2nd Day, Afternoon Edition
Martin Bronstein, Squashtalk reporter on the scene at Grand Central Terminal

by Martin Bronstein, Live at Grand Central Terminal, New York, 20 Feb 2005
All content © 2005 Squashtalk, photos: © 2005 Debra Tessier

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A SAD FINISH FOR DARWISH
Karim Darwish had a rude shock today when faced with a player ranked 12 places below him, a player who hasn't won a tournament for a long time while Darwish won three tournaments last year.

But Olli Tuominen from Finland is a very tough player indeed. Slight of body, blonde of hair he looks more like a choir boy than a squash player. But there are lots of players out there who have gone down to Tuominen's tough, never-say-die attitude on court.

By rights Darwish, with his reservoir of international experience (starting as world junior champion back in 2000) and a best ever ranking of eight, should have had no trouble with the Finn, but Tuominen played exactly the right game against Darwish, keeping everything extremely tight to prevent Darwish using his shots and, at the right time, slotting in his own drops on both sides of the court.

Darwish tried his short game, made errors, then tried the length and running game but he was always going to come out second best. If it did ever get a test of attrition my money would be on Tuominen to be the last man standing.

Darwish cruised to the first game 11-4 in 11 minutes as expected with Tuominen looking slightly lost and overpowered. This all changed in the second game as the Finn settled down and came back from a 0-3 deficit to tie at 5-5 and lead all the way to an 11-8 victory. It was a result that unsettled Darwish as he was almost overrun in the third game but fought back from 4-7 down to tie the game at 7-7. Tuominen was now full of confidence and covering the court like a blanket, his short game putting all kinds of pressure on Darwish to put him at game ball 10-8. The game finished as a Darwish high lob struck a microphone above the outline. Had the mike not been there, the ball would have dropped legally into the back corner. The marker called the ball out and the score "Game to Tuominen, 11-8".
Darwish's appeal was met with the response "It's part of the court," from the refere Mike Riley.

None of the courts I have ever played on have had mikes built in and even this mike was added on to the MacWill court. I'm sure Mike Riley, the referee knows the rules, but it was cruel stroke of luck for Darwish to lose a point to a microphone.

It was obvious that the gods were not with Darwish because although he had a healthy lead in the fourth, 8-5, Tuominen ran off six points in a row - the last two a stroke and a no-let, to take the game 11-8 to earn a fine 3/1 victory.

Darwish will be unhappy at this result as he had already watched his Egyptian rival, Amr Shabana, win his first round match which will almost certainly increase Shabana's lead in the rankings.

His match with Bradley Ball was less than inspiring. Indeed, Shabana moved as though had yet to get out of bed. Full marks to Ball, who smacked in some fine winners of his own and thoroughly deserved to win the first game. Shabana was far from his usual ebullient, cocky self and seemed to be dragging himself grudgingly around the court. He led 7-3 in the second game and fell off the pace to allow Ball to catch up so they stood level at 9-9 and just managed to take the last two points to tie the game. From 1-5 down in the third Shabana pulled back to win 11-7 to take the lead.

The fourth game was nip and tuck all the way, Ball mixing up his game well to keep Shabana from taking control. In fact he got to game ball 10-8, but Shabana stayed cool to tie the game. He won the next point on a winner to lead 11-10 and then followed a 55 shot rally - easily the best of the match - with Ball earning the point. Shabana took his 12th point when Ball was denied a let and then hit the final point to win 13-11 and gratefully end the ordeal.

He explained why he played below par:
"I get to New York and everyone has a cold so I catch it. I'm feeling a bit better now but I felt so sluggish out there - my legs felt heavy." With Tuominen waiting for him in the next round, Shabana will need a lot of aspirin over the next 24 hours.

Lee Beachill had a nice little work out beating Mohammed Hafiz easily in 23 minutes. It was hardly a match, more of a training session and the only positive thing for Beachill is that he won't really have to wash the shirt as he hardly broke sweat.

FIRST ROUND RESULTS (bottom half)
Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Bradley Ball (ENG)9-11, 11-9 11-7, 11-10 (3-1) (48mins)
[2]Lee Beachill (ENG) bt Mohammed Hafiz (EGY) 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 (23 mins)
Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt [8]Karim Darwish (EGY) 4-11,11-8, 11-8, 11-8 (53 mins)
Graham Ryding (CAN) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-9, 11-10 (3-1), 11-8 (59 mins)

1st Round underway in Grand Central (photo: © 2005 Debra Tessier)