U. S. National Father & Son Doubles Summary: Lemmons, Poors And Parkhursts Are Repeat Champions
By Rob Dinerman for DailySquashReport.com
U. S. Father & Son Champions Geordie And B. G. Lemmon
Dateline April 22nd, 2012 --- Trailing 12-9 in the opening game after yielding a 9-1 run to a pair of worthy opponents determined to avenge their final-round defeat of a year ago, top seeds Geordie Lemmon and his power-hitting son B. G. responded with a game-ending six-point run that keyed a 15-12, 9 and 10 victory over mid-2000’s Penn star Will Simonton and his father Scott this afternoon in the final round of the eighth annual U. S. National Father & Son Doubles Championship, headquartered as always at the Racquet & Tennis Club in midtown Manhattan, with the New York Athletic Club and the University Club also hosting a number of matches throughout the hectic weekend. The Lemmons thereby became only the second team ever to successfully defend the Open title in this event (preceded by 2007-2009 winners Greg Park and his father Steve), which was won in 2006 by the Simontons, who defeated the Parks, 18-16 in the fourth, in the semis Saturday afternoon.
Unlike the memorable pair of semis (the 90-minute Simontons/Parks clash was at least equaled in both length and quality of play by the top-half five-game thriller in which Chris and Carson Spahr were just three points from eliminating the Lemmons, whom they led 2-1 in a best-of-nine fourth-set tiebreaker before Carson, a ninth-grader at Milton Academy, tinned what would have been a winning drop shot to reverse that match’s trend), the final drifted along, with all four players having their moments but with no definable theme or tone developing. For the most part, the two fathers played solid and consistent squash on their respective walls (Geordie, the 1983 Harvard captain, on the left and Scott, the 1976 Bowdoin captain, on the right), while the sons infused the play with much of its dynamism with their high-paced cross-court battle and alternating hot and cold streaks accounting for the several swings in momentum that emerged at one juncture or another in every game.
In the first, as noted, the Simontons went from 3-8 to 12-9, as B. G. Lemmon (who recently teamed with Andrew McGuinness to win a second consecutive U. S. National Junior Doubles crown) committed a number of errors and Will Simonton played his best squash of the match, scoring on three-wall nicks and tight reverse-corners. But his two subsequent tins, including one on an inside-out backhand roll-corner at 12-11, enabled the Lemmons to tie the game at 12-all, following which Geordie Lemmon snapped off a backhand reverse-corner winner, Scott Simonton tinned an open forehand reverse and B. G. Lemmon lashed a drive past Scott Simonton that gave his team a one game to love lead.
The second game again saw the Lemmons overcoming a three-point deficit (3-6) and benefiting from a crucial top-of-the-tin on a daring three-wall attempt by Will Simonton that would have tied the game at 10 but instead gave the Lemmons an 11-9 lead that they then added to with several nick-finding B. G. Lemmon volleys and a 15-9 close-out. The younger Simonton would hit some spectacular winners --- one a double-boast from deep in the court at 6-8 and another a wonderfully-angled reverse-corner at 8-11 --- to prevent the Lemmons from breaking away in the third game, but that latter gem was to be the Simontons’ last shot. The Lemmons promptly engineered a three-point run (on a wall-hugging rail by Geordie Lemmon, a B. G. Lemmon volley that rolled out of the front-left nick and a shallow drop shot by Geordie Lemmon) to move to 14-9. Two points later, B. G. Lemmon over-hit a drive down the center of the court that caromed off the back wall, pursued by both Simontons, either of whom probably could have returned it had they not gotten in each other’s way, an anticlimactic ending to what was nevertheless a praiseworthy tournament-long performance by the Simontons, whose five overall Open final-round appearances (from 2006-2008, as well as last year and this) are two more than the total of any other father/son tandem and who, along with Jack Wyant Sr., are the only players to participate in all eight editions of this tournament, whose Consolation draw was won in torturous fashion (several five-gamers) by David Koenig, currently a midshipman at the Naval Academy who applied for and received permission to leave campus to participate in this tournament, and his father, Peter.
The aforementioned Wyant, along with his talented son Jack Jr., were matched up against Tom Poor and his son Morgan in the Century final, which like the Open final was a replay of the 2011 Century final from which the winner of a year ago similarly was able to mount a successful defense. Last year the 2010 Century champ Wyants led two games to one, led late in the fourth (double-match ball) but lost the overtime session, resulting in a fifth game which the Poors won 15-10 from 10-all. This time it was the Poors who led two games to one and who led late in the fourth, 13-10 in this case. But a tight-but-proper no-stroke call against Tom Poor (who held up on his swing hoping for a stroke call that would have made the score 14-10 on a play in which Jack Wyant Jr. was flat against the left side wall but clear enough for Poor to have played the ball) gave the Wyants an opening, which they seized to force a best-of-nine tiebreaker, which they won, five points to two.
It was to be their parting salvo. The Poors jumped out to a commanding 7-0 lead in the fifth and never looked back. Keyed by the best game (by a wide margin) of Morgan Poor’s career, they sprinted across the finish line, leaving their valiant opponents besieged and, by the end, a bit bedraggled. Jack Jr., whose resounding court coverage and penchant for backhand three-wall nicks had played such a large role in the 8-2 Wyant spurt that had rescued that seemingly lost fourth game, cut a few shots just a bit too fine and caught the top of the tin, and his father, whose improved serve and nicely-angled cross-court lobs (abetted by the high ceiling of the host venue) had created openings throughout the weekend, was a step late to several balls and either missed them or hoisted them out of court. Meanwhile, Tom Poor made several terrific reflex-volleys on balls that Jack Wyant Jr. smashed at him, and scored several times (including on match-ball) on his classic backhand reverse-corner.
With all that, the fifth game really belonged to Morgan Poor, who had been erratic in both of the Poors’ five-game matches (their semi against Charles Sr. and Jr. Fenwick also went the distance), but who nailed several forehand drives to perfect length down the right wall, made a number of eye-catching retrievals (in several cases covering the front left when his father was out of position), and hit shallow cross-court drives that neither Wyant was able to reach. In the end, the Poors prevailed by a 6-15 15-12 15-11 15-18 15-3 tally that made them the first two-time Century winner in the seven years that this category has been part of the Father & Son weekend.
There were three “Junior” competitions as well. In the four-team round-robin 17-and-under, Charlie Parkhurst and his son Henry, winners of the 15-and-under event in 2011, went undefeated in their three matches to become the eighth 17-and-under championship team in the eight years; Bob Brownell, the varsity squash coach at Belmont Hill, and his notably talented southpaw son Timmy swept through their bracket of the six-team 15-and-under flight and then out-played Harry Curtis and his son Samuel 15-10 15-11 18-16 in the final; and the three-team round-robin 13-and-under division had to be resolved by a games-won tiebreaker formula after each team went 1-1, with Todd Anderson and his son Bo winding up designated as the No. 1 team.
Father & Son Open Winners Geordie And B. G. Lemmon, Finalists Will And Scott Simonton
Father & Son 15-And-Under Champs Bob And Timmy Brownell
Father & Son Century Champions Morgan and Tom Poor
Tom Poor Steps Into A Backhand In Father & Son Century Final
Complete Draws
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