By Jack Farley
The widely acclaimed Greenwich/Rye junior squash Mecca witnessed stimulating squash activity this past January 18-23 when the world’s finest professional squash players traveled to Greenwich for the annual ISDA Chilton North American Open doubles and the WISPA Harrow Greenwich Open singles tournaments. With roots dating back to 1931, this tournament is now run by the three local clubs—Field Club of Greenwich (FC); Round Hill Club (RHC); and Greenwich Country Club (GCC).
This week long tri-club tournament was a wonderful opportunity for juniors and local enthusiasts of all ages to enjoy watching the world’s top men and women in action—as well as offering a special opportunity to get on the court with these world-class players. To take full advantage of the talent pool in town, multiple junior clinics were scheduled as well as the traditional three Pro-Am draws. The pros were nothing short of fantastic in their support, volunteering to spend many extra hours on both the singles and doubles courts with the juniors. So there was wall to wall action from Tuesday qualifying rounds and clinics through to the Sunday finals—punctuated by a traditional “dress-up” dinner dance on Saturday night where top doubles player, Paul Price, brought his rising star band to entertain. During the reception, 16-year-old CitySquasher, Benjamin Uwadinobi, added another special touch to the occasion as he dazzled spectators with his nimble fingers on the piano.
With the multi-year sponsor support from Harrow Sports, Chilton Investment Company and Impala Asset management (as well as the many atrons from each club) this event is an important fundraiser, the money from which goes to the NAO/ GO Urban Squash Scholarship Fund of U.S. SQUASH. This fund gives out grants to graduates of the urban squash programs around the country who do not have the proper financial backing to get into college or private secondary schools.
While the finals of the professional draw were dominated by the Brits and the Aussies, there was a wonderful mix of “locals” throughout the early rounds. Curiously, many of these Brits and Aussies have recently re-located to the Greenwich/Rye/NYC area, in large part because of the huge local junior population that they want to have surrounding them because of the increasing impact of these juniors on the world scene.
Local WISPA “stars” in the tournament
(1) Lily Lorentzen, 24-year-old daughter of a longtime FC member/supporter and past chairman of the tournament, Oivind Lorentzen. Lily got “recruited” by legendary Mark Talbott who had just taken on the assignment at Stanford University to put Stanford squash on the map—and she helped Mark do that. Lily lost in a tough first round qualifier to USA rising star, Olivia Blatchford.
(2) Olivia Blatchford, 18, and now living in NYC; former USA junior champion. Won her first match but then had to play her american counterpart, Amanda Sobhy, in the main draw, losing in four.
(3) Suzie Pierrepont, 26-year-old Brit who now lives/works in Greenwich. Lost main draw 5-gamer to World No. 30 Line Hansen of Denmark.
(4) Miranda Ranieri, 24 and a former assistant pro at RHC; lost in qualifying finals to World No. 32, American Latasha Khan.
(5) Amanda Sobhy, 17-years-old now living in NYC; ranked No. 21 in the world; also plays WSDA doubles with Natalie Grainger; Amanda powered her way through to the semifinals losing to Joelle King in five; for many observers, this semifinal was a highlight of the tournament.
(6) Champion Kasey Brown, Aussie who now lives in Harrison, NY; ranked No. 6 in the world. Toughed her way through a couple of 5-gamers to the finals against New Zealander, Joelle King. In the finals Kasey was awesome, wining 3-0!
Local ISDA “stars” in the tournament were:
(1) John Mcatee, Tom Clayton, Luke Butterworth & John Burke—all members of RHC (except Butterworth who is an assistant pro at the club) played in the qualifying rounds to the delight of the partisan crowds but none quite making it into the main draw.
(2) Local pros Phil barker (GCC), Liam Kenny (FC), Ahmed Hamza (FC), Greg Mcarthur (RHC), and Steve Scharff (RHC) also participated. All five pros pulled double duty organizing the tournament matches at their respective clubs as well as playing. This added a nice level of “home team” excitement, particularly when RHC pros Scharff (partnered with Mark Price) and Mcarthur (partnered with Irman Khan) made it into the round of 16 and quarters (respectively).
(3) Josh Schwartz, Scarsdale, NY native and Tim Wyant, CEO CitySquash, had two glorious early round victories before succumbing to the experienced team of John Russell and Preston Quick in Friday’s quarters.
(4) Rye transplants Manek Mathur (Indian) & Yvain Badan (Swiss), after powering their way past Paul Price and James Stout in the quarters, ran into the undefeated and No. 1 seeds Damien Mudge and Ben Gould in the semis—pushing them to the limit in the first game before falling 15-14 on a Mudge winner. In the 2nd and 3rd games there were incredible blasting exchanges between former Trinity star Mathur on the left wall and World No. 1, Ben Gould, on the right wall. Ultimately the No. 1 seeds remained undefeated as the crowd rose in approval with a standing ovation.
This week-long squash extravaganza concluded Sunday with the playing of the two pro finals and the three pro-am finals. All finals took place at GCC where the large galleries were able to handle the 125+ fans that jammed in behind the glass back-wall courts to watch the intense action.
In the Harrow Greenwich Open final, Kasey Brown, the locally-based Australian, edged out New Zealand’s Joelle King who’d had an incredible run to get to the finals including a big five game win over America’s squash phenom, Amanda Sohby, in the semis. From the first point, the play was intense and action-packed with strong drives being complimented with feathery boasts that had both players throwing themselves around the court to retrieve balls that seemed to be certain winners. In the end, Brown’s aggressive volleying and smooth and efficient footwork proved to be too much for the young Kiwi and she was able to come away with a close three game victory. In her victory speech after the match, Brown commented on the special squash community we have in the Greenwich area and also gave special thanks to Mark Hayden, CEO of Harrow Sports, who was the tournament’s honorary chairman and also the main sponsor of the women’s pro event.
On the men’s side, No. 1 seeds Damien Mudge and Ben Gould found themselves in a situation that had to be a first for both of them. After the first ten points of the final, Mudge and Gould had not won a point and their opponents, Clive Leach and Matt Jenson, were in total control. That impressive start became 15-3 and Leach/Jenson had what seemed to be a commanding lead. In the second game, however, Mudge and Gould found their rhythm and began to chip away at the confidence that Leach and Jenson had. Mudge showed why he’s won this tournament on 10 prior occasions and led his partner to a 15-10 victory in the second game. The third game was the best of the match. By this point both teams had figured out how to play on the slower GCC court and the crowd saw a game that was far more tactical then you tend to see in a final. The points were slower and more methodical than the action had been in the previous two rounds. All four players used the lob expertly and the game was tied as late as 12-12. The experience of Mudge and Gould came through at that stage, though, As they played three strong points to take the game 15-12. The final game was never in doubt as Mudge and Gould cruised to a 15-4 win and the title of 2011 Chilton North American Open Doubles champions.
Pro-Am highlights:
- Honorary Chair, Mark Hayden, found himself with an on-court victory to match his many off-court victories in promoting the game of squash.
- RHC Tournament Chair Icy Frantz also had a well-deserved on-court victory to match her multi-year dedication to making this tournament a success.
- GCC Tournament Chair Ted Murphy came up short…but he too considered it a victory of success for the tournament.
We hope you can find a way to come join us next year for this fun-loving week of squash for every level of player to enjoy!
