ROUND 2 - THE DAC PRO SQUASH CLASSIC

Day 2

November 6

Another full crowd for the second day of the tournament and another day full of sweet squash playing treats. It of course complements the ‘sweet’ squash beer we have on offer during the matches, the perfect balance of watching world class athletes perform and world class club members hydrate. Both are top of their profession.

The ladies did not disappoint the crowd, we had some cracker matches to report:

Alison Thomson (Scotland) v Melissa Alves (France)

After Alison’s epic survival win in 5 yesterday, it was going to be interesting to see how she was going to back it up against the 7^th seeded Frenchwoman Melissa Alves - #35 in the world. Did she have the legs to keep running? In a word – yes.

 

It looked like Alison was putting in her application for the Iron-woman award of the week, as if round one’s stretch / lunge fest was just simple warm up. She was at it again. And Melissa was happy to oblige, using all the four corners of the court making sure Alison hadn’t forgotten her way around. Melissa jumped out to healthy lead in the first game and it was more than enough to close it out 11-8. However, Alison was just getting the motor running.

Melissa lining up her overhead volley

The next two games were was the Thomson show. She dominated the Frenchwoman finding her stride almost daring Melissa to make her run even more. It was good clean squash, and after taking the second 11-5 and the third 11-6, it looked like Alison was ready to shut the gate. But, that would be too easy, right? Another twist, Melissa was hardly prepared to chuck in the towel.

Coming out with renewed determination, Melissa stepped up the pressure and caught Alison a tad off guard. This was Alison’s 9^th game of the tournament so far – was it starting to catch up with her? She couldn’t get herself back on track in the game and Melissa now wrenched the momentum away from her taking the 4^th 11-5 and pushing it to a decider.

All or nothing for the girls now. Alison dug deep, Melissa just as gritty. A good ol’ fashion tug-o-war was unfolding, the crowd in the edge of their seats with every rally, every let call (which thankfully were relatively few!) as they inched closer to the finish line. Melissa was able to creep ever so slightly in front, she was just a fraction steadier in the business end of the game. She finished it off 11-9, but it was a superb performance from both ladies!

Nikki Todd (Canada) v Nadine Shahin (Egypt)

Nadine achieved a career high this month of world ranking 21. To say that she very capable of winning this event is an understatement. Nikki on the other hand is 69 in the world this month, and as I mentioned yesterday, a DAC crowd favorite. On paper, based purely on the ranking numbers, Nikki was in for a difficult time. She was, however, more than up to the task.  

Nikki Todd and Nadine Shahin

Both players cover the court smoothly and cleanly and the ref was called upon only sporadically. That made for a very enjoyable match-up as Nikki looked like anything but someone ranked 48 spots lower than her opponent. Still, that being said, one of the differences between the two was consistency. The one who hits less errors generally has a better chance. When Nikki was steady there was very little between the players. But, Nadine proved to be that little bit steadier – that little bit more reliable with her shots, especially during those tight moments late in the match.

Nikki was poised for a huge upset leading 2 games to 1 and was just 3 points from the match in the 4^th, but she struggled to close it out. Nadine kept her composure better, even when looking deep into the barrel of defeat, never wavering with her confident hitting. This extended into the 5^th game as well, keeping the ball in play was the telling difference. A couple of strange errors from Nikki cost her dearly in that deciding game and Nadine escaped a scare taking it 11-6. Both players are to be congratulated, the crowd loved all of it.

Nele Gilis and Ineta Mackevica

For me, one of the other matches I was intrigued with was the second seeded Nele Gilis (Belgium) v Ineta Mackevica (Latvia). Another match-up that on paper didn’t look like it would be very close (world #59 v world #18). But after watching Ineta yesterday, I thought she could trouble Nele somewhat. Great reach, lovely timing, Ineta hits a cracking good ball. Nele of course is #18 in the world for a reason – she is damn good. And incredibly fit. Her warm up would exhaust me.

Ineta pushed Nele all the way and although she didn’t pull off what would have been an upset for the ages, she probably scared the bejeezus out of the Belgium girl. All four games were decided by 2 points, Ineta snatched the 3^rd, was 8-2 up in the second before Nele came back and stole it, and lost the fourth in a tie-break after holding 2 game balls there as well. Again, the difference: consistency. Being able to finish a rally. Unforced errors hurt Ineta in the end, maybe a little experience against a top ranked player?

All full round 2 results:

Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA) beat Emilia Soini (FIN) 11-2, 11-5, 11-2

Rowan Elaraby (EGY) beat Rachael Chadwick (ENG) 11-4, 11-7, 11-2

Nadine Shahin (EGY) beat Nikki Todd (CAN) 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6

Donna Lobban (AUS) beat Nada Abbas (EGY) 11-5, 14-12, 11-4

Melissa Alves (FRA) beat Alison Thomson (SCO) 11-8, 5-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-9

Nele Gilis (BEL) beat Ineta Mackevica (LAT) 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 13-11

Sabrina Sobhy (USA) beat Mayar Hany (EGY) 11-4, 11-7, 11-2

Anna Serme (CZE) beat Sivasangari Subramanium (MAL) 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 4-2 (retired injured)

THE DAC PRO SQUASH CLASSIC

Day 1

November 5

The first ever Women’s Pro Squash event in Detroit. It was crunch time. The players had been arriving and practicing the past couple of days. Any members that caught a glimpse of their hitting immediately stopped in their tracks, had to take a little time to process the easy power they generated, the non-stop accuracy, the speed, the skill. All factors of the game that that all club members wished they possessed. And this was just the routine squash. They couldn’t wait until it got real.

