Top Seeds John White And John Russell Survive Scare, Reach SDA Graham Cup Final
by Rob Dinerman
Dateline March 9th --- Pressed deep into a fifth game in the opening round of the $10,000 Graham Cup Challenger tournament at the Germantown Cricket Club in suburban Philadelphia, top seeds John White and John Russell persevered with a 7-2 match-closing run that gave them an unexpectedly hard-earned 15-5 15-8 11-15 13-15 15-10 Friday-evening quarterfinal victory over Matt Domenick and Andrew McGuinness, which they followed with a more routine albeit competitive four-game semis win this afternoon over the Canadian pair of Will Mariani and Jeff Lurie. Waiting for White and Russell in the Sunday-afternoon final will be second seeds James Stout and Greg McArthur, who advanced with a convincing 15-13, 7 and 9 semifinal over qualifiers Alex Stait and Randy Lim, 3-0 quarters winners over Carl Baglio and Tom Harrity. It will be the first time this season that the two finalist pairings have matched up, and with all four players being ranked in the Nos. 10-15 range, whichever team prevails will likely be ranked ahead of the other as the SDA schedule enters its closing stretch.
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