
much of the match, you would never have known. For big men they both move
remarkably well and are capable of the most delicate of touches. One dropping
duel in the front left corner, saw ten feathery drops just miss the top of
the tin and it was Durbach who had the final touch. Delightful stuff. Evans
won despite a couple of heated exchanges with the referee and Durbach, like
Bianchetti showed that he should be ranked well above his present 29.
First round (February 3 and 4) Saturday Afternoon Results:
Ong Beng Hee (Mal) beat Derek Ryan (Ire)
15-4, 13-15, 15-8, 17-15. 5)
David Evans (Wal) beat Rodney Durbach (RSA) 15-10, 15-13, 12-15, 15-7. (12)
Del Harris (Eng) beat Lee Beachill (Eng) 15-13, 6-15, 15-12, 15-9.
( 3) Simon Parke (Eng) beat Davide Bianchetti (Ita) 15-9, 15-11, 15-12.
(6) Martin Heath (Sco) beat Peter Genever (Eng) 15-9, 15-9, 15-13.