In what we hope to be an annual staple event on the women’s tour, we kicked off the inaugural tournament with an epic match….

Diana Garcia (Mexico) v Emilia Soini (Finland)

A massive battle. A colossal first game. Almost two games in one really. Diana (world ranking #70) and Emilia (#57) could not finish the first game to help themselves. Much to the crowd’s delight however – the longer it took, the more entertaining of course. If every game were to be like this one, the match would have taken 2 hours. Quality squash from both ladies, neither clearly giving an inch, Diana actually had the most chances to take the game earning 5 (or was it 6..?) game balls but unable to convert that last rally. Emilia hung tough and took the game 19-17.

Strangely, that small victory did not carry over into the second game for the Finn. She came out a little flat as opposed to Diana who appeared even more determined and the Mexican took control for an 11-5 win and evening it up at 1 game apiece.

The third was another tight encounter. The crowd was being treated to some true arm-wrestling squash, and it was point-for point all the way to the tie-break. This time however, Diana was not going let another close game slip away and she closed it out 13-11. She could smell the finish line.

Emilia however, was not done. She was going to make Diana earn every rally, and even though the pressure was on, she kept up the pace and would not let her opponent create any sort of lead. For a third time in the match, the game was decided by 2 points – this time 11-9 – and it was Emilia snatching the win this time, stretching the match into a 5^th.

The wind appeared to leave Diana’s sails. She was 2 rallies away from victory in the 4^th – only to be denied – and that looked to play a mental part for the decider. Emilia stayed rock solid, could sense her opponent wavering and did not let Diana off the hook. She took the 5^th 11-4.

It was a tremendous match to open the tournament with!

Alison Thomson (Scotland) v Salma Youssef (Egypt)

In arguably the match of the day – (and yes, it would be tough to one-up the Garcia-Soini match!), Alison (#78) and Salma (#64) kept everyone on the edge of their seats. As luck of the draw would have it, these two played each other just 4 days prior in Ottawa. Alison pulled that one out in 5 tough games, so there was a good chance we were about to watch another grueling combat. We were right.

Salma was the first to assert herself in the first game, she made fairly quick work of anything loose and was certainly ready to make amends of her recent loss. For Alison’s part, she appeared to have some trouble getting herself into the rhythm of the match, struggling with her line and length. 11-5 to the Egyptian.

The second game turned. Alison was in no mood to repeat the first and started to pick up the strong hitting, immediately creating that pressure. That pressure threw Salma off for a bit and the game was quickly out of reach for her. 11-5 to the Scotswoman.

The third game was anybody’s to take. The rallies turned more intense, longer, stressful. Which, naturally, makes it more thrilling for the audience. The referee was called upon a few more times as well as the fervor crept up, desperation squash can bring out the ‘let’ calls all the more frequently. Extending into the tie break, all it took was one unforced error plus a slightly loose shot from Salma, opening ever so slightly the opportunity for Alison to take advantage and squeak out the 13-11 victory, and a 2-1 lead.

But the 4^th game was all the Egyptian. Alison lost her way somewhat and Salma wasn’t going to let her find her way back either. It was a comfortable 11-4, setting up the pair’s second 5-setter in a week.

And what a classic of a 5^th it was. Salma took an early – albeit small – lead and kept her nose in front by a couple of points all the way to 10-8, earning 2 match balls. And she didn’t play poor rallies, but Alison was putting it all on the line, displaying some overly impressive stretching and lunging, retrieving balls that looked all but out of reach, hanging in by the skin of her teeth. In almost miraculous fashion, Alison evened it up to 10-all. Salma kept moving the ball around effectively, Alison continuing to keep the ball in play with outstanding defensive shots just long enough. Both girls deserved the win here, but in the end it was Alison moving onto the second round with a 14-12 in the 5^th triumph!

We had six other matches for day one, three of them were 3-0; the other three 3-1. An exceptional level of squash on display all evening, the crowd were simply astonished with their athleticism. I can’t brag about all the matches, but I’ll mention just a couple brief highlights…

Nikki Todd (Canada) #69 is actually a DAC fan favorite here as she has graced us with her delightful presence before and won everyone’s heart over. When she smiles –and she is always smiling – we know the sun is shining and all is right with the world. When my assistant pro is smiling, however, I immediately have to wonder… what has he done now??!! Nikki got through a tough opponent in Catalina Pelaez (Colombia) #71 in 4 games, the first three of which were rather tight!

Intea Mackevica (Latvia) #59 looked very strong against Hana Moataz (Egypt) #101. After dropping the first game, Ineta stepped it up with very strong hitting to take the next 3. She moves smoothly, long reach, and balanced. She has to tackle Nele Gilis (Belgium) #18 in the second round today. A tough ask to be sure, but it could be interesting to see how much pressure she could apply.

All full round 1results:

Emilia Soini (Finland) beat Diana Garcia (Mexico) 19-17, 5-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-4

Intea Mackevica (Latvia) beat Hana Moataz (Egypt) 7-11, 11-2, 11-2, 11-4

Nikki Todd (Canada) beat Catalina Pelaez (Colombia) 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-3

Alison Thomson (Scotland) beat Salma Youssef (Egypt) 5-11, 11-5, 13-11, 4-11, 14-12

Anna Serme (Czech Republic) beat Cristina Gomez (Spain) 11-8, 11-7, 11-9

Donna Lobban (Australia) beat Nicole Bunyan (Canada) 11-7, 11-5, 11-3

Sabrina Sobhy (USA) beat Karina Tyma (Poland) 11-4; 11-2, 11-5

Rachael Chadwick (England) beat Tessa ter Sluis (Netherlands) 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7