Vanessa All Dried Out
Martin Bronstein, Squashtalk reporter on the scene at Grand Central Terminal

by Martin Bronstein, Live at Grand Central Terminal and Yale Club, New York, 23 Feb 2003
All content © 2003 Squashtalk, photos: © 2003 Debra Tessier

[view the mens draw/results]    [women's draw/results]

ATKINSON DRIES OUT
Dutch Champion Vanessa Atkinson was knocked out of the Women's Open by England's Jenny Tranfield and some bacteria-filled soup she bought in the food hall at Grand Central Station. After being ill through the night, Atkinson could last just two games before dehydration took hold and by the fourth game she could barely walk, never mind run.

This first two games were of the very highest order with both players using their brains: shot selection was impeccable and they both were reading their opponents extremely well. Although Tranfield won the first game 9-2, Atkinson still appeared to be fit and she came back to dominate her opponent with both length and carefully timed boasts. When she took the game 9-5, it appeared we were in for a battle of quality squash. But at 3-3 in the third they had a super-long rally that had the small group of spectators at the Yale Club gasping. It was, sadly, a rally too long for Atkinson and she faded rapidly to lose that game 9-3 and then simply go through the motions to lose 9-0 in the fourth and stagger off court. She got sympathy for coach Liz Irving, but sympathy doesn't help when you've been felled by a bug in a major tournament.

Tranfield, a PhD in sports sciences, put her success down to some very hard work under the eye of former England number one Sue Wright, who now has her own squash academy in Oxford, England.

"I'm fitter than I've ever been. I've been working with Sue for about 15 months now. She told me it would take 18 months of hard work to get in the top eight. I should be twelve in the next rankings so she's on target," she told me after the match.

PRESENT AND FUTURE CHAMPIONS
I made the hundred yard dash from the Yale Club into Grand Central Terminus in time to see the present world number one, Peter Nicol, face a future world number one James Willstrop. Fortunately I got in with my press pass, otherwise, every ticket was sold (and in fact all evening sessions are sold out for the rest of the week). Which accounts for a constantly smiling John Nimick and the pile of sandwiches and drinks in the press room.

This Tournament of Champions could well be known as the Willstrop TOC. If the fans didn't know he was before this week, they certainly do now. After a hard match against Alister Walker in the first round of the qualifying tournament and an even harder five-game 90-minute battle against Shahier Razik, Willstrop then beat former junior world champion Karim Darwish in yet another five gamer in the first round of the main draw. Three hard games in three days and his reward was a second round match against Nicol. Unjust!

It would be sensational to report that he beat Nicol, but that would be too much like Disneyland. He lost in three - surprising that he could stand up really. Nicol was his usual near-perfect self, but that didn't stop Willstrop beating him with some of his superbly diguised shots. After the first 13 minute game, it was announced that Willstrop tweaked his back and would take a 3-minute injury break. Nobody told Willstrop who returned to the court at the same time as Nicol. He hurried back to get some manipulation from the England physio as a bemused Nicol asked the referee if he was sure.

There were some fine rallies in the next two games, but except for a small stretch at the start of the second, Willstrop was always in arrears. While Darwish the previous day could not get the ball past the tall kid form Yorkshire, and paid the price once Willstrop got in front, Nicol knew exactly how to get the ball to the back wall and then follow it with an impeccable drop. Willstrop never gave up ('James will always play with passion' Nicol told me before the game) but he knew that Nicol was too much even for him. The capacity crowd warmed immediately to Willstrop and they whistled and hooted their approval.. As indeed they should: this is a player of exception talent, whose skill with the racket from any angle is quite phenomenal.

TOC [Full Results]
Peter Nicol bt James Willstrop 15-7, 15-10, 15-8.

WOMEN'S OPEN [Full Results]
Jenny Tranfiedlld (Eng) bt Vanessa Atkinson(Neth) 9-2, 5-9, 9-3, 9-0.