By Alan Thatcher
The Davenport North American Open continues to grow in status and influence.
This PSA World Series Gold event brings the world’s leading players to Richmond, Virginia, each year, just as winter turns into spring.
As well as providing a fabulous week of high-class entertainment on the glass court set up in the Westwood Club, the event is sowing seeds for squash to flourish throughout Virginia.
These may have been tiny shoots a few years ago, but the development of the tournament has helped to raise the profile of the sport so much that a number of new projects are in the pipeline to satisfy the demand of a growing squash community in the Commonwealth.
New clubs and courts are being planned for Richmond and Charlottesville And while tournament organizers are reluctant to take any undue credit, promoter Gus Cook says: “Although these projects cannot strictly be associated with the NAO, there is certainly some connection due to the visibility of the event and the increased awareness of the sport in general.”
This year’s tournament, expertly managed by Cook, Winston Price, David Hetherington and an army of enthusiastic volunteers, produced plenty of talking points. To start with, Davenport returned as title sponsor, with Brown’s Jaguar as presenting sponsor.
The Westwood Club offered a warm welcome and was dressed to the nines with a new Skybox down the left-hand wall offering a superb, elevated view of the action.
The weather fluctuated wildly all week, beginning with a deep snowfall on the Sunday, followed by a rise in temperature to the mid-70s within three days and finishing with tornado warnings.
Apart from the weather, the main talking point was the return of squash whirlwind Ramy Ashour, the Egyptian genius who had been out of action for several weeks with a variety of connected injuries in the hip, knee and thigh areas.
As he demolished world champion Nick Matthew in the semifinals, he looked to be back to his best with a thrilling performance that avenged defeats in the two previous finals after winning it himself by beating Matthew in 2009.
Not only that, he delivered victory in such spectacular fashion that many considered his fourth consecutive appearance in the NAO final, despite being against a resurgent James Willstrop, to be something of a formality.
Few could see how Willstrop would cope with such a barrage of winners being fired in from all corners of the court.
However, Willstrop delivered a performance of such impressive discipline and quality that he had Ramy in his pocket for almost the entire match, winning 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 in 51 minutes.
Ultimately, Ashour was satisfied with reaching the final in his comeback tournament. Willstrop, on the other hand, was quietly delighted that he had delivered a consistent winning formula in a week when he had returned to the world number one position.
His rivalry at the top of the rankings with fellow Englishman Matthew is a fascinating contest.
Willstrop’s three major victories at the back end of 2011 had catapulted him to the top of the rankings for the first time in his career as Matthew struggled with a hamstring injury. However, Matthew quickly won it back when he staged his own comeback in New York and toppled Willstrop in the final of the Tournament of Champions at Grand Central.
Because of the intricacies of the PSA ranking system, Willstrop needed only reach the semifinals in Richmond to return to the top in March. He expended very little energy in doing so as his quarterfinal opponent, Amr Shabana, retired with a knee injury after just one game.
That set the scene for two tumultuous semifinal battles, with Willstrop facing Gregory Gaultier of France and Matthew, who had looked below-par all week, tackling Ashour.
Matthew had been kept on court for 92 worrying minutes by Colombia’s Miguel Angel Rodriguez in the first round and admitted: “I thought I might be on the next plane home.”
He dropped a game to Finland’s Olli Tuominen in the second round and withstood a ferocious barrage from Germany’s Simon Rosner in the quarterfinals before taking the court against Ashour.
Amazingly, the spring-heeled Egyptian fought back from 10-7 down in the first game to win 12-10 and produced a phenomenal recovery to win the second 13-11 after trailing 8-4.
Matthew was demoralized after blowing two crucial leads and fell away badly in the third. Ashour took less than six minutes to win it and wrapped up victory in 52 minutes.
Diving around the court to retrieve what looked like certain winners, he played shots behind his back and conjured up a succession of astonishing kills that drew admiration from his fellow professionals.
Indian number one Saurav Ghosal Tweeted: “That proves Ramy is an alien— he plays squash from another planet.”
As for Matthew, he admitted: “Ramy was too sharp. I have got some important lessons to learn from that. It was hard to push on in the third when I could, and possibly should, have been 2-0 up. I was weak in the third, though. I didn’t help myself with the amount of time I spent on court in the early rounds. I can’t beat Ramy like that. He’s too good.”
Earlier, Willstrop had booked his place in the final with a 97-minute victory over Gaultier. Willstrop was in outstanding form as he completed his fourth consecutive victory over Gaultier to reach his first Richmond final since winning here in 2008, also against the Frenchman.
