DailySquashReport.com

Razik And Ball Cruise Into Hyder Quarters As Top Seed Alister Walker Withdraws 
by Rob Dinerman, for DailySquashReport.com

Dateline May 17th, 2012 --- When No. 1 seed and defending champion Alister Walker was forced to default his opening-round match this evening in the 44th annual Quentin Hyder Invitational due to a foot injury incurred late in his intense four-game second-round British Open loss to James Willstrop late Wednesday night, his withdrawal resulted in a re-placement of the remaining seeds, the re-insertion into the main draw of “lucky loser” Lekgotla Mosope, and the elevation to the top slot of Shahier Razik, the Canadian star who won this tournament in 2010 and barely fell short, 16-14 in the fifth, in last year’s final with Walker. Razik, who always plays well in this popular Manhattan event --- he has reached at least the final all four times he has entered during the past five years, losing 11-9 in the fifth to Wael El Hindi in 2007 and in straight sets to David Palmer in 2009 --- kicked off this evening’s schedule with an 11-4, 4 and 9 victory over Shahid Khan (3-1 round-of-32 winner Wednesday night against Rich Wade), the power-hitting left-hander who pulled off a half-dozen forehand three-wall nicks in the third game but was unable to match Razik’s consistent stroke production, his freedom from the tin or his seemingly effortless court coverage.

  Razik’s quarterfinal opponent will be Bradley Ball, who for the past two years has dropped fiercely contested Hyder semifinal matches to Razik; in their 2011 meeting, the second game was tied at 9-all before Ball tinned first a forehand cross-court and then (after a lengthy and brutal exchange that ended in a let), cruelly, a serve-return. He then saved a match-ball-against in winning the third game 12-10 before grudgingly ceding the close-out fourth when Razik was able to pull away at the very end. Ball qualified for the right to make Friday night a third-time-lucky opportunity by subduing William Cheng 13-11 11-8 11-2 and displaying the leverage and pace that had made him a solid PSA pro performer for several years before chronic back injuries ended his PSA career.

   The rest of the Thursday night matches also were straight-setters, with Andrew McDougall ending precocious high-school senior Faraz Khan’s run and earning the right to face fourth seed Zac Alexander, who defeated Richard Chin. In the bottom half of the draw, it was third-seed Ryan Cuskelly over Sadiq Taiwo, Mosope winning tiebreakers in the first two games of his match with Clive Leach; Jacques Swanepoel prevailing over his co-Trinity College alum Travis Judson; and second seed Wael El Hindi taking the measure of Ned Marks. Friday night’s quarterfinal matches will be at the Harvard (top half) and Yale (bottom half) Clubs, before the pros return to Sports Club/LA for the semis  Saturday afternoon and the final at 4 PM on Sunday.

DRAW