Chris Walker Captures U. S. National Hardball Championship
by Rob Dinerman
Dateline February 18th --- Convincingly out-played in both the third and fourth games, his early-match advantage reduced to a distant memory in the face of a fast-charging, much-younger opponent, top seed Chris Walker responded magnificently to his mid-match adversity by seizing a substantial lead in the fifth and then holding on for a 15-11 17-15 9-15 10-15 15-13 victory over second seed Hamed Anvari Sunday afternoon in the final of the 102nd holding of the U. S. National Hardball Championship before a highly appreciative crowd at the Merion Cricket Club in suburban Philadelphia. A British Open finalist in 2001 who with then-partner Clive Leach attained the No. 1 pro-doubles team ranking in 2007, Walker now has ascended to the No. 1 spot in hardball singles as well, and throughout the tournament weekend he displayed an athleticism that belies his 45 years, complemented by an ability to synthesize the hardball game that culminated in the production of his best squash precisely when it was needed the most, i.e. in the fifth game of the final. In so doing, Walker earned the winner’s share of the $6,500 purse provided by the Hardball Fund, while demonstrating his versatility by conjuring up a solid companion-piece to the hardball singles tourney he won as part of the 2010 Players Championship in a five-game final over Preston Quick, an event that was played with the Astral ball on an international-sized court.
Byed to the quarterfinals of the 10-player draw, Walker defeated first Chris Ehlinger and then former three-time (1989-1991) North American Open Doubles champion (with Ned Edwards) Alan Grant, who had posted impressive pre-semis wins over host club pro Michael Bull and Duncan Pearson. In the bottom half, Anvari swept past Nigel Thain and recent University of Rochester stand-out Matt Domenick, quarters straight-set victor over Tom Harrity, who won this tourney five times in the early- and mid-2000’s and had been Domenick’s doubles partner earlier this month in the Tompkins Invitational. After dropping the opening game of the final and falling barely short in a best-of-five second-game tiebreaker, Anvari managed to commandeer the tee in handily winning the middle games and seemed to have the momentum entering the fifth. But Walker, realizing he needed to regain both his temporarily misplaced concentration and favorable court positioning, noticeably improved his length, thereby opening up the court for his deadly low volley.
He led 12-6, whereupon the ball broke, and when play resumed, Anvari determinedly chipped away at the deficit, saving three consecutive match-balls against him and creeping all the way to 13-14. On the ensuing exchange, Walker was able to get an open forehand, which he drove down the left wall with such accuracy and width that a lunging Anvari was unable to extricate it back into play, thereby ending the closest National Hardball final in the six years since Iago Cornes edged out Scott Devoy by the same 15-13 fifth-game score on the same court in 2007.
In the age-group tournaments, Harrity won the 50’s final in four games over 2011 winner Bryce Harding; Palmer Page, though pressed to a close fourth game by Terry Eagle, defended his 60’s title by winning a four-man round-robin; Tefft Smith defended his 65’s title with four-game wins over Henry Steinglass and Eric Berger in a 12-man draw, the largest of the weekend; James Zug Sr., 40 years removed from having partnered Victor Niederhoffer to the ’73 U. S. National Doubles crown, won the 70’s five-player round-robin, avenging his seven-week-old William White 70’s loss to Steinglass in the definitive match; and Bruce Elfenbein, trailing Andy Packard two games to love in the defining match of the 75’s four-player round-robin, rallied to an eventual 15-12 win. Forty-three entrants competed in the six competitive categories, and by the end of the weekend, most of the players, inspired by the thrilling Open final that served as its culmination, exited the venerable host venue enthusiastically looking forward to the 2014 edition.
COMPLETE DRAWS
Back To Main
