Rob Dinerman,
Squashtalk reporter on the scene at the Yale Club
by
Rob Dinerman, Live at Grand Central Terminal, New York, 21 Feb 2005
All
content © 2005 Squashtalk,
photos: © 2005 Debra Tessier
[view the womens draw/results] [view the qualifying draw/results]
 |
| Peter Nicol
2004 Winner - Will he win his 4th Tournament of Champions title? |
Duncalf Rally From The Brink Overtakes Grainger
After being hammered throughout the middle of her first-round Tournament Of Champions match against fourth seed Natalie Grainger, Jenny Duncalf fought off two fourth-game match-balls against her, salvaged that crossroads stanza, and whipped through a dominant 9-1 fifth to cap off a dramatic Monday afternoon at the Yale Club. The entire round of 16 was held at the Yale Club, right across Vanderbilt Avenue from Grand Central Station, whose four-glass-wall exhibition court will be hosting the women's event from the quarter-final round on.
Duncalf's 10-8 2-9 3-9 10-9 9-1 victory represented her second New York comeback win at Grainger's expense in the past few years, as the talented young English star earned her first-ever breakthrough WISPA tour victory when she rallied from an early fifth-game deficit in the first round of the 2003 U. S.
Open at Heights Casino 16 months ago. Grainger had also garnered a significant career milestone in New York when she came back from several years of injury-enforced absence in the 2002 version of this tournament with victories over Natalie Grinham and Linda Charman (now Elriani) to advance to the semis.
Both are popular and
charismatic performers, and for entertainment value this high-quality
first-round match-up fully lived up to expectations.
Grainger, a World Open finalist in 2002, Tournament Of Champions finalist
in 2003 and British Open finalist just a few months ago, sped off to a
7-1 first-game lead, which evaporated quickly (as did the pair of game-balls
she subsequently held) and eventually dissolved into a loss in a tiebreaker.
Chastened by her late-game fade-out, she stormed through one-sided second
and third games, bashing her powerful ground strokes and volleys, asserting
herself at the tee and inducing increasing disorganization to Duncalf's
normally smooth game.
The latter was being pressured to a degree that prevented her from either choosing the right shots or executing them well, and her tin count late in both those frames resulted more from the high-risk attempts she was trying than from any stroking deficiency. When Grainger then proceeded to jump out to an early advantage in the fourth as well, she appeared to be in complete control of the situation.
But slowly Duncalf began to determinedly climb back into the match, mostly through the gritty retrieving that her agility and nimbleness afoot, among the best on the entire tour, make possible. This extended the points and disrupted the rhythm that Grainger had created. The end portion of that game moved slowly and tensely along, almost inevitably to a tiebreaker that had a very pivotal feel to it even before it began. Grainger did serve twice at 9-8, match-ball, but was thwarted both times, first on a sweet Duncalf drop shot and then when she tinned a backhand volley made difficult by a widely angled Duncalf forehand cross court.
The game ended when a stroke was assessed against Grainger after her forehand rail veered too far into the middle, and that disappointing conclusion to what she had thought would be the final game appeared to haunt Grainger throughout the fifth. That game wandered raggedly through a series of early hand-out exchanges, as both players seemed to execute far better when they were receiving serve than they did when serving.
Eventually the initial impasse had to be broken, and it was when Duncalf jumped on a sequence of open balls, punching them short for winners that gave her a widening cushion and assured the outcome. By the end an exuberant Duncalf was too far ahead to be reeled in and a deflated and fatigued Grainger was in retreat.
The five-game match on the adjacent court between Alison Waters and Rebecca Macree was by contrast quite unappetizing and marked by the pushing and shoving in mid-court for which Macree unfortunately has become known. She eventually did hack her way through the fourth and fifth games against an opponent who had eliminated her from the recent British Nationals in straight-game fashion, and she will now face second seed and recently crowned World Open champion Vanessa Atkinson, who wavered a bit in the second game of her opener with Fiona Geaves before regaining control over her tiring, older foe throughout the 9-2, 9-1 third and fourth.
Jenny Tranfield was scheduled to play Tania Bailey but instead got a walkover when Bailey had to withdraw just prior to play due to illness. Tranfield will play her quarter-final Wednesday night against top seed and reigning British Open champion Rachael Grinham, who made up for her failure to convert a third-game match-ball this afternoon against qualifier Steph Brind by closing out the match with a 9-0 fourth game. Her sister Natalie prevailed over qualifier Annelize Naude and will now face Elriani, who won in a surprisingly abrupt three games over Shelley Kitchen. Duncalf will oppose Vicky Botwright, who won in four games over qualifier Pamela Nimmo. The semis will take place Thursday evening, with the final round set for Friday.
