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Founded in 1969 by Dr. Quinten Hyder, the Hyder Trophy is North America 's oldest softball squash tournament. This year's event brought together US-based pros to contest for the title, along with a number of amateur players vying for glory within their skill or age group divisions. Under the watchful eyee of Dr. Hyder, first round action took place on Friday night. Saturday morning saw two Nigerians, one Kiwi, one American and four Englishmen contest for a place in the semi-final.
The quarterfinals kicked off with two Englishmen, Mark Heather and Jonny Smith, battling for the first berth of the semi-finals. Both players showed their true athleticism and shot making ability. The first game started off fairly evenly point for point through to 8-8, at which point Smith jumped ahead to 12-8 through his hard hitting and taking the ball early. Smith reached game ball first. Having saved one game ball, a mistake by Heather gave Smith the first game 15-13. The subsequent three games saw Heather jump to an early lead as he pushed Smith around the court. What appeared to be breaks in concentration for Heather allowed Smith to make some come back but the exertion of the first two games finally took their toll, allowing Heather to win the next three games 15-13, 15-9, 15-8.
Next up was Englishman Clive Leach, facing American Richard Chin. With plenty of local support, Chin took an early lead (9-5) playing attacking squash, taking the ball short and forcing mistakes from Leach. However, Leach's precision shots were too tight for Chin to scrape off the wall and allowed Leach to take the first game 15-12. Having been given two strokes to take the score to 10-9, Leach was denied a let, which he thought was unfair telling the ref “I may not be as quick as I used to be but I'm still quick”. This appeared to be the turning point of the match as Leach picked up the pace and his accurate shot placement took him to victory with 15-12, 15-8 game scores.
The bottom-half of the draw had the Odehs, Francis and Jude, from Nigeria , battling Daniel Sharplin from New Zealand and Damian Walker, originally from England.
The first game between Francis Odeh and Daniel Sharplin saw both players making several mistakes, but it was Sharplin who settled down first to get to game ball. Odeh managed to save the first game ball, but Sharplin took the game on the next point with a cross-court nick off the serve. The second game was very one-sided as Sharplin raced ahead to a 10-2 lead. Odeh's legs were tiring as Sharplin pushed him around the court. Sharplin took the game 15-5. The third game started in a similar fashion, but Odeh dug in this time round and brought the score to 12-11 in his favor. A loss in concentration from Sharplin and three tins gave Odeh the game 15-11. Odeh's efforts in the third game took their toll in the fourth game. Odeh's fitness and shots weren't quite up to par and too many tins gave Sharplin the game 15-5.
The final quarterfinal between Jude Odeh and Damian Walker was a display of creative shot making and athletic retrieving. The first game saw Odeh cracking shots hard and low while Walker steadily retrieved. Walker tried his trademark reverse corner nick, but it clipped the tin giving Odeh game ball 14-9. But it took Odeh a few more rallies to close out the game 15-12 following another tin from Walker. Walker started the second game strongly taking an initial 6-1 lead. However Odeh battled back and amongst some controversial decisions from the referee brought the scoreline to 12-12. Odeh's frustration got the better of him allowing Walker to take the game 15-13. With everything to play for in the third game it was see-saw back and forth as Walker maintained his steadiness of play while Odeh threw himself around the court, quite literally, retrieving whatever Walker threw at him. At 14-14, Walker called set one and returned Odeh's slightly lose serve straight into the nick. Odeh's frustration with the referee and his play was his downfall in the fourth and what would be the final game. Walker remained steady while Odeh started to hit more tins. A stroke against Odeh gave Walker match ball, and it was another stroke that ended the match as Odeh's return of serve came into the middle of the court.
The top four seeds make their semi-final berth. The semi-finals match Mark Heather, currently ranked 57 on the PSA tour, against Clive Leach, a former top 30 PSA player, and Daniel Sharplin, 2002 New Zealand champion, against Damian Walker, current USA number 1. It should be an exciting evening of games for the amateur players to watch, and you can be sure Dr. Hyder will be in the front row!
Results:
Mark Heather (1) def. Jonny Smith 13-15, 15-13, 15-9, 15-8
Clive Leach (4) def. Richard Chin 15-12, 15-12, 15-8
Daniel Sharplin (3) def. Francis Odeh 15-10, 15-5, 11-15, 15-5
Damian Walker (2) def. Jude Odeh 12-15, 15-13, 15-14, 15-7
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