11-Sep, Final:

[1] Paul Price (Aus) bt [2] Alex Gough (Wal) 
      11/9, 10/11 (2-0), 11/8, 11/8 (70m)

Price's DARE Double
Robert Graham reports from Santa Barbara

Australia's defending champion and top seed Paul Price retained his DARE Santa Barbara Open title, beating second seed Alex Gough in four games.

Both players changed their style of play from previous matches, going a little more conservative and taking fewer chances going short, resulting in some very long rallies in the first two games. It seemed that both were trying to limit their opponent's opportunities to put the ball away, which had been both players' strength in the tournament up to the final.

Price took a close first game, but Gough hit back in the second to take it in a tie-break. As the match went on and they tired a little and the game opened up and became more exciting. Gough, in particular, was looking to change the pattern of play and started attacking more. This led to the Welshman making a few too many errors as Price, consistent throughout the match, took the third and fourth games to clinch a second successive Santa Barbara title.
 

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Matthew Giuffre

11/9, 10/11 (2-0), 11/8, 11/8 (70m)
 

Alex Gough

Qualifying:
 

10-Sep, Semi-Finals:
Price & Gough to meet
in Santa Barbara Final
Robert Graham reports from Santa Barbara

Top seeds Paul Price and Alex Gough will contest the final of the DARE Santa Barbara Open, after semi-final victories over Matthew Giuffre and Stacey Ross, respectively.

Price, as in earlier rounds, looked solid, volleyed well, and played more consistently than Giuffre, the eighth seed from Canada, who made too many errors to seriously challenge the defending champion who won in just 26 minutes.

Unseeded Ross, who survived a 113-minute marathon in the quarter-finals, matched Gough for most of the match which featured long hard rallies, with both players volleying and attacking. Had Ross managed to hold on to 5-0 and 9-5 leads in the first game the result might have been different, but it was the Welshman who eventually triumphed in 62 minutes.

09-Sep:
Ross toughs it out in Santa Barbara
Robert Graham reports from Santa Barbara

While top seeds Paul Price and Alex Gough made quick work of their quarter-finals in Santa Barbara, Stacey Ross took almost three times as long to see off the challenge of Cameron Pilley.

Price, the defending champion, dominated the 'T' against Viktor Berg, controlling the match with volleys and an excellent short game. Berg entertained with flair and deception, but never looked like winning. 

Price meets Matthew Giuffre in the semi-finals, after the Canadian won a heated, contentious match against Karim Yehia, some good play mixed with lets and arguments in the 64-minute five game battle.

Gough got the better of Stefan Casteleyn - both great movers with a similar style, but a few more errors from the Belgian, who is maybe lacking a little fitness, made the difference as the Welshman won in 36 minutes.

The longest match of the day - at 113 minutes the longest since the introduction of 11-point scoring - saw England's Stacey Ross take a two-game lead over Cameron Pilley before being drawn into the Australian's style of longer rallies. The third and fourth games consisted mainly of long straight backhand rallies, shot after shot, as Pilley claimed both games to level the match. Ross recovered to go 8/0 up in the fifth, but another turnaround saw Pilley lead 9/8 before a pair of errors gave the match to a relieved Ross.

08-Sep, Round One:
Price aims for DARE Double
Australia's Defending champion Paul Price moved smoothly into the quarter-finals in Santa Barbara, looking sharp and attacking the front of the court superbly against Canadian Ian Power.

There was loud support for local wildcard and tournament organiser Robert Graham, who pushed Canadian Viktor Berg to five games, particularly when the local favourite led 2/1, but faded in the fourth and fifth when 'physical efforts caught up with my 35 year old body!'

Second seed Alex Gough a little out of sorts and struggled past Beau River in four, while fifth seed Mike Corren, moving a little slowly with a back injury, was upset by Egypt's Karim Yehia.

Yehai meets Canada's Matthew Giuffre, who was simply too good for Nicholas Kyme, while Gough faces Stefan Casteleyn, the US-based Belgian who defeated Brazilian champion Rafael Alarcon in and exciting match featuring impressive shotmaking.

The 11-point scoring was well received by players and spectators alike, with no really short matches, and the longest match, at 67 minutes between Cameron Pilley and Eric Galvez, featured long attritional rallies throughout. Pilley meets England's Stacey Ross, who looked impressive in comfortably beating New Zealander Callum O'Brien.

 alanbrz@yahoo.com