Alister Walker Outlasts Adrian Grant In 100-Minute PSA Pittsburgh Final
by Steven Baicker-McKee
Grant - Walker
November 20, 2011 - Alister Walker beat Adrian Grant 11-7, 6-11, 11-4, 15-17, 11-2 in 100 minutes this afternoon to capture the $25,000 Three Rivers Capital Pittsburgh Open.
The final matchup of the top two seeds lived up to its billing.
In game 1, the players started conservatively, with long rallies up and down the wall. Walker made fewer errors and carried the game.
In game 2, Walker tried to increase the pace and intensity in game 2. "I knew I didn't want to play at Adrian's pace all match," Walker said, "but Adrian's accuracy in game 2 made it very difficult for me to cut off the ball."
Grant jumped out to an 8-4 lead and closed it out 11-6. Walker came out with more purpose and energy in game 3, and sprinted to leads of 5-0 and 9-2, and the match looked all but over. But Grant proved why he is number 17 in game 4, ramping up his energy level to match Walker's.
Grant started attaching more himself, and jumped out to a 6-2 lead. But Walker came charging back to knot it at 6 all, and things stayed close from there on. The pace of play was so frenetic that Walker broke strings on 5 rackets during the 37 minute game.
The players knew the tournament championship was on the line, and the shot making and retrieval and effort level from the players had the capacity crowd gasping and applauding at almost every point.
Walker had match ball at 10-9, then Grant had game ball at 11-10, and so on until Grant won the game 17-15. The marathon game seemed to take something out of Grant, however, and Walker dominated the final game.
Semifinal Report:
Adrian Grant beat Shahier Razik 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7 in 75 min. In a beautifully played game of classic squash, number one seed Grant was a little bit more consistent. The match was played at Razik's pace, with medium speed tight drives and pressuring drops dominating the play. Game one was even at 6 all, before Grant rattled off 4 straight points with a series of soft drops. Grant won game 2 comfortably, but Razik came back strong in the third, winning primarily with very tight length. Razik stayed close in game 4 through 8-7, and a 5th game looked like a real possibility, but Grant closed out the match with two ungettable drops and a Razik tin.
Alister Walker beat Ryan Cuskelly 12-10, 12-10, 11-3 in 55 min. Game number 2 was a contrast in style to the first game. Cuskelly knew he did not want to rally with Walker, so he attacked the corners, and Walker counter-attacked with re-drops and drives. The first two games were knots at 10 all, but Walker won the next 2 points both times. Walker then upped his game for the third, and won handily.
There was quite a humorous moment in the second game. A stroke was called against Walker at 9-8. Walker both disagreed with the call, and also thought the game was over. He stormed off the court over to his corner, with a few choice (but civil) words for the ref. The ref then told him it was only 10-8, and Walker said, "that's all right then - I thought it was a rough call for game ball" and returned cheerfully to the court, only to win the next 4 points and the game.
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