St. David Beats Holy Joe
Martin Bronstein, Squashtalk reporter on the scene at Grand Central Terminal

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

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

The second game was squash of the very best; it would be hard to imagine any other two players producing better quality, greater accuracy or more variety.

Kneipp's work in the air was magical, while Palmer , his halo slipping just occasionally, showed an equal range of shots and some wonderfully swift reactions at the front of the court. The change of pace, the shift from front to back and the courtesy the players showed for each other kept the packed house enthralled. They were level to 12-12 and when Palmer pulled away to win the game after 22 minutes there were the odd signs that Kneipp's tank was approaching empty.

In the third game the rallies were not quite as long - although just as entertaining - and Palmer, who led most of the way checked a Kneipp comeback from 7-10 to move to 12-9 and after a cracking rally at the front of the court at 12-11, took the game 15-12.

Kneipp's race was run and in the third game served out three times (complaining that the front wall was out of true) to give Palmer the game 15-4.

If the American people constantly exposed to squash of this quality, it can't be long before the boom that Britain had in the 70's will happen in the US.

YANK BEATS BRIT
A dishonest headline: Natalie Pohrer, playing under the flag of her American husband, despite her British /South African background, took a fairly easy 3/0 victory over Stephanie Brind. It was a lacklustre affair with Brind all at sea as far as strategy is concerned. Apart from hitting far too many loose shots - blessings for someone with Pohrer's rackets skills - Brind went short too often, the last thing a player of her limited abilities should do when playing a shooter like Pohrer. Brind's drop shots were too high and too hard and almost every time she took the game to the front of the court, she lost the point. Boring as it may be, against someone like Pohrer, the rule is tight length; if Brind had had the discipline to follow that, she would found that it was Pohrer who was making the errors in trying for winners from impossible positions. Pohrer won in three in 33 minutes, a light training session, really, and not a good preparation for her second round match against Rebecca Macree.

DURBACH TESTS RICKETTS
Rodney Durbach put up unexpected opposition to stop an expected 3/0 rout when the world number seven Anthony Ricketts of Australia faced the world number 36 (Durbach). Ricketts showed his usual pace and accuracy in taking the first game 15-6 but Durbach, coming up for his 31st birthday, has been around a long time and knew how to stay with Ricketts on both pace and accuracy. Ricketts can still emit smoke through his ears in anger and as Durbach gradually took the upper hand, Ricketts got more and more erratic finally giving the second game away 15-9.

Suddenly we had a real fight and the third game went to extra points after Ricketts had reach game point first. Durbach then went to game point at 16-15 only to see Ricketts fire in the last two winners to win 17-16 and then get back to his position of supremacy to take the last game 15-7 to close out the 76 minute battle.

TOC [Full Results]
Peter Nicol bt James Willstrop 15-7, 15-10, 15-8.
David Palmer (Aus) bt Joe Kneipp (Aus) 7-15, 15-113, 15-12, 15-4.
Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt Rodney durbach (RSA) 15-6, 9-15, 17-16, 15-7

WOMEN'S OPEN [Full Results]
Jenny Tranfield (Eng) bt Vanessa Atkinson Neth) 9-2, 5-9, 9-3, 9-0.
Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt Vicky Botwright (Eng) 9-6, 9-7, 9-3.
Tania Bailey (Eng) bt Jenny Duncalf (Eng) 9-2, 9-5, 9-1.
Cassie Jackman (Eng) bt Natalie Grinham (Aus) 9-1, 9-5. 9-1
Linda Charman (Eng) bt Isabelle Stoehr (Fra) 10-8, 9-2, 9-3.
Rebecca Macree (Eng) bt Fiona Geaves (Eng) 9-4, 9-6, 9-4
Natalie Pohrer (US) bt Stephanie Brind (Eng) 9-5, 9-2, 9-3.