WDSA Wilson Cup: Krizek And Pierrepont Out-Last Hewitt And McElhinny In Route-Going Final
by Rob Dinerman
Dateline July 16th --- Forced to a fifth game by a season-long nemesis who hadn’t lost a final-round match all season, Suzie Pierrepont and Narelle Krizek came through in admirable fashion and defeated Natarsha McElhinny and Steph Hewitt 13-16 15-8 18-17 11-15 15-11 Saturday evening in the final round of the inaugural Wilson Cup, a $20,000 WDSA tournament held at the Stanton/Elmaleh Squash Center in Southampton. Hewitt had gone five for five in finals prior to this weekend having captured the Philadelphia Open, U. S. National Doubles, Metrosquash Open and Turner Cup with Meredeth Quick (the first and last of those wins having come at the final-round expense of Pierrepont and Krizek), as well as the Hashim Khan Invitational with Dana Betts. Victory this past weekend would have capped off a near-perfect 2011-12 campaign for Hewitt, and she might well have attained it had it not been for a perfect forehand three-wall by Krizek at simultaneous-game-ball in the third game and some inspired play by Pierrepont in the fifth.
It was a high-quality match throughout, the first true test of the weekend for either team, and all four players had highlight moments as play moved along. Krizek and her older sibling McElhinny, who became the first “sister” team to win the U. S. National Doubles in 2011 before their attempted title defense was barely denied (in a fourth-set tiebreaker) a few months ago, have gone up against each other a number of times over the past few years, with results going both ways. McElhinny came up with some daring front-court winners to end the fourth game but she and Hewitt, 2010 Indian Summer Open champs in their only prior salvo as partners entering this weekend, incurred a mid-game deficit that they were unable to overcome, as Pierrepont and Krizek collected their sixth title in their nine-tournament partnership dating back to December 2009.
Finals Recap:
Suzie Pierrepont/Narelle Krizek d. Natarsha McElhinny/Steph Hewitt, 13-16 15-8 18-17 11-15 15-11
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