By Whit Sheppard
Photos by Patricia Lyons/PatriciaLyonsPhotography.com
All eyes in the professional squash world were trained on Richmond (VA) the last week of February, as the 6th annual rendition of the Davenport North American Open took place on the campus of the University of Richmond in the city’s West End.
The tournament, a PSA Super Series Silver event boasting a purse of $93,750, was played on an all-glass McWil exhibition court set up on-campus in the Millhiser Gymnasium. Under the stewardship of PSA America representative Gus Cook, also the head squash pro at the Country Club of Virginia, the tournament’s profile has risen each year and this year’s field was the deepest in the tournament’s history, with eight of the PSA’s top 10 players committing to the event.
One of those players, World No. 5 and 2008 champion, James Willstrop of England, was unable to defend his title due to an inopportune virus, which left the road to the title a little more open. The draw was Egyptian-heavy at the top, with Karim Darwish, Amr Shabana and the 2008 World Open titleist, Ramy Ashour, occupying the first three slots in the seeding. Perennial stalwarts Gaultier and Lincou of France, the former fresh off a win over Nick Matthew in the finals of the Tournament of Champions in New York in late January, joined three-time World Champion David Palmer of Australia to fill out the top six seeds. Matthew, of England, came in a sleeper at the No. 8 seed, though his recent form after recovering from shoulder surgery last year suggested that he would play well above his seeding.
After weekend qualifying rounds, the Country Club of Virginia parceled out the remaining eight spots in the main draw and play got underway Monday afternoon. The match of the day was the third match of the evening session when local wildcard, Patrick Chifunda, originally from Zambia, stepped onto the court to a rousing ovation from a partisan crowd hoping to spur his chances against the No. 4 seed, Gaultier. The Frenchman took it in stride and played a crowd-pleasing match against his friend Chifunda, cruising in four games after hitting a bump in the second game of the match.
The match of the tournament’s second day was an all-African matchup between World No. 4, Ashour, and the unheralded Stephen Coppinger of South Africa, whose nimble movement belied his impressive size and power. Coppinger raced off to the early lead and had the World Champion on the ropes in the second, but the Egyptian magician scrambled back to capture the second game 12-10 and managed to progressively wear down his opponent in four games.
On Wednesday, Shabana staved off elimination against Englishman Daryl Selby, fighting back from 1-2 down to win in five, and veterans Olli Tuominen (FIN) and Wael El Hindi (EGY) played a testy match that featured multiple let calls and plenty of pleading to the referees before El Hindi advanced in three games.
Quarterfinal play on Thursday saw nothing in the way of upsets, with all four higher seeds advancing to the semifinal round without the loss of a game. Darwish beat Palmer to set up a semifinal with Ashour, while Gaultier turned back El Hindi’s bid to join his countrymen in the last four and advanced to play Matthew. Matthew eliminated Shabana, who was hampered by a recurring knee ailment.
Friday’s semifinal round provided memorable moments, with the first match between Egyptians Darwish and Ashour going 74 minutes before the reigning World Champion outlasted the current World No. 1, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7. “I was actually thinking a bit about Manchester [during the match],” said Ashour. “I lost against him last year on this court (in the QFs)…I can’t really analyze how it happens on the court—I just do it.”
The second semifinal was a reprise of January’s Tournament of Champions final in New York. Greg Gaultier was victorious there, but Nick Matthew had subsequently rounded nicely into shape and he turned the tables on the Frenchman with a 14-12, 11-9, 6-11, 11-3 win after 83 minutes of high-caliber squash in Richmond. The tone was set in the opening game when the Englishman prevailed after a tense 32 minutes of play.
Though Matthew held a 3-2 lifetime edge over Ashour coming into the final, the Egyptian came in as a slight favorite. He raced out to a 2-0 lead with a variety of drops and clever nicks, but Matthew showed why he’s such a tough player to beat by racing back to capture the next two games, sending the match into a decisive fifth game. There, Ashour kept up steady pressure in the front-court and hit a series of daring winners to capture his first tournament title since October’s World Open in Manchester, 11-8, 13-11, 10-12, 5-11, 11-8 in 91 minutes.
“I’m really happy winning this match. I think I’m back on track and have my confidence back,” Ashour reflected afterwards; a frightening prospect, perhaps, for his peers on the PSA Tour, but a welcome one for those who love the sport. The 21-year-old has a game that continues to evolve and amaze those who watch him, and Richmond certainly hopes to see him return to defend his title next year
