Scott Stoneburgh/Jay Gillespie (Open), Gary Waite/Sharif Khan (Legends) And Tom Boldt/Steph Hewitt (Mixed) Win Canadian Century Cup Titles      
by Rob Dinerman

Men's Open: Jay Gillespie, Scott Stoneburgh (Champions), Gerry Pappas, Scott Dormer (Finalists)

Legends: Jamie Nicholls, Tony Swift (Finalists) Sharif Khan, Gary Waite (Champions)

Mixed Doubles: Tom Boldt, Steph Hewitt (Champions), Seanna Keating, Rob Dinerman (Finalists)

Dateline December 2nd --- The 2013 Canadian Century Cup, sponsored by Josh Ginou & Art Printing Company and Cameron’s Brewing and headquartered at the Badminton & Racquet Club Of Toronto, with play held as well at four other clubs in downtown Toronto, had 48 teams vying for supremacy in three different competitive categories, including some of the foremost names in the recent (and not so recent) history of Canadian squash. There were a number of exceptionally close matches throughout the weekend, even several simultaneous match-balls, and a truly deserving sextet of decorated champions ended up adding yet another title to their swollen resumes by the time play concluded Sunday afternoon.

   The first of the finals, the Mixed Doubles, was highlighted by the presence of the two best women’s doubles players in Canada in Steph Hewitt and Seanna Keating, winners of the 2011 World Doubles in Toronto and runners-up to Amanda Sobhy and Natalie Grainger in the 2013 edition of that biannual event in New York this past spring. Hewitt and her first-time partner Tom Boldt surged into the final of this 16-team draw (the largest of the three) without losing a game, including a semifinal win over Nancy Bowden and Blair Finlayson, 15-14 fifth-game quarters victors over Jess DiMauro and her father, Joe. By contrast, Keating and her also first-time partner Rob Dinerman had a pair of testing four-game pre-final matches first with Brian Valin/Sue Bettancourt (who saved five match-balls-against in the third) and then in their semi against Robbin Morrison/Tim Bovaird, whose 7-1 second-game run from 8-11 to 15-12 evened the match at a game apiece before Keating, who was rock-solid all weekend and whose praiseworthy fleetness afoot and ability to keep her rails glued to the left wall were her team’s foremost assets throughout their quartet of matches, and Dinerman were able to assert themselves in the single-figure third and fourth games.

   They appeared well-positioned going into the final against their top-seeded opponents, but the tone and character of this match was permanently established by the shot-making spree of reverse-corner winners off Hewitt’s racquet early in the second game that wiped out a brief early Keating/Dinerman lead and gave her team an edge that they would never fully relinquish. Boldt was chipping in with winners and errorless play as well and they moved to a 10-6 advantage in the third game. Keating and Dinerman crept to 9-10, at which potential turning-point juncture Dinerman tinned first a three-wall and then a forehand reverse-corner, Boldt carved a reverse-corner winner and the eventual champs had regained the cushion they needed to seal the straight-set outcome.

   To be eligible to compete in the “Legends” portion of this tournament, the only requirement (beyond the overall rule that team members had to have a combined age of at least 100, as alluded to in the tournament’s title) was the rather pedestrian one that one of the members had to be at least 65 --- but a pair of true legends earned their way into the winner’s circle in the persons of record 12-time North American Open singles champion Sharif Khan and record 10-time North American Open Doubles champion Gary Waite, who won in three exciting games in their final-round match-up against Tony Swift, a many-times age-group national doubles winner, and Jamie Nicholls. Waite and Khan had dropped the first game before winning in a competitive four in their semifinal with Eric Baldwin, the host club’s Director Of Member Services, who did a marvelous job as Tournament Chairman, and John Fauquier, with whom Baldwin had won the U. S. counterpart to this Century tournament a few years ago, while Swift and Nicholls had prevailed at the same stage at the expense of Steve McIntyre and Michael Strait. Waite was his usual athletically remarkable self and Khan, noticeably trimmed down from a few years ago, played better and better as the weekend moved along in a clear statement that he is back on the scene.

   The exact same message was convincingly conveyed in the inspiring play of Jay Gillespie, who as noted teamed with the still-amazing former North American Open Doubles champion Stoneburgh to capture the Men’s Open tourney, defeating surprise finalists Scott Dormer and Gerry Pappas in a tactically challenging and undulating through straight-game encounter of strategy and shot-making. Stoneburgh had won the prior two editions of this championship with Tim Griffin, who this year elected to enter with his son Adrian, one of a number of parent/child partnerships sprinkled throughout the draws. Seeded second, the Griffins lost, 15-14 in the fifth, to Pappas and Dormer, whose semifinal opponents, Will Drope and David Ross, won by the same simultaneous-match-ball score against Greg Lloyd and Craig Benson in the quarterfinals. That ensuing bottom-half semi went to a fifth game as well --- a long Saturday for the four weary protagonists --- with Dormer and Pappas prevailing in the end, sending the father & son Griffin team into the Silver Plate, which they won in a dramatic route-going match with Wayne Pye and Eric Dunn.

   With all that cauldron of frantic finishes in the draw’s bottom half, Gillespie and Stoneburgh were sailing much more serenely through the top, though they were pushed to a fourth game in their semifinal match against Peter McCarthy and Paul Smith. In the early part of the final, Dormer and Pappas tried to force Gillespie to the back-right segment of the court but Stoneburgh made several excellent front-right retrievals to keep the points going. By mid-second, Gillespie had moved further to the front, his competitive juices by now on visible display, and Stoneburgh was working his sharp-shooting magic. From that point onward, he and his partner successfully executed a disciplined game plan, patiently lobbing Dormer and Pappas, thereby both thwarting Dormer’s punishing southpaw reverse and creating openings, especially for the wily Stoneburgh, to score on nicks from both the front and the back of the court. Their impeccable teamwork left Dormer and Pappas, who nevertheless had a memorable tournament-long performance, shaking their heads in frustration and admiration. It was a heartwarming achievement for Gillespie, who over the years has been such a beloved and respected figure in Canadian squash, and a three-peat for the redoubtable Stoneburgh.

   It is a tribute to the organizational skills and motivation of Chairperson Baldwin and his Committee, as well as the enthusiastic cooperation of the co-hosting Toronto Racquet Club, Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, Toronto Cricket, Skating & Curling Club and the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, that such a multi-tiered tournament (with Consolation and Feed-In brackets as well) evolved in so smooth and harmonious a manner. The Badminton & Racquet Club also ran a mammoth junior singles event (U11 all the way to U19) and the commingling of players from both tournaments led to a level of positive energy that permeated the spacious lounge area and enhanced the entire atmosphere. There was something special, and memorable, about the synergy that was formed with a junior event, involving children and teenagers whose playing careers are just beginning, directly alongside a doubles event whose middle-aged (and older) participants competed with a quality and commitment that constituted a compelling statement of their resolute unwillingness to let THEIR playing careers come to an end.