Atkinson Rally Overtakes Macree
Rob Dinerman, Squashtalk reporter on the scene at Grand Central

by Rob Dinerman, Live at Grand Central Terminal, New York, 23 Feb 2005
All content © 2005 Squashtalk, photos: © 2005 Debra Tessier

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Macree's Antics At Their Height
Trailing two games to one and understandably increasingly frustrated by her opponent's intolerable antics, second seed Vanessa Atkinson showed the stuff of the world champion she recently became with a strong rally that earned her a 9-1 3-9 7-9 9-3 9-4 victory over sixth seed Rebecca Macree and her first-ever berth in the Tournament Of Champions semis. Atkinson, making her first major-tournament appearance since winning the 2004 World Open title a few months ago, will now face Vicky Botwright, whose 9-1 9-4 6-9 9-1 late-night win over British compatriot Jenny Duncalf represented her first-ever career advance to the semi-final round of a major WISPA tournament.

All credit should be given to Macree both for attaining the WISPA top-10 while overcoming the handicap of being deaf and for maintaining this formidable standing despite being, at 33 years and eight months, the oldest player to reach the quarters of this event. She gets praiseworthy depth on her ground strokes from both flanks, evinces noteworthy shot-selection skills from the cumulative experience of her 15 full-time years on tour, never gives up and is an excellent counter-puncher (especially on a disguised backhand cross-court drop shot that frequently wrong-footed Atkinson in the middle games) when drawn up front.

But both watching her play and playing against her can be brutal experiences, between the FOUR emphatic and excruciatingly spaced-out ball-bounces she indulges in before virtually every one of her serves, the pained facial expressions and wailing imprecations that accompany almost every referee's decision (even obvious ones) that goes against her and, most annoyingly, her constant in-point pushing, shoving and failure to clear. A several-month suspension a few years ago does not appear to have had any chastening effect, and at times even the usually imperturbable Atkinson seemed clearly to have been affected by what Macree was subjecting her to.

This was particularly true during the second and third games, in both of which the Dutch star played well below her standard (as she also had in parts of Monday's four-game first-round win over Fiona Geaves), and when a late-game rally in the third fell just short on a tinned backhand working-boast that appeared to have a desperate quality to it, Atkinson seemed to be in real danger of a premature ousting at the hands of an opponent who had often defeated her years back before Atkinson reversed the trend more recently.

But even with the whole flow of the match (as well as the opening pair of fourth-game points) going against her, Atkinson was able to make a stand and regain the control she had displayed throughout her first-game 9-1 domination. During sustained charges to leads of 8-2 in the fourth game and 6-0 in the fifth, she abandoned the early-point shot-making approach that had gotten her into trouble and instead work the point, re-establishing her piercing ground game and creating openings from an increasingly fatigued Macree that Atkinson was then able to seize upon for winning drops. And her volleyed backhand working-boast on balls that she previously had been hitting rails off of stretched Macree out to a degree that eventually took a toll on the latter's legs.

There still would be one more dicey moment, when Macree, who seemed out of it at 0-6, climbed all the way back to 4-6, but Atkinson got the serve back on a wall-scraping forehand rail and was able to close the match out, well more than an hour after it had begun, on a shallow cross court that an exhausted Macree was able to get her racquet on. It is a sign of the exceptional depth of the WISPA tour that even a top player can really struggle when she is having even a slightly off day (fourth seed and U. S. Open champion Natalie Grainger's five-game first-round loss to Duncalf points this up as well), and it is a sign as well of how far Atkinson has progressed as a competitor that even on nights like Tuesday evening, when she did not play her best squash by any means, she was still able to lift her game enough to win against a solid and relentless opponent when it mattered most.

The same can not yet be said of the much-younger Duncalf, whose dynamism, excellent hands and wonderful agility, all of which were on display in her exciting, match-ball-saving Grainger win a day earlier, still need to be tempered with an element of patience that was lacking in her match with Botwright last night. She was going for winners before the opportunity to do so had really presented itself, too many times with metallic results, and the impetuous nature of her attack contrasted unfavorably with the steady and composed manner with which Botwright (a first-round winner over qualifier Pamela Nimmo) performed. Both tkinson and Botwright will be able to rest on Wednesday while the top-half quarter-final matches (Rachael Grinham vs. Jenny Tranfield and Natalie Grinham vs. Linda Elriani) are played this evening. The semis are set for Thursday evening with the final to precede the men's final on Friday.

Vanessa Atkinson d Rebecca Macree, 9-1 3-9 7-9 9-3 9-4
Vicky Botwright d Jenny Duncalf, 9-1 9-4 6-9 9-1.