After the opening two games took nearly an hour to complete, the 6ft 4in Willstrop’s superior strength was clearly evident as he dominated the third and fourth. Seven inches taller than Gaultier, Willstrop appeared to physically intimidate his opponent, who complained to tournament referee Mike Riley that his path to the ball was being blocked.
However, in the later stages of the match the issue was fitness and conditioning, and that’s where the committed vegetarian Willstrop had the edge.
A year ago, Willstrop was left exhausted by the enormous demands of endless matches and grueling travel schedules.
He admitted: “I suffered a bit of a meltdown when all the matches and the flights caught up with me. Since then I have tried to be a bit smarter with the way I do things.”
He was certainly playing smart squash in the final, applying a measured and disciplined approach to every rally. His drives were high and deep and if anything loose was offered up by Ashour, Willstrop chopped it short with soft, straight volley drops on both sides.
His front-court drop shots were also immaculate, and he bought time against a normally fast, rampaging opponent with intelligent use of lobs instead of hard cross-courts.
It was almost like a reincarnation of Jonah Barrington and Peter Nicol as the methodical Willstrop contained and subdued his opponent to dictate the rhythm of the final.
Willstrop raced out to a commanding 5-0 lead in the opener, withstood a string of solid points by Ashour, before Willstrop closed it out, 11-7. And despite a tighter start to the second, Willstrop broke free from 5-5 to win it 11-8.
Ashour led 7-6 in the third and the Richmond crowd were roaring encouragement every time he won a point, especially when he flicked the ball into the nick while off balance, but Willstrop again turned the screw. His immaculate precision produced a crucial run of points as he edged towards the title.
Ashour hit a volley into the tin to put Willstrop level at 7-7, and a loose shot from the Egyptian gave Willstrop a simple straight drive winner to the back of the court.
Ashour was then unable to scrape a Willstrop shot off the side wall and the tall Yorkshireman moved to match ball with a forehand drop. He clinched the match when Ashour conceded a penalty stroke in the front left corner.
World champion Matthew Tweeted: “I don’t think many people expected that. James played a tactical master-class and deserved the win.”
Ashour conceded: “James was brilliant today, but I am just happy to have got to the final.”
Willstrop savored the moment as he held the trophy aloft before a packed crowd and said: “I had to find a way to contain Ramy’s attacking play. He will hit winners all day if you let him but I was very pleased with the way I played.
“The whole idea is to frustrate him and stop him playing. That’s what squash is about. You have to retrieve. That’s part of the frustration for him because I was continuously getting balls back. With a shot-player like him, he wants to hit winners all the time. “It feels good to be back at number
one, and this time I hope I can stay there a bit longer.”
Willstrop has recently self-published a book (A Shot and A Ghost) detailing the ups and downs of life on the world squash tour. I hope he updates it with a chapter on the last six months as he turned his own world upside down.
Wild Night for Wild Card Chifunda
Not many Monday sessions fill the gallery in any major tournament but what an atmosphere the “Patrick Chifunda Fan Club” created as they turned out en masse to cheer on their hero in the first round of the Davenport North American Open.
Chifunda hurled himself around the court, wrongfooted Thierry Lincou a couple of times with his inside-out hardball-style reverse angles and had the crowd roaring every time he hit a winner.
Former world champion Lincou was the perfect opponent for such an occasion. A gentleman on and off court, he looked thoroughly professional as he won the opening two games 11-3 but sportingly declined to ask for lets or strokes in the third as he entered into the spirit of the occasion to the delight of the crowd.
He would never admit it, but Thierry dollied up a couple of easy balls which Patrick stuck away with relish.
Both players earned a standing ovation at the end of the match.
Patrick said: “Thierry is such a great guy, a role model and an inspiration. It was such a great match to play even though I felt very nervous at the start, knowing that so many people had turned up to watch.”
Everyone agreed that the highlight off the show was a spectacular dive from Chifunda in the third game, followed by a killer volley straight down the line.
Growth of Squash in Virginia
ACAC at ShortPump in Richmond town center will open a new full fitness club in September that will include two singles and one doubles court. This will be open to the public meaning a monthly fee but no other restrictions.
The Boars Head club in Charlottesville will open a new squash facility in February 2013 that will include 11 singles and 2 doubles courts. This will be primarily for the University of Virginia squash programs but will also offer public memberships and include junior and hoped-for urban youth programs.
The Virginia Squash Center facility in Richmond is on the drawing board but the backers of this project stress that they are still at the fund-raising stage. The plans include ten singles and two doubles courts. The center will have as its target the inner city youth and will be open to the public.
At the Westwood Club, due to the increase in demand on their single squash court, discussions are taking place about converting one of their two racquetball courts.
Similar discussions are taking place at the Downtown Y, where members are hoping to convert some racquetball courts for squash use.
