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TODAY at the Windy City Open
17-Jan, QUALIFYING FINALS:
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 Qualifying
Finals:
refresh for the latest
[7] Badr Abdel Aziz (Swe) bt
Michael Joint (Aus)
11/3, 11/8, 11/5 (28m)
plays R Ashour
[3] Amr Mansi (Egy) bt Ryan Donegan (Usa)
11/7, 11/7, 11/5 (29m)
plays Abbas
[6] Mark Krajcsak (Hun) bt Wade
Johnstone (Aus)
10/11(0-2), 11/5, 11/5, 11/6 (48m)
plays Tuominen
Julian Illingworth (Usa) bt [8]
Christopher Gordon (Usa)
11/2, 11/4, 11/10(2-0) (35m)
plays Grant
[4] Scott Handley (Eng) bt Laurent
Elriani (Fra)
11/8, 9/11, 11-10(2-0), 11/2 (53m)
plays Pilley
[5] Tom Richards (Eng) bt Robin
Clarke (Can)
11/6, 11/9, 11/6 (30m)
plays Boswell
[2] Daryl Selby (Eng) bt Patrick Bedore (Can)
EN Bref Issue #3
11/5, 11/4, 11/0 (29m)
plays Willstrop
[1] Stacey Ross (Eng) bt Mohd AA Reda (Egy)
8/11, 11/6, 11/9, 11/10(3-1)
(85m) plays Beng Hee
Framboise
reports from the University Club ... |
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Badr Abdel Aziz (Swe) bt Michael
Joint (Aus)
11/3, 11/8, 11/5 (28m)
AZIZ STRAIGHT FORWARD
 A
good warm up for Sweden's Badel Abdel Aziz, with a good defence from
Australian veteran Michael Joint. Aziz was not afraid of lengthening
the rallies, nice up and down traditional rallies, a few impatient
tins, but nothing to worry about. Michael on the other hand was
anticipating his opponent’s shot rather well, but a bit too much
pressure unfortunately led to too many errors .
Very few calls (I counted siz in the whole match), a very friendly
atmosphere on court, Joint never giving up and nearly snatching the
second after being down 10/4 coming back to 10/8, and still fighting
and kicking in the third…
A good start to the day.
 "I’m not used
to playing on that court at all, so my timing was off. And when you
play loose shots against these guys, you get punished again and
again… Not to mention that Aziz was just too good today…!
"Obviously, getting used to the court, the light, the general
conditions makes it harder, but even if I’d played at my best, I
don’t think I’d have been able to win today…
"But I’m still very happy with my first round, we produced good
entertainment!
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advice for Joint
 "The first
match in a tournament is always the hardest, especially as I didn’t
have a real match since before Christmas. I did what I had to do to
win, I had to push in some parts of the match, but I just did the
job…
"Michael is such an experienced player, I just couldn’t attack like
I can do sometimes, I had to work hard, push him to the back corners
before attacking. I couldn’t relax at any time, because he is so
good, and he played very well today.
"I was glad to play up and down the wall, I needed to get used to
the court. And I don’t know who I’m playing in the main round, but I
know I’ll have to push much much more than I did today…"
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Amr Mansi (Egy) bt Ryan Donegan (Usa)
11/7, 11/7, 11/5 (29m)
MANSI NEEDS TO FOCUS
Amr Mansi was lucky that he was playing against a player who doesn’t
have too much experience on the glass court, as he was all over the
place at the start of each game.
The end result is logical, but still, I was impressed by the calm
and good composure from the young American player.
His style reminds me a bit of Greg Gaultier, and it’s no wonder, as
Ryan is quite a fan of his, and has been studying his tapes a lot.
Also, he is training in England with our beloved Malcolm Willstrop,
who can inculcate better than anybody else the laid back approach to
the game.
Mansi goes through, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing this young
American again…
 "Overall
I’m happy with my performance although I made too many errors,
probably because I knew I had to attack, as he has the ability to
run down a lot of balls, and played at a faster pace than I’m used
to, I was trying to getting him to do more work than I…
"Still, happy with most of it today…"
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 "My
game is really up and down, and I was definitely down at the start
of each game, and I don’t know why!
"At the start of the match I was a bit nervous, couldn’t find my
shots, so he had a lot of space to play his shots, and he put me
under a lot of pressure. Then I got back to length and a more basic
game, and was able to put him under pressure
"I’m pleased I played better in the third, and I hope I’ll play
better in the next round…"
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Mark Krajcsak (Hun) bt Wade
Johnstone (Aus)
10/12, 11/5, 11/5, 11/6
(48m)
MARK SLOW TO START
Mark Krajcsak took his time waking up today on the glass court
against strong and fit Wade Johnstone. But once he found his marks,
stunning winners and feathery drop shots put the Australian under
too much pressure for his own good.
