Hewitt and McElhinny Capture WDSA MetroSquash Open   
by Rob Dinerman



Dateline May 8th --- In a praiseworthy display of patience, prudence and precision, second seeds Steph Hewitt and Tarsh McElhinny handily captured the $14,000 MetroSquash Open, hosted this past weekend by the Onwentsia Club in suburban Chicago and benefiting MetroSquash, the inner-city youth organization that has served the Chicago community so well for more than a decade. After dropping the opening game of their semifinal with U. S. National Doubles finalists Gina Stoker and Kelsey Engman (who had earlier won three-love over Joyce Davenport and Beth WInstanley), Hewitt and McElhinny raced through the 15-6, 8 and 11 remainder, then bettered even that tally in their 15-7, 8 and 9 final-round win over Heidi Mather and Victoria Simmonds.

   By far the most competitive match of the six-team tournament (with the top two seeds given first-round byes) occurred Friday evening in the top-half semi between the Mather/Simmonds pairing (which had debuted with a straight-set quarterfinal win over Tara Mullins and Dawn Gray) and No. 1 seeds Narelle Krizek and her first-time partner Karen Jerome. The latter had suffered a fluke injury to her right knee in a pro-am match early that morning when she accidentally bashed her kneecap, causing swelling and necessitating a trip to an orthopedist’s office to have fluid drained and a cortisone shot administered. Notwithstanding this treatment, Jerome’s mobility was visibly reduced, as was her ability as this match progressed to set up on the leg to hit the front-court shots that under normal circumstances are the best part of her game.

   Krizek therefore had to do a lot of covering of the front-left, throwing the team’s court balance askew and leaving open spaces for Mather and Simmonds to exploit. It is a tribute to Jerome’s grit and Krizek’s deadly shot-making (including rolling three-walls in front of Mather and applying her piercing shallow rails to major effect) that the duo was able both to force a fifth game and to push it all the way to the brink. After falling behind early on, they rallied to 12-14, whereupon a rare Krizek tin allowed a relieved Mather and Simmonds to escape with a 15-7 13-15 15-12 12-15 15-12 victory and a ticket to the final.

   But there was no escaping the McElhinny/Hewitt onslaught in the ensuing final, which was held Sunday morning after all of Saturday was devoted to pro-am matches to accommodate a larger-than-usual turn-out of amateur participants. McElhinny’s sharpshooting --- possibly abetted by a full recent WDSA schedule that has enabled her to groove her front-court game, rather than having to get the rust out after gaps in the schedule, there being no doubles courts in Oklahoma City, where she is currently based --- was on fire, especially her backhand reverse-corner, and Hewitt was scoring as well. But more important was the way they first established front-court position, consistently getting their opponents pinned to the back of the court and THEN attacking the open ball with a reverse, drop or three-wall. There was nothing that Mather or Simmonds could do to stem the momentum, as Hewitt and McElhinny surged unimpeded to the finish line.

   The tour resumes with a big event, the Turner Cup, which for the first time will be held outside of New York City, at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, from May 16-19, with both Krizek/Suzie Pierrepont and Hewitt/Meredeth Quick, winners of this event in 2008 and 2012 respectively, among the top-four seeds.




 

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