Boston ISDA Update: Top Two Seeds Surge To Final
by Rob Dinerman, for DailySquashReport.com
Dateline January 14th, 2012 – Defending champions Damien Mudge and Ben Gould and second seeds Manek Mathur and Clive Leach both scored impressive straight-game victories this afternoon at the University Club of Boston, running away in each case with the third game. Mudge and Gould were in complete control throughout their 15-8, 11 and 4 win over fourth seeds Mark Chaloner and Chris Walker, while Mathur and Leach prevailed by a count of 15-13, 12 and 5 over Matt Jenson and Paul Price, exploding with a 10-1 closing run from 5-4 in the third.
Both the Mudge/Gould and Mathur/Leach duos had additional motivation entering this tournament --- Mathur and Leach were making their debut appearance as partners while Gould and Mudge were coming off the only loss they have ever suffered in their season and a half as teammates, a mid-December Briggs Cup semis defeat at the hands of Mathur and Yvain Badan in which Mudge/Gould had a third-game match-ball and an 8-4 fourth-game advantage before losing that game and being snuffed out 15-7 in the fifth. Mathur and Leach had been hard pressed in their quarterfinal against Greg Park and John Russell, round-of-16 overtime-in-the-fourth winners over Eric Christiansen and Shaun Johnstone, who won the second game, were edged out 15-13 in the third, and took the fourth to simultaneous-game-ball, whereupon Mathur, after faulting on his first serve, hit a perfect lob second-serve that dropped down so precisely against the back wall that Park’s desperation swing caught nothing but glass.
The Jenson/Price and Walker/Chaloner quarterfinal wins were similarly both in four games (over Imran Khan/Raj Nanda and Jonny Smith/Preston Quick respectively) but Price, normally a left-waller who moved to the right to team up with his Aussie compatriot Jenson, seemed to fade under the Mathur/Leach match-ending charge and Walker and Chaloner had no answers for Mudge and Gould, who were equally ruthless in a 15-10, 8 and 11 opening-match rout of Greg McArthur and Dan Roberts. The latter pairing had taken a round of 16 match against home-club representatives Doug Lifford, a former semifinalist in this tourney with James Hewitt in the early-2000’s, and Pat Malloy, who had rallied from a two games to love deficit and saved a fourth-game match-ball-against in winning the only five-game match of the tournament in the last round of the qualifying against Canadians Will Mariani and Fred Reid Jr.
The final will be at High Noon on Sunday and whichever team wins will thereby acquire not only this important title but substantial momentum entering the North American Open Doubles event in Greenwich next week.
Semis Recap:
Damien Mudge/Ben Gould d. Chris Walker/Mark Chaloner, 15-8, 11 and 4; Manek Mathur/Clive Leach d. Matt Jenson/Paul Price, 15-13, 12 and 5.
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