Will Mariani and Ian Power Capture Canadian National Doubles Championship; Dana Betts/Jess DiMauro Win Women’s Title
by Rob Dinerman for DailySquashReport.com
Dateline April 15th, 2012 --- Will Mariani and Ian Power, frequent partners on the ISDA pro doubles tour (where both are ranked in the top 30), defeated Scott Stoneburgh and Chris Deratnay in four close games this afternoon at the Mayfair Parkway Club in Toronto to capture the 77th edition of the Canadian National Doubles Championships. Mariani’s improved mobility and inspired shot-making combined with Power’s consistency and pace, which had keyed their three-game upset semifinal win over 2011 champs Willie Hosey and Michael Pirnak on Saturday, came to the fore in the final as well, enabling them to prevail in the end stages of both the third and fourth games against Stoneburgh, a four-time Canadian National Doubles champion, and his power-hitting partner Deratnay.
Both tandems had been forced to survive some crossroads moments in their respective semifinal wins over higher-seeded opponents. Power and Mariani had pulled away in their first two games against Hosey/Pirnak, who however battled back in the third to 14-all, at which juncture a sharp Hosey cross-court nearly passed Mariani, who barely got the frame of his racquet on the ball with just enough for it to trickle over the tin for a fortuitous (and match-ending) winner. In the bottom-half semi between Stoneburgh/Deratnay and second seeds James Hewitt and Martin Heath, the latter duo seemed in control as they won the first game and led late in the second. But Stoneburgh and Deratnay were able to push that game into a best-of-nine tiebreaker, which seesawed to 4-all, simultaneous-game-ball. Deratnay was able to pound a winner on the ensuing exchange, following which he and Stoneburgh eked out a close 15-13 game, then raced to 11-3 in the fourth and were able to hold off a Hewitt/Heath comeback bid and finish off the game at 15-11.
The Women’s Open final was won by first-time partners Dana Betts and Jess DiMauro, whose 15-11, 13 and 11 win over reigning World Doubles champs Steph Hewitt (just two weeks removed from teaming with Meredeth Quick to win the U. S. National Doubles in Rye) and Seanna Keating gave DiMauro her seventh Canadian National Doubles crown with her fifth different partner – interestingly, she had previously won this event twice each with both Keating and Hewitt! Betts left-handed power, especially the shallow rail winners she was able to hit after DiMauro cross-court lobs had forced Keating deep, was an important factor, as was DiMauro’s aggressive volleying and shot-making acumen.
There were also eight men’s and four women’s age-group tournaments (110 teams in all), two of which had to be resolved with a fifth-game overtime session. Four-time Canadian National Doubles Open champion Scott Dulmage and his partner Richard Thomson stormed through their round-robin competition to add the Canadian 40’s title to the U. S. 40’s they had earned earlier this month, as did Tony Swift and Molson Robertson, who similarly accomplished the U.S,/Canada “double” in the 65’s by repeating their two-week-old win over Tom Poor and Len Bernheimer. Bart Sambrook and Taylor Fawcett surprised top seeds Doug Lifford and Paul Zander 3-0 in the 45’s final; University Club Of Boston torch-bearers John Nimick and Andrew Slater took the 50’s final, also in straight sets, against Al Hunt and Peter DeRose; and John Boynton and Tim Griffin took the 60’s final in straight sets over Gordy Anderson and Craig Benson. The 70’s and 75’s finals were both four-game affairs, with Dave O’Laughlin and Bart McGuire besting Don Mills and Ted Marmor by that margin in the 70’s and Ed Bracht and Norm Lee doing the same to Norm Seagram and Peter Holland in the 75’s. By far the closest men’s age-group final occurred in the 55’s event, in which Jay Gillespie and Tom Boldt battled Pat Richardson and Tim Bovaird all the way to 13-all, no-set, in the fifth game. Richardson hit a well-placed backhand reverse-corner, which Boldt not only retrieved but countered with a tight reverse-corner of his own for a surprise winner to get his team to match-ball, whereupon he hit another front-court angle to complete the victory.
The match for the women’s 40’s title also went to a fifth-set overtime, with Jodi Warden and Michelle Ramey edging out Caro Sambrook and Karen Jerome. In the remaining women’s age-group flights, all of them round-robins, Cathy Covernton and her fellow Vancouverite Tessa Breaukels defeated Tammy Sangster and Robbin Morrison 3-0 in the deciding match in the 45’s; Megan Hill and Cathy Tuckwell were designated the winners of the 50’s event through a tiebreaker formula after three of the five entered teams went 3-1 (Lolly Gillen and Jann Taylor finished second); and Lindsay Hermer-Bell and Leslie Freeman captured the 55’s title by out-playing Sybil Witt and Jennifer Brown in the deciding match. Enormous credit is due to Tournament Chair Brian Murray and his dedicated Committee for organizing a tournament that fully lived up to Squash Canada’s well-deserved reputation for producing fabulous national championships. The galleries were packed throughout the weekend and the superb event coordination was all the more remarkable for the host of downtown Toronto clubs that were serving as host venues. The Canadian National Doubles is always one of the highlights of the doubles season in North America, and this year’s edition was no exception.
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