Still a well contested match between a “touch attacker” and a very
strong retriever with a flair for the counterattacks…
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 "I
didn’t get any practice time on the court today, so I needed a few
rallies to warm up. I was down 9/4, but I still managed to come back
and nearly take the game.
"Wade has some very good attacking shots, and as to start with, my
length was nowhere good enough, he was able to control the rallies.
As he is tall, it’s quite hard to go round him, and also, he defends
the T very well.
"At home, we don’t have any courts equipped with a 17" tin, we’re
still on the high 19", and it also took me a while to get used to
that. It makes the game more efficient, I like it.
"After the first game, I was quite confident that I could play the
game I wanted to play…
"Tomorrow, there will be no pressure on me whatsoever, I’ll try and
play my game, and do my best. I’m already very happy with the result
as I’m the first Hungarian ever to make it to the main draw of a
super series event.
"It will push my ranking up close to the top 50, which has always
been my major goal since I turned professional.
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Julian Illingworth (Usa) bt
[8] Christopher Gordon (Usa)
11/2, 11/4,
11/10(2-0) (35m)
GUTSY CHRIS,
SOARING JULIAN
It was one of those days where Julian Illingworth, who beat Bradley
Ball last week in the qualifiers of Toronto in an epic match,
couldn’t do anything wrong. All the shots were coming in
beautifully, he was fluid on court, full of confidence, and he had
to get to the middle of the third and last game before making his
first unforced errors.
And if Chris Gordon was a bit under the weather, he showed us all
today that guts is at profusion in this young man. He dug in, hung
in there, and was very close to taking the third game. He didn’t
succeed, but he’s got the medal for best effort in my book today.
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"I shot a few winners,
and he didn’t react the way he normally does, so I thought, if I
could play 20 winners without making any errors, and save me a lot
of work and energy, that would be really good…
"Mind you, not sure this game plan will work tomorrow though, I
guess I’ll do much more retrieving and defensive shots…
"At the end of the third, I started to get nervous, and made it
quite close in the end…
"I’m quite happy to get to my second super series event in a row,
that should get my ranking up hopefully…"
 "My
movement was terrible today, I was very very slow… I had a bad cold
and I’ve been practising without any envy, which is not me at all, I
love practising…
"I know he is one of the top guys I want to beat, but I’m not too
upset, he didn’t beat me at my best…
"Because of my cold, I didn’t have any confidence in my movement,
and because I didn’t have any confidence in my movement, I didn’t
have any confidence in my shots, and nothing would come off…
"But this is one part of the story. The other part is that he played
extremely well, that he just qualified for his second super series
in a row, and my congratulations to him…"
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[4]
Scott Handley (Eng) bt Laurent
Elriani (Fra)
11/8, 9/11, 11-10(2-0), 11/2 (53m)
THE MATCH OF THE DAY
Well, so far anyway, as we’ve got three more to go, but these two
really tried their utmost best today, both using the same tactic,
patient, sharp drives, waiting for the right moment, building up the
opportunity, hitting hard and beautiful attacks, then running like
lunatics to retrieve each others' close to the tin short game and
counter attack.
It was a beautiful match, all the games were 18 minutes long, apart
from the last one that went very fast, as Laurent seem to have
mentally disconnected from the match. And to show how close they
were, in the third there were five unforced errors each at 10 all,
and Laurent made two more.
It all comes down to so little sometimes…
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 "It
was a tough match from the beginning, and it all comes down to
Laurent and mine's lack of experience on the glass court. It was
very hard work from the start, I never really relaxed, never really
felt comfortable and was very tense until the fourth, where it
started to flow…
"The third was crucial, and I think it made a huge difference for
Laurent, who mentally had the problem to come back in the fourth…
"We really tried to break each other down out there today, and it
came down to just a few points…"
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Kids from Metrosquash at the University Club |
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Tom Richards (Eng) bt Robin Clarke
(Can)
11/6, 11/9, 11/6 (30m)
Two up for Tom
Tom Richards, the second Englishman on court tonight, reached his
second Super Series main draw with a straight-games win over Robin
Clarke of Canada, and if the seedings work out he will be followed
by two more Englishmen in the last two matches of the evening ....
 "This
was my third time on the glass court, I found it very very fast… I
was trying to play basic squash and lengthen the rallies, but I just
couldn’t…
"His attacks were going in pretty well, so I felt like I had to do a
bit more, accelerated the pace and made too many errors…
"It is disappointing…"
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 "This
is my second qualification for a Super Series Event, my first one
was the US Open a few weeks ago…
"I had a bit of a blip before Christmas, although I worked so hard.
