ISDA Squash Tour 2012

Tournament Results:

Vlcek/Badan Win Pittsburgh Cup By Rob Dinerman

   Second seeds Eric Vlcek and Yvain Badan rolled through the inaugural $10,000 Pittsburgh Cup without dropping a game during their three-match path to the title, defeating, sequentially, Cynwyd Club pros Shane Coleman and Gavin Jones, Canadians Michael Pirnak and Chris Deratnay and No. 1 seeds James Hewitt and Mark Chaloner. This tournament, hosted by the Pittsburgh Golf Club (site of the ’94 U. S. National Doubles), marked the first time that a professional doubles event had ever been held in Pittsburgh; the opening event on the 21-tournament 2008-09 ISDA calendar between October and early May; and the first-ever “Challenger” tourney (with a purse below the $20,000 full-ranking minimum, with players ranked in the top 10 not allowed to enter), with three or more planned later on this season.

   In addition to attracting numerous ISDA performers ranked in the teens and 20’s, the 11-team draw also included two pairings from Scotland, whose squash federation viewed this foray on the part of some of its leading performers onto several stops on the ISDA October circuit (they are also scheduled to play at the Maryland Club Open 10 days hence) as preparation for the world softball doubles championships, slated for December in Chennai, India. Each of these teams won a match in the qualifying rounds and all four Scottish torch-bearers (namely Stuart Crawford, Alan Clyne, Jamie Macaulay and Coach Paul Frank, who subbed for one of his injured players) showed a remarkably fast adaptability quotient in their respective competitive debuts in hardball doubles. Crawford and Clyne actually made it into the main draw with their 3-1 victory over New Yorkers Will Osnato and Michael Fensterstock before falling to the firepower and far superior doubles experience of the talented Torontonians Pirnak (winner of a number of important ISDA titles over the years) and multiple-time Canadian Doubles champion Deratnay.

    This latter duo were so impressive in their quarterfinal rout of their Scottish opponents (as the hard-hitting Coleman and his much-improved Welsh-born partner Jones had also been in THEIR pre-Vlcek/Badan match), that it is to the credit of the eventual champs that they subdued both of their hot pre-final opponents in unexpectedly convincing straight-set fashion (albeit in each case after weathering a very close opening game). Similarly, Hewitt and Chaloner, after a convincing opening win over Andrew Merrill and Hamed Anvari (whose third-game rally fell just short in a match-ending tiebreaker) and a four-game semifinal victory (in which they were in solid control after ceding the first game) over fourth seeds Ben Howell and Bruce Marrison, appeared ready to make good on their No. 1 seeding heading into the High Noon Sunday final.

   But Vlcek and Badan repeated their pattern of winning close first games and riding the momentum they thereby gained all the way through an entertaining though straight-game 18-16 15-11 15-13 final. Much of the match was dictated by cross-court battles between Hewitt and Badan, whose plan was clearly to force Hewitt deep and coax a loose left-wall ball that Vlcek could then attack with his short game. Chaloner, who as a former (early-2000’s) PSA No. 8 and the 2001 Cambridge Club champion (with Gary Waite) was clearly the most decorated player on the court, was thereby prevented from imposing his weaponry, and Badan (with the cross-court front-left nick that he has added to his game) and Vlcek (with a shallow forehand rail that died quickly along the left wall) took turns closing out the taut first and third games respectively to seal the outcome. Vlcek and Badan, beginning their first full season together after teaming up in midseason last winter, will now face ’06 and ’07 U. S. National A champs Whitten Morris and Michael Ferreira in what should be a fierce round of 16 match in Baltimore late next week, with both teams seeking their first-ever ISDA ranking-event main-draw triumph.