By Martin Heath
Photos by Patricia Lyons/PatriciaLyonsPhotography.com
What began with Gus Cook building the squash program at The Country Club of Virginia in the early 2000s, followed by the construction of three new international courts and a $10,000 1-star event at the CCV in 2004, has evolved into what is now the richest event in the Americas alongside the impressive Tournament of Champions in NY—the 2010 North American Open.
The 2010 NAO promised to be a great tournament with all of the top 12 players in the world competing for the title, no less interesting for the fact that these days any of six players can win the major events. Ramy Ashour is mercurial and devastating when he’s on, Nick Matthew the most competitive and best mover and Amr Shabana is simply the best when he wants it enough. James Willstrop uses all dimensions of the court, Gregory Gaultier the strongest & fastest athlete, and Karim Darwish possesses the best kills. Add into the mix the old warhorses of Thierry Lincou and David Palmer and it’s tough to predict from one week to the next.
The opening round saw no major upsets, despite Mohammed Abbas winning over US No. 1 Julian Illingworth. Abbas was World No. 13 in 2007, so certainly highly capable, and Illingworth was coming off a wrist injury which makes that outcome less surprising. By far the best player the US has produced since Mark Talbott, Illingworth just needs to add some severity to his game to win points and compete at the highest level.
But the upsets came in big numbers in the second round when Palmer was the first to fall, against old foe Olli Tuominen. Palmer never seemed comfortable, and the Flying Finn had a game plan that he seemed to know could work. Shortly after, Darwish rolled his ankle forcing him to concede to Adrian Grant after leading 2-0. And Lincou, playing with intensity, beat the No. 6 seed, Peter Barker, who seemed to be struggling with his mental approach to the game.
The quarterfinals promised some amazing matches with Gaultier v Willstrop near the top—but the tall Englishman played a very solid game, pushing forward in the court and dominating the middle. Gaultier never managed to expose any space in the court to move the big man around and never put him out of control. There were some high quality and closely contested points but the 3-0 victory emphasized that the 2008 Champion was here to try and claim another title. Tuominen didn’t provide much resistance for Shabana and Grant was close but not close enough against friend Matthew. The Lincou v Ashour match was the best of the event so far with the current World No. 1 attacking even more than normal, which might be hard for some to appreciate. But Lincou showed great touch and took the first game, then very nearly the second too which momentarily took Ashour’s infectious smile away. However from this point forwards he never looked back and worked the classy Frenchman all over the court for the next two games, putting up a great fight in the process.
The semifinals produced two amazing matches of the highest world class action that were enjoyed not only by the sell-out 400 people in attendance but also by the many tens of thousands of additional spectators that were watching live on television and on the web around the world too on www.psasquashtv.com. If Ashour is the Prince, Shabana has to be the King and this contest lived up to all expectations and then some as both players went for their incredible armor of attacking shots and displayed great court coverage and anticipation. The first four games were split but in the fifth Ashour pushed ahead and gained the momentum to close out a match that nobody wanted to end.
Matthew has a great record against Willstrop and while Gaultier couldn’t make Willstrop reach enough into the front, Matthew found his length, was cutting in his volley drops with nice touch and intercepting the reply. Willstrop put up a tough fight in every game, though never really looked like the winner, and Matthew strode on to the final unscathed and improving with every match.
It’s every promoter’s dream to stage a final featuring the world’s top two players and, on paper, this match looked liked one for the ages. However, Ashour had been struggling with an injury from the start of the event and after losing two very close games by the scores of 9-11 and 14-16 that took nearly 45 minutes, at the start of the third it was apparent that things had gotten worse—and after a few points he shook hands. It was an unsatisfactory end to a great tournament for Matthew, and in some ways it was a triumph for Ashour given his physical capabilities that week. Matthew improved every round, focused on every point and made himself incredibly hard to beat, thoroughly deserving the title of North American Open Champion 2010.
Plans are already taking shape to host another Super Series level event in 2011 and with the continued loyal support of the University of Richmond, The Country Club of Virginia, the VSRA and the many and very generous partners too, it is hoped that the worlds very best players will once again return and enjoy some genuine Southern hospitality.