So it was important for me today not to play silly squash, to make
the rallies last, which I did for most of the match, but still the
pace was quite fast and a bit scruffy because I started winning at
the start playing fast, and I thought I would keep it going instead
of slowing down the pace. So I just hit it…
"It’s very hard to play Robin, because he is such a good friend of
mine, and it adds like an edge to it, it makes it so much more
difficult and awkward…"
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Daryl Selby (Eng) bt Patrick Bedore
(Can)
11/5, 11/4, 11/0 (29m)
NOT THE BEST OF SQUASH BUT…
The first game and a half was not such a pleasant match it has to be
said. A lot of interruptions, both players talking to each other,
lots of discussion, a bit scruffy really.
Then Patrick Bedore, who used to be a pretty wild cat I’ve been
told, really calmed down, so did Daryl, and squash had at last its
right…
Well done to the Canadian to have fought until the last point, maybe
pride talking to avoid the 11/0, but still, some very good counter
attacks and a lot of retrieving. But Daryl was not to be denied. His
pace, his angles, his choice of shots in the last game were just
superb… |
"He needed to make it
hard for me, and he did it the way he knows how, by making it a bit
physical, but there is nothing wrong with that, and after the first
game, things calmed down and got much better…
"In the first two games, I was not getting on the ball enough, I was
a bit on the defensive, happy to rally with him. So in the third, I
thought I’d better speed up the pace and I really pushed hard. It
was the most tiring of the games, because in the first two I was
firing from my comfort zone.
"I’m happy with the way I played the last game, and if tomorrow, I
can play the whole match the way I played that game, I may have a
chance…"
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Stacey Ross (Eng) bt Mohd AA Reda (Egy)
8/11, 11/6, 11/9, 11/10(3-1)
(85m)
THE LONGEST MATCH…
That was a long and painful one for the players, as they really gave
it all they had. But so many interruptions. So many lets! Just to
give you an idea, at 10/9 in the second, 7 lets. Between 11/11 and
12/11 match ball, 12 lets.
Not your fluid easy going match I tell you.
Boy these two shot from all guns today. Stacey Ross, very focused
and finding really nice drop shots from far back, and Mohamed Ali
Reda, who only got to the quarter final of the BJO a few days ago,
matched shot for shot with the experienced Englishman.
Because in the end, it all came down to that, you know. Experience.
Reda looking a bit too much to his support camp, losing a bit of
focus there, also, a few impatience tins… You know the drill…
It was “la guerre des nerfs”, a “mental war” more than anything
else. All the rallies were intense, great squash, lot of running and
stunning winners. A superb end to a very long day….
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Final
preparations at the court in Cathedral Hall ... and the final result |
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15-Jan, QUALIFYING ROUND ONE:
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Qualifying Round
One:
Framboise reports from the UCC
Michael Joint (Aus) bt Tony James (Aus)
11/8, 8/11, 17/15, 8/11, 11/8 (54m)
Ryan Donegan (Usa) bt Rob McFadzean (Usa)
11/3, 11/7, 11/7 (31m)
Wade Johnstone (Aus) bt Beau River (Usa)
11/8, 11/4, 11/4 (31m)
Patrick Bedore (Can) bt Conor O'Malley (Usa)
11/1, 11/5, 11/3 (22m)
qualifying finals on Wed 17th
full qualifying draw |
Under way at the UCC ...
For the second year running the Windy City Open is the richest
squash tournament in North America, with the world's top 32 in action at
the University Club of Chicago.
The 26th edition of the event got under way with four first-round
qualifying matches which saw Michael Joint, Ryan Donegan, Wade
Johnstone and Patrick Bedore progress to the qualifying finals,
which will be contested on the all-glass court in Cathedral Hall on
Wed 17th.
Framboise reports from the University Club ...
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En Bref, Issue #2 |
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Michael Joint (Aus) bt Tony James
(Aus)
11/8, 8/11, 17/15, 8/11, 11/8 (54m)
plays Badr Abdel Aziz
SURPRISE RESULT TO START
 No
offence to Michael, but my first question to him was « How old are
you ? », as it was clear he didn’t just drop out of high school.
But the Vet, 35, had a lot to offer compatriot impetuous Tony James,
28, like glued to the wall straight drives, some good winners, and a
lot of experience.
Tony was much faster than his opponent and he seemed to enjoy the
flying around the court retrieving business, which pleased the crowd
enormously. But so many unforced errors. So many, I counted 20
against 9 for his opponent…
Experience worked today, a very nice match, even if the rallies
weren’t that long, they were still very disputed, and those two gave
us a very entertaining game indeed and the longest match of the day
by far…
 "I
think the mistakes like me, but I’m going to leave the analysis to
the experts! I’m still a wannabe at the moment…
"I gave him too many opportunities and when you give your opponent
too many opportunities, he is only too happy to take them…"
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 "We
used to train many years ago in Melbourne. Now I’m the pro at the
Detroit Athletic Club, and he lives in Cleveland.
"I had nothing to lose today, I didn't have a lot of expectations
except from having fun and playing well, which I did!
