John White/Shane Coleman Capture 80th Gold Racquets Doubles, Butt Over Gordon In Singles
by Mark Hinckley
December 5, 2011 - Both draws in this year’s 80th running of the Gold Racquet Invitational were as deep as they've been in recent memory. There were a number of new, younger faces, and everyone contributed to putting on a very entertaining show.
Here's a brief summary of Sunday's play:
Singles:
All 4 of the top seeds in each draw made it to the
morning semi-finals. In the singles draw, 2010 GR defending champion Chris Gordon advanced to the final, besting newcomer Andres Vargas in the 10 am semi.
Newcomer Yasir Butt, who was fresh off a very successful PSA result in Ohio a few weeks ago when he beat Adrian Grant (PSA ranked 19th
in the world) in the semi-finals before losing to Alister Walker in the finals, took out Gustav Detter in the second semi-final. Detter, who immediately before this
match had lost a tough, 4-game battle in the semis of the doubles draw, put up a good fight but faced an uphill battle against the fresher, talented Pakistani from
Lahore.
The singles final on Sunday afternoon provided the most entertaining, competitive, and high level of squash we've had at the Gold Racquet since we
switched to the international soft ball 12 years ago. After losing the first game, Butt appeared to take control of the match, winning games 2 and 3, only to
see the momentum swing back to Gordon as Chris won the 4th in overtime, 13-11.
The 5th game remained tight from start to finish. Chris had a match point at 10-9
but couldn't convert. Butt then went on to win the next 3 points, the game (12-10), and the match (3-2). Congratulations to Yasir on wining his first Gold Racquet and
to both Chris and Yasir for such an exciting performance.
Doubles:
In the doubles draw, 2010 defending Ray Chauncey champions Josh Schwartz and Hamed Anvari won a long, close, hard-fought 4-game match against Baset
Chaudhry and the aforementioned Gustav Detter.
In the lower half of the draw, 2005 Ray Chauncey champion Shane Coleman and his new partner, former PSA world #1 ranked singles player John White, bested Ryan O'Connell and 2007 Ray Chauncey champion Whitten Morris, 3 games to 1. In the late afternoon final, a see-saw match ensued.
Whoever had the hot hand and limited their shooting errors seemed to prevail.
After losing the first game, Coleman/White won the
second in overtime and the third at 15/12. Then, however, both Schwartz and Anvari started converting their shots, won a gritty game four, 15/12, and powered
their way to an early 8-2 lead in the 5th. Coleman/White righted their ship just in time, though, and battled back to eventually catch Schwartz/Anvari at 13-all.
3 of the next 4 points went to Coleman/White and, for the 11th year in a row, a different team captured the Ray Chauncey title. Not since Eric Vlcek and Morris
Clothier won back-to-back in 1999-2000 have we had repeat winners.
Congratulations to Shane and John on their gritty win...they beat a very tough and
determined team in defending champs, Josh and Hamed.
Again, thanks to everyone for contributing to the success of this year's 80th running of the Gold Racquet Invitational Tournament weekend.
The complete Singles and Doubles draws are at:
http://www.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/tournaments/Matches_List.asp?t=2475
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