ONE MORE UPSET IN DAYTON!
by Charlie Johnson
November 11, 2011 - Quarter-final action in the $25,000 EBS Dayton Open began with # 1 seed Adrian Grant of England ending the strong tournament showing of qualifier Danish Atlas Khan of Pakistan in a 3-0 match that took 46 minutes. Khan did not go down without a fight and made Grant work hard in the first two games, forcing a tie-break in the first, and getting 9 points in the second game loss. Grant, though tested, never looked worried and stayed in front for most of the third game, used his quick hands to take balls early and move Khan around the court, and won the match 11-5 in the third.
The second of three qualifiers who made it through to the quarter-finals, Pakistan's Yasir Butt, fared much better than his countryman and scored an upset over Campbell Grayson of New Zealand (who himself scored an upset last night over the # 3 seed to get to this point). Butt dropped the first game 4-11, looking a little unsure of his game and made a few mistakes, but settled down and took the next three games in the match that lasted 56 minutes. The pivotal point in this match was in game 3, where down 6-8, Grayson won a long rally to get to 7-8, but Butt countered winning another astoundingly long rally to stifle a run and won the game 11-8. After Grayson won the first point of the last game, Butt ran of 7 straight points but to his credit, Grayson fought hard to the end despite the insurmountable lead Butt had and the crowd was highly entertained by the final rallies where both players were giving it their all.
The third match of the night was also THE MATCH OF THE NIGHT! # 4 seed Chris Simpson of England found himself down 0-2 to fellow Englishman Adrian Waller when he walked on the court for the third game. He had lost the first two 5-11, 2-11 and didn't look like he could figure out how to get back in the match. Waller's quick hands and large wingspan allowed him take the ball early, hit lot of volleys, that kept Simpson on his heels and off the T and things didn't look good for the # 4 seed. Simpson, however, started the 3rd game winning three straight long rallies and all of a sudden, looked like a different player: he was patient, methodical, and consistent and started stringing together burst of points that allowed him to take games 3 & 4. Game 5 was intense and the packed gallery sensed cheered every rally for each player as the squash was at a new level. Waller was not going to give up and played hard but got down 4-7. Waller then ran off 4 straight to take the lead 8-7 but Simpson didn't panic, kept with what had got him back in the match, played consistent, tied it at 8, went down one more (8-9) but then won the last 3 points to close out the match.
After the match, I had a chance to talk with Chris and commented on how all the spectators were impressed with his come-back win: especially losing the first two as badly as he had. Chris shared an interesting insight that he had recently read Rafa Nadal's tennis book where Nadal talks about what goes on in his mind during match preparation, match execution, match rallies, and "thinking on some of his (Nadal's) points about focusing on the point, freed me not to worry about what was going on in my match but instead allowed me to just play squash." It worked! Simpson scored a great comeback win in the longest match of the tournament so far: 71 minutes.
The final match of the night pitted # 2 seed Alister Walker of Botswana against the third qualifier who made it through to the 1/4 finals: England's Olivier Pett. Pett has played well all week and continued his high level in the first game that took an astounding 30 minutes! This initial game got to 10-all and then began an incredible series of game ball rallies alternating between players: these were fabulous displays of both players' ability to retrieve and at the same time, try to pound the ball away to finish the rally. At 14-14, someone in the gallery exclaimed that "no one seems to want to win" and I countered with no one wants to lose - no "seem" about it. The highest level play we've seen all week took place over the next 5 points that it took Walker to win this marathon game 18-16. Pett was not deflated after the loss of this first game, both players appreciated the effort of the other for a 30 minute game, and he played very hard over the next two games. Again there were some incredibly long rallies, among the best of the week, entertaining the crowd late into the night of this match that lasted 63 minutes, but in the end the speed, power, and control that Walker possesses won out and Pett felt forced to "go for a little too much" as he said afterwards, that caused him to hit too many tins. Afterwards, Walker was impressed with Pett's play, knew that the 30 minute first game was a fantastic performance from both players, but it set him up for the win as Pett felt he had to take chances to win the crucial rallies. Pett in conversation afterwards acknowledged that he thought he was close to breaking through to beating top 20 players (he exhibits all the talent to do so - has been a gallery favorite this week!) but he has to strive to remain patient and steady in pursuit of this goal as the top players won't allow you to sneak through a win.
Tomorrow's semi-finals promise more great squash as Grant plays Butt at 5:00 PM and Simpson plays Walker at 6:00 PM.
Quarterfinal Results: PSA EDS Dayton Open - Dayton, Ohio
Adrian Grant (ENG) bt Danis Atlas Khan (PAK): 12-10, 11-9, 11-5 in 46 minutes
Yasir Butt (PAK) bt Campbell Grayson (NZL): 4-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2 in 56 minutes
Chris Simpson (ENG) bt Adrian Waller (ENG): 5-11, 2-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9 in 71 minutes
Alister Walker (BOT) bt Olivier Pett (ENG): 18-16, 11-6, 11-7 in 63 minutes
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