"Tony gets everything back, you think you’ve got the point, and he
keeps on sending it back to you, he has such a good stretch. It
extends the rallies, which is definitely not good for old guys like
me…"
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Ryan Donegan (Usa) bt Rob McFadzean (Usa)
11/3, 11/7, 11/7 (31m) plays Amr Mansi
BAD DAY FOR MCFAZDEAN
It was the first time I saw both of these players on court, and I
guess this was probably not the best of times for me to discover new
US team member Rob McFazdean. It was one of those days he couldn’t
do anything right. No length, no legs, the head was working well,
but the body wasn’t listening one bit.
Ryan Donegan just took point after point with assurance and aplomb.
He was precise, strong at the front (he got a few points slamming
the ball crosscourt), and very fast around the court. In other
words, impressive.
No real match today. I’m sure this will not be always the case…
 "I
seem to always suffer a lot on that court, I don’t think I’ve ever
won a first round there, it has its demons! But I still enjoy coming
here though…
"Today, I couldn’t put it together, I don’t know why exactly, I
couldn’t attack when I needed to, I couldn’t step in front when I
wanted to, he was perfectly aware of it, kept me in the back
corners… I also have some work to do on my fitness…"
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 "Rob
just made the US team, I had never played him before today, but I’ll
get to play him more and more. I went to the Pan Am games a few
months ago with the US team, and that was a big deal for me, as it
was my first cap.
"To start with, I needed to settle in, the first game was not that
sharp, but I got better as the match went on. I tried to keep him to
the back and stepped in front thanks to a faster pace and making him
work hard…
"Rob has a very good forehand, he hits it short and hard, I didn’t
have much time to do anything but lift the ball to the back, so I
started playing more and more on his backhand.
"For the final of the qualifiers, I’m just going to do my best, I’ve
done a lot of work recently, I’ll try and keep to my attritional
game, a strong and smooth style…"
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Wade Johnstone (Aus) bt Beau River (Usa)
11/8, 11/4, 11/4 (31m) plays Mark Krajcsak
BEAU OUT OF BREATH
The first rallies of this match were monstrous. Pure and simple. On,
and on, and on, forever. Wade is a clever one, isn’t he? He knew
that his opponent was out of shape, he knew his type of game, and
just kept the ball and the rallies going.
On that regime, Beau was soon out of it, trying his best to take his
time between rallies, but it was never going to be enough. With a
very similar game to Wade, Beau needed to stand the rallies, to hit
and retrieve forever. And today, he just couldn’t.
A game played in the spirit intended though, like the other matches
played today. Two sportsmen fighting fair and straight…
 "I
thought I was moving him around quite well, I tried to keep the
silly errors down, I was a bit less precise in the second and the
third, but still, after a first game spent feeling how it was going
to go, I felt pretty confident…
"I’ve been off court for a few days now thanks to a bad cold, so
it’s nice to get some court time again…
"Beau volleys very well, he creates room for himself pretty well
too, and his arms and legs are so long, he retrieves a lot…
"I saw Mark K play against Eric Galvez in the US Open, so I know our
match will be tough and long…
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"I’m studying to become a doctor in psychology, I’ve done a full
semester, just four more years to go! So, that’s my full time
activity now.
"But reading papers all day and sitting at a desk doesn’t help your
foot speed or your stamina! I just feel that I’m not fast enough
anymore, and that a faster pace is just too hard for me…
"Mark Heather and myself are pretty isolated here so it’s nice to
see our friends. I’m so glad now to just have a hit, win or lose. I
used to take it for granted, now I realise how good squash feels…
"I was trying to keep it nice and slow, nice and slow, but it felt
like my breath is gone, and that it’s not coming back…!
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Patrick Bedore (Can) bt Conor O'Malley (Usa)
11/1, 11/5, 11/3 (22m) plays Daryl Selby
Comfortable for Bedore
The final match of the day was the shortest as Patrick Bedore
eased through to the qualifying finals ...
 "I’m
not used to winning like 8 rallies in a row, so at times it was
difficult to focus and stick to my game plan when it was so one
sided…
"In the third, his length deepened, the rallies got longer, and I
was not given the same opportunity to put the ball away….
"I train with Yvan Provencal in Montreal at the MAA club, something
like twice a day, 6 days a week. I’m now fully committed to my
squash and have been for the past 12 months.
"I’m not really happy with my results, I’ve been working a lot,
don’t have the results to show for yet, but going for it this year…"
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 "I
did a lot of training for this event, then I got sick, then
Christmas, then I worked on the event coming up to this week, so not
really much time to train much. This is my first match for a month…
"I’m 27, but this is my first PSA event. I went to coaching straight
away, and never really thought about it until I got here, and I was
given the opportunity.
"It was such a great experience, Patrick played very well, played at
a very fast pace.
"I still have got some work to do to get back into shape…"
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