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This year's Grand Open saw 137 players compete in ten draws
at three different clubs in New York City. At the Sports Club/LA,
four courts saw lots of action as the competitive nature of
each player came to light and onlookers cheered and sat in
awe as the games progressed.
The men's 5.5 saw a surprise victory in the bottom half of
the draw when Mike Semprucci beat number three seed Paul Arrouet.
Mike then went on to beat Chatham pro, Geoff Mitchell, before
falling prey to Aditya Kapur in the semi-finals. The top half
of the draw saw a number of college alumni that were also
playing in the Johnnie Walker classic run in conjunction with
the Tournament of Champions. Playing their third match of
the day within six hours, Peter Kelly (Princeton alumnus)
and Peter Withstandly (U Penn alumnus) lost in the quarters.
The final saw the match up of Hugh Evans, a former PSA player,
and Aditya Kapur, NYSC Uptown pro. Hugh's touch and shot selection
were on form and gave him a resounding 3-0 victory.
In the men's 5.0, fierce battles were fought with the juniors
eventually coming out on top. Three of the four quarterfinals
went to five. The only one not making it to five games ended
with Marc Levin withdrawing in the fourth against Kip Gould.
Suffering with a cold and having played two tough matches
earlier in the day, Marc's energy faded at 8-all in the fourth
as numerous long rallies were exchanged. The semi-finals pitched
two juniors from Heights Casino (Andrew Zimmerman and Mark
Rapisarda) against two NYSC Uptown players (Kip Gould and
Joel Breitkopf). Having lost the first game to Joel, Mark
went on the win the next three and earnt himself the first
spot in the finals. Kip Gould was the only seed to make it
through the semis, and looked close to loosing in three as
Andrew took the first two games. Kip dug in and took the next
two games taking it to the deciding fifth game. The young
legs finally won the day setting up a Heights Casino final.
Following in his brother's footsteps (Aaron won the 5.0 division
in the 2002 Grand Open), Andrew went on to win the match in
four games.
The men's 4.5 semi finals also saw two juniors (this time
from Westchester Squash) pitted against two adult players.
However, in these matches the adults made it through to the
final where number two seed Attila Agh gave up eight points
to Matt Sleasman in his three-game victory. The finals of
the men's 4.0 division also saw the number two seed, Yasuhiro
Sawada, win as he beat Muzikar Andrabi in four games.
The men's 3.5 final was a 'David and Goliath' encounter as
junior Chris Hansen faced Joe McNanus. The first two games
were closely fought with Joe winning 9-7, 10-9. The table
turned in the third and fourth game when Chris relaxed and
hit balls to great length and won the games 9-6, 9-1. So,
it was onto the deciding fifth game where plentiful rallies
were exchanged as each player edged nearer to the match winning
nine points. Joe ended up the victor in this tough fought
encounter, winning 9-7 in the fifth.
Having been hit in the nose in his first match, Ed Burlingame
went on to face a tough five game semi-final against John
Greco in the men's 60+. Coming out the victor at 9-4 in the
fifth, Ed had a couple of hours rest before having to face
Steve Vignolo in the finals. Steve went on to win the final
in three games as Ed's calf started to cramp during the second
game.
The women's draw saw Emily Park adding to her growing list
of junior and adult titles by winning the 5.0- division. Emily
made it to the final having beaten Kate O'Neil and Elizabeth
Elfenbein, both in three games. Her opponent in the final
was Amalia Londono, who had beaten Laurie Keenan and Zoë
Brunson on her way, once again both in three games. The final
went to four games with Emily winning 9-6, 7-9, 9-3, 9-7.
The women's 4.5 final saw the match up of Lincoln team-mates
Yvonne Lodders and Lianne Ritchie. Yvonne comfortably reached
the final, only giving up three points in her two previous
matches. Lianne faced junior Clare Hsu (who made the finals
of the Heights Casino future stars tournament over the weekend)
in the semis where her experience led to a 3-0 victory. In
the final Yvonne was just too strong for Lianne and won in
three games, 9-5, 9-3, 9-0.
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