Owens Shows Her Class
Martin Bronstein, Squashtalk reporter on the scene at Grand Central Terminal

by Martin Bronstein, Live at Grand Central Terminal, New York, 24 Feb 2003
All content © 2003 Squashtalk, photos: © 2003 Debra Tessier

[view the mens draw/results]    [women's draw/results]
CAROL NOT STOPPABLE TONIGHT

She runs all day long, is in the best condition of her life and is blessed with a superbly safe backhand that can put the ball high down the wall or soaring for a cross court lob, but against someone of Owens class you have to be able to put the ball away and this is something that Tranfield will have to work on for the next six months.

Owens looked relaxed and played the sort of squash you expect from someone who has been at the top for so long. An easy court movement together with good racket skills plus the ability to really put the ball away for a winner makes her a very hard lady to beat. While Tranfield gave it her best she could never manage more than three points in the first two games. In the third, perhaps fatigue set in and she stopped hitting length in favour of front court shots. Owens loved it, jumped in and bang, wallop, crack, grabbed the third game 9-0 in five minutes and headed for the shower. It will be interesting to see how Tania Bailey fares against Owens in the semi-finals. My guess is, not much better than Tranfield.

MACREE FIGHTS BUT POHRER PREVAILS

Paul Carter, an official England coach, gave her some rapid words in the interval which made the England player settle down and think a little in the second game which produced immediately better results. She still had to pull herself out of a 1-5 hole which she did with great determination and gradually she started to introduce some drop shots into her game. Pohrer's standard dropped and suddenly it was 6-all, 7-all - when the serve changed hands seven times - and then 8-all. Pohrer served twice for the match at 9-8 and Macree served twice at 9-all but the final dubious point went to Pohrer on a stroke call that was unkind, to say the least, to Macree.

That 21 minute effort took the wind out of Macree's sails and she could not muster the heart or energy for any real fight in the third, going down 1-7 very quickly, capitalizing on some poor play from Pohrer to get to 5-7 , but finally losing in 9-5 in ten minutes. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had Macree taken that final point of the second game as Pohrer was beginning to look a little ragged.

Pohrer commentated that the match was a bit ragged while Macree admitted she started without any real belief in herself.

POWER EXTRACTS THE FLAIR FROM GAULTIER
Jonathon Power, wearing his own make of shoes and ridiculously long shorts, rode some strange decisions from referee Jack Allen and wore down the cheeky young Frenchman Gregory Gaultier in just under one hour to book his place in the quarter finals. It wasn't a matter of outplaying his opponent, who has fine movement and a good squash brain - as well as great determination - he wore him out with his pace, his constant volleying and by taking the ball earlier than you would expect. This triple attack does not allow Power's opponents any respite.

There was a common scenario in the first two games; Gaultier staying the pace with Power until 10-7 and then a sudden drop off by the Frenchman as the constant movement caught up with him, allowing the next five points to pass very quickly. It was only a 17 minute game, but the work rate had been hard.

In the second game Gaultier was more adventurous - even audacious at some points - forcing three errors from Power to lead 6-4. But the Canadian hauled him in to tie at 9-9 and then 10-10 at which point Gaultier lungs must have been glowing red hot and suddenly it was 15-11 after nearly 20 minutes.

Having watched Gaultier since the world junior champs at Princeton in 1998, I know this is a very fit, very determined player who does not know the meaning of surrender, but this was J.Power, a unique experience in squash. I doubt if Gaultier has ever been moved around with such pace before and the third game saw him fatigued, unwilling to run and going for shots. It was over in just over seven minutes 15-5 for Power.

It was a good match to watch - it always is when a player makes his debut against Power and the final point was greeted with huge cheers by the crowd who had come to see Power.

TOC [Full Results]
Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt Simon Parke (Eng) 15-11, 15-4, 15-10.
John White (Sco) bt Mohammed Abbas (Egy) 15-10, 17-15, 15-5
Jonathon Power (Can) bt Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 15-7, 15-11, 15-5
Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt Paul Price (Aus) 15-12 11-15 15-10 17-15

WOMEN'S OPEN [Full Results]
Cassie Jackman (Eng) bt Linda Charman(Eng) 9-7, 9-0, 6-9, 9-3
Tania Bailey (Eng) bt Rachael Grinham (Aus) 9-1, 9-5, 9-2
Carol Owens (NZ) bt Jenny Tranfield (Eng) 9-3, 9-3, 9-0
Natalie Pohrer (USA) bt Rebecca Macree (Eng) 9-0, 10-9, 9-5..