ISDA Squash Tour 2012

Tournament Results:

Big Apple Open: Price/Gould Out-Last Mudge/Berg in Thrilling Final by Rob Dinerman

November 5 - Pushed to the very brink of what would have been a third devastating defeat (the second in which they had held multiple-match-balls and at least two match-games) in as many tournaments so far this young ISDA season, top seeds and defending champions Paul Price and Ben Gould stared this chilling prospect down with a stirring and match-ending six-point run that earned them a 15-14 (from 11-14 down) 15-13 12-15 15-16 (after holding double-match-ball) 15-11 victory over Damien Mudge and Viktor Berg in the final round of the fifth annual Big Apple Open, hosted by the New York Athletic Club. Gould, who also won this event two years ago with Preston Quick, began the final rally with a cross-court nick serve-return winner and Price contributed several tightly-angled front-court winners as the two Aussie stars came through down the stretch and reversed the late-game mid-October tribulations they had suffered first in a season-opening St. Louis semi, where their 2-0, 14-9 lead over eventual champs Chris Walker and Clive Leach dissolved into defeat, and then in a Maryland Club Open final one week later, where Leach and Walker again rallied after trailing Price/Gould 2-1, 11-8. There were several "firsts" this weekend, and one noteworthy "last." The round of 16 win by Trevor McGuinness and Whitten Morris over James Hewitt and Tyler Millard marked the first time this season that a qualifier team has then won its first-round main-draw match; the first time that Morris (who also combined with Michael Ferreira to win the Silver Racquets Invitational, held on the same weekend a few blocks southeast at Racquet & Tennis) has won an ISDA main-draw match; and the first of what should be many ISDA main-draw appearances for young McGuinness, who has won a slew of U. S. Junior Doubels championships in recent years and whose firepower impressed many of his new ISDA colleagues. In addition, the quarterfinal victory by WIllie Hosey and Scott Butcher (who had rallied from 1-2 down in their prior match with Joe Pentland and Mark Price) over third seeds John Russell and Quick was the first time this season that a top-four seed failed to attain the semis. More significantly, it represented a highly successful conclusion to the praiseworthy ISDA career of the aforementioned 36-year-old Butcher, the soft-spoken Australian, current ISDA top-10 and three-time ('05 Canadian Pro, '06 Cambridge Club and '07 U. S. Nationals) finalist, who has reached ISDA semis with Jeff Osborne, Paul Price, Martin Heath, Clive Leach and now Hosey, and who will be returning to his native country in a few months after spending this past decade in North America.

Draw