A TALE OF 4000 MILES AND 30 MINUTES
Spain's very talented champion Borje Golan will be one name missing from the draw. After flying 4000 miles to New York, he got the time wrong for the qualifying draw and turned up at 11 am rather than the stipulated 10:30. No show, no go, say the rules and poor old Mr Golan was out, as was Imran Khan another latecomer.

Never mind, the qualifying draw was full of quality players, a rosta that any tournament would be proud to boast. How does Brett Martin versus Dan Jenson grab you as a star attraction? They met in the first round of qualifying.

But to qualify for the main draw they have to win two matches and then play a first round match against a top 20 player, You'd better be fit ?.

HARRIS HAS TO WORK
Young Mexican star Eric Galvez was super fit and then some as Del Harris, the aging English star found out. Harris took the first two games showing no signs of the virus that kept him out of the British nationals a week ago. Galvez seeming to find increased energy as the match wore on then took the next two games to force a fifth. It was here that Harris's lengthy experience came into play and he started placing the ball around the court with Galvez getting to everything, the bounce never going out of his legs. But Harris was never going to lose this match and he kept his pressure up and his accuracy at the maximum. He won the game 15-4 with Galvez looking like he could go another five games.

Rodney Durbach also had a hard time getting to the second round qualifying as a very determined Julian Wellings forced him to five games before succumbing 15-9 in the fifth.

THE ITALIAN INVASION
There were Bianchettis all over the club to watch, first of all, the big brother Davide beat Canada's Matthew Guiffre in three, and then younger brother Andrea (yes Andrea is a boy's name in Italy) lose in straight games to Jean -Michel Arcucci of France. The youngest brother was on the reserve list, and poppa Amedeo and wife were there to suffer with each shot. Amadeo's next squash annual is just about to go to press, but that is a secondary job to his main occupation which is running an alternative operation to the official Italian SRA (called FIGS) in order to get some efficiency and tournaments in Italian squash.

THE JUMPING EGYPTIAN.
The only US interest was that of Chris Gordon, knocked out by Olli Tuominen of Finland, and Tim Wyant who met Mohammed Abbas , ranked 29 in the world. Abbas is about nine feet tall, the sort of player you would feel never has to jump for anything. But whenever Wyant tried lob him, Abbas would leap upward to slam the ball into the nick. It was the sort of action seen more in badminton or a slam dunk in basketball. Even the other pros sitting watching were surprised by this new squash move. And then to rub salt in to the would Abbas sent a series of soaring lobs over Wyant's head to send the young American scampering to the back of the court, boast, run to cover the drop only to see the ball soaring to the back again. Four of these on the run and all the elastic had been taken out of Wyant's legs and willpower from heart. Abbas won in three.

WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPION NOT A BAD SENIOR
James Willstrop the world junior champion, met another young English player, Alister Walker, one of the few dreadlock players on the circuit. He made Willstrop work harder than anyone would have guessed. His movement, especially from the back of the court to pick up Willstrop's butter-oft drops, was superb. Indeed Walker, who comes out of the same stable as Mark Chaloner and now Rodney Durbach, led in the first game 13-12, only to lose 15-13 and led all the second game only to lose by the same score. He finally kept the lead all the way through in the third to win it, but dropped off the pace slightly in the fourth as Willstrop shifted his emphasis to the front of the court to win . this was fine squash requiring very little help from the referee as the two players showed how to play the game in the true spirit of sportsmanship.

Best match of the afternoon.

Tournament of Champions 2003
QUALIFYING First round results
Olli Tuominen (Fin) bt Chris Gordon (US) 15-5, 15-4, 15-1.
Davide Bianchetti (Ita) bt Matthew Guiffre (Can) 1512, 15-11, 15-4 (42 mins)
Viktor Berg (Can) vs James Rogers (Aus)
Karim Yehia (Egy) vs Wael El Hindi (Egy)
Del Harris (Eng) bt Eric Galvez ( Mex) 17-15, 15-11, 9-15, 12-15, 15-4.
Liam Kenny (Ire) bt Patrick Chifunda (Zam) vs 15-8, 15-7, 15-8 (46 mins)
Rodney Durbach (RSA) bt Julian Wellings (Eng)15-10, 11-15, 15-5, 13-15,15-9
Jonathon Kemp (Eng) bt Stefan Casteleyn (Bel) 15-5, 15-13, 15-6 (26mins)
Mohammed Abbas (Egy) bt Tim Wyant (US) 15-7, 15-6, 15-3.
J.M Arcucci (Fra) bt Andrea Bianchetti (Ita) 15-11, 15-7, 15-8.
Peter Genever (Eng) vs Ben Garner (Eng)
Adrian Grant (Eng) bt Matt Jenson (Aus) 15-9, 15-7, 15-3.
Mark Heather bt Shahier Razik (Can) 3/0
James Willstrop (Eng) bt Alister Walker (Eng) 15-13, 15-13, 9-15 15-9.
Dan Jenson (Aus) vs Brett Martin (Aus)
Gregory Gaultier (Fra) vs Rob Mcfadzean (RSA)