Tournament
of
Champions 2000
New York, 28-Jan ~
03-Feb, $75k
Final
Too much Power for Heath
Jonathon Power took the first major tournament of the year, and his third consecutive Tournament of Champions, in a final that provided a fitting climax to the event. In the early stages Power refrained from his usual attacking style, preferring to play good length to take the 'legs' out of Heath. Power took the first 15/12 and the second 15/11. Power's errors helped Heath to hold on in the third, taking it 15/14 as Power called for 'one', but in the fourth Heath was looking tired and Power always seemed the likely winner, eventually taking it 15/12.Semi-Finals
Martin Heath finally emerged from the shadow of Peter Nicol when he upset the seedings to make the Tournament of Champions final. Nicol took the first game 15/10 and it appeared that he would once again wear down Heath, but from the middle of the second Heath upped the pace and started going for, and making, more winners than Nicol was used to or could deal with. Heath stayed on top for the rest of the match to secure his place in the final with a 3-1 win that delighted the Scottish #2.Jonathon Power had a comfortable 3-0 victory over Derek Ryan, who couldn't cope with the Canadian's deception and attacking play. The final should be a real thriller. Power and Heath contested a physical British Open quarter-final, and both will want to make amends for that match ... Draw & Results
Quarter-Finals
An all-Scottish semi-final was set up when Martin Heath played some of his best squash of the year to remove Canada's Graham Ryding 3-0. Ryding must wait to emerge from the shadow of his countryman Jonathon Power, but Heath now has a chance of taking on Scottish #1 Peter Nicol. The World Champion, on the day he returned to World #1, faced a stiff challenge from a determined Peter Marshall. After losing the first 15/3 it looked as if Marshall's run of long matches had finally caught up with him, but Marshall will never lie down, and came back to take the second and lead 14/11 in the third. Now it was Nicol's turn to hang in, and at 14-all Marshall called 'one' and went for one winner too many. In the fourth Marshall was clearly tired as Nicol kept him on the move, closing the match out after 80 minutes.The other semi-final will be between Jonathon Power, who won a predictably fiery match against Anthony Hill 3-1, and Derek Ryan, the Irish #1 whose run continued as John White was stretchered off court injured at the end of the third game, forcing him to retire. Ryan took the first, White levelled, and at 14-13 to Ryan in the third White chased a ball into the corner and collapsed in agony with a leg injury. Draw & Results
2nd Round
Canada's Graham Ryding provided a shock 'home' win over Egypt's Ahmed Barada. After winning the first Barada's game went to pieces, and he virtually stopped trying in the fourth once defeat seemed inevitable. Top seeds Power and Nicol both had comfortable 3-0 wins. Nicol's opponent in the quarters will be Peter Marshall, who continues to progress the hard way. Finding himself 2-0 down against fellow Englishman Paul Johnson, Marshall simply wore his opponent down, and after taking the third 17/15 he took the next two easily.Derek Ryan caused the first major upset of the tournament, coming from 2 games down to beat US Open champion Simon Parke. Joining him in the quarters are Anthony Hill, 3-1 winner over Mark Chaloner, John White, who came from behind to defeat Paul Price, and Martin Heath who overcame Alex Gough. Reports to follow ... Draw & Results
1st Round
World Class squash hit New York's Grand Central Station with a bang, as the first three matches in the first round all went the distance, throwing the schedule into turmoil from the start. Derek Ryan, Paul Price and Simon Parke all won through long matches as crowds waited patiently to take their seats for the second session which started an hour and a half late.4th seed Simon Parke, sporting a bandage on the knee which kept him out of last week's National League match, was made to work hard to overcome a 2-1 deficit against Amjad Khan, and 8th seed Price also found himself 2-1 down against Joe Kneipp before coming through. The other seeds in the top half joined them more comfortably, with top seed Jonathon Power and 7th seed Anthony Hill both scoring comfortable 3-0 wins. Power beat Australian Byron Davis, who took the place of the injured Dan Jensen dropping just 20 points, while Hill was made to work a little harder for his victory over Omar Elborolossy. Draw & Results
The first round matches were completed on Sunday, with all the main seeds winning through to the last 16. Main casualty was Wales' David Evans, who lost 3-1 to qualifier Billy Haddrell. Haddrell now meets 2nd seed Peter Nicol, who beat Rodney Durbach 3-1, dropping the third game 16/17. The other Welshman in the draw, Alex Gough, was taken the distance by another Australian. Suffering from cramp, Gough finally saw off Stewart Boswell 15/14 in the fifth - on a stroke. 3rd seed Ahmed Barada and Chris Walker treated the crowd to an entertaining display of shot-making, with Barada winning 3-0.