ISDA Report: Mudge and Gould Power Their Way To Boston Title
by Rob Dinerman, for DailySquashReport.com
Dateline January 15th, 2012 – In an overwhelming display of power and determination, top seeds Damien Mudge and Ben Gould defeated second seeds Manek Mathur and Clive Leach 15-9, 13 and 5 early Sunday afternoon at the University Club of Boston in the final round of the University Club Pro-Am Doubles Championship, sponsored by Putnam. In so doing, Mudge and Gould successfully defended the title they won last year (over Leach and Matt Jenson in the final), extended their overall record to 49-1 and re-established their supremacy, which had been put at least somewhat into question by their loss last month in a Briggs Cup semifinal to eventual champs Mathur and Yvain Badan.
Mudge and Gould ripped through the draw without losing a single game in their three matches, holding their opponents to single figures in five of those nine games. Their only brief moment of vulnerability in the final came in the second half of the second game when, leading 11-4, they fell victim to a torrid shot-making spree by Mathur, whose series of front-court winners, many of them on reverse-corners clipped too tightly for even Mudge to track down, enabled his team to close to 13-14 before a scorching Gould drive ended that threat. Gould, who was striking the ball with exceptional pace and effect even by his standards, and Mudge then jumped way ahead in the third game and were home free from there.
While there is no denying the degree to which Mudge and Gould dominated this tournament from start to finish, it should be noted that Leach and Mathur, playing together for the first time in Boston, still made it to the final even as they were going through the getting-acquainted process, and having one tournament now under their belt may serve them well this coming weekend at the North American Open in Greenwich, where Mudge and Gould will have to start off against John Russell and Greg Park (if the latter duo can win their round-of-16 match against a qualifier), who this past Friday were within a single point (15-14 in the fourth) of pushing Mathur/Leach to a fifth game. There is tremendous depth on the ISDA tour at present, and it will be interesting to see how what happened in Boston this past weekend will affect the dynamics in Greenwich just five days hence.
Finals Recap:
Damien Mudge/Ben Gould d. Manek Mathur/Clive Leach, 15-9, 13 and 5.
Pro-Am Division Finals:
East Draw: Tierney/Anvari def. Davidson/Quick - 6, 9 (10) (10) 8
West Draw: Russell/Cortes def. Roberts/Baranski - 2 (10) 12, 12
North Draw: T. Poor/Leach def. Gould/Hailer - 11 (11) 13 (12) 7
South Draw: Jenson/Bullen def. Walker/Stocklan - 10 (3) 6, 10
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