Metropolitan Squash Racquets Association

The 36th running of the Hyder Trophy saw 148 players in 14 draws and over 180 matches played over 4 days culminating with a five-game monster marathon match that went into overtime.

With a full draw of 16 for the Men’s Open draw headed by Graham Ryding and Shahier Razik, play started Thursday night in conjunction with the MSRA League Finals Night at the Yale Club. With the top eight seeds going through to the next round, the losers fed into the Men’s 6.0 draw of the amateur event.

Play moved to the Sports Club/LA and NYSC Uptown on Friday as the amateur draws began. The matches were fast and furious as players were not giving an inch. Christian Solgaard, a new addition to the NY scene from Denmark, fought back from two games down to win his first round match in five in the men’s 6.0, and in the men’s 5.0, we saw juniors giving their senior counterparts everything they could handle. And in the 60+ draw there was a real battle between Simon Hayson and Lior Grinberg which after five hard games ended in Simon’s favor. In the men’s open, the quarter-finals saw some interesting match-ups. We had a battle between two doubles players – Damian Mudge and Clive Leach – with Damian coming out victorious with his hard hitting prowess. Next up was Harvard alum Daniel Ezra taking on top seed Graham Ryding and after a close first game that went into a tiebreaker, Graham took the next two comfortably. The match between Shahier Razik and Joe Russell was a straightforward 3-0 win as Shahier’s feathery drops and tight drives took prominence. The match of the night was between two Egyptians – Karim Yehia and Ahmed Hamza. A real see-saw battle that ended with Ahmed earning himself a spot in the semi-finals. In the Women’s Open, the first match pitted Dana Betts against Louisa Hall whose dominance of the T sealed the victory.

A full day of play started early Saturday morning with several of the men’s 5.0 matches going the full distance of five games. In the women’s B event four juniors made it into the semi-finals, outplaying their senior counterparts and in the women’s A, Victoria Chishimba’s power was too strong for number two seed Emily Park while Ileana Novelo dispatched number one seed Lee Lionetti. We also had a John Power in the tournament, John Power Sr., who was simply too fast and accurate with his shots in the M50+ draw. The Women’s Open kicked off the evening’s schedule as Meredeth Quick took on Dana Betts. Having just watched her brother and father in a nail biting five-game doubles match, Meredeth soon settled down and claimed a 3-0 victory. Next up was the match of the night – Graham Ryding and Damian Mudge. Over 100 spectators witnessed a match that had it all, shots in the nick - feathery drops, hard drives, full court rallies, bodies being thrown around the court, and all the drama that goes with it. With the games tied at 2-2, the final game went point for point with Graham reaching match ball. But Damian wasn’t giving up easily and he literally threw himself around the court in the ensuing rally to win the point and force a tiebreaker. After a couple of lets and some fine rallies, it was Graham that was victorious and the first player into the final. Following the presentation of the MSRA Annual Awards, Shahier Razik took on Ahmed Hamza. It was a perfunctory 3-0 win to Shahier as Ahmed’s five-game win over Karim the previous night and full day of coaching finally took their toll on his legs.

And so it was onto the final day starting with the semi-finals for the amateur draws. In the men’s 4.5 there was a tight match between Thijs Beuming and Trevor Stow that ended 9-7 in Thijs’s favor in the fifth. Neil Helman also forced a five-game match against Vivek Nayar in the men’s 5.5, but found his legs gave up in the fifth game as Vivek earned a place in the final. The Women’s Open kicked off finals play with Meredeth Quick taking on fellow US teammate Louisa Hall. Suffering with a cold it appeared that Louisa was always one step behind Meredeth who was quick to take control and dominate the match, winning 3-0. Next up was the match people were looking forward to – the Men’s Open final. Would Graham avenge his loss to Shahier at the Canadian Nationals? Despite his marathon five-game match the night before, Graham was sharp and moving well. His shots were millimeters above the tin and Shahier had trouble scraping them off the floor and side wall. An entertaining match ended with Graham winning the Hyder Trophy in four games. Following the presentation of the trophy by Dr. Hyder, play resumed for the amateur draw finals. Two juniors displayed their potential by outplaying and outlasting their opponents taking the men’s 4.0 and 5.0 titles - Jamal Callendar only dropped two games on the way to the 4.0 title and Simon Culver won all his matches 3-0, claiming the 5.0 title. In the men’s 6.0 Ben Oliner put up a fight against David Heath, but David was just too strong on the day. Match of the day though goes to final match of the tournament – the Men’s 6.0 Consolations. Adam Walker and Rahul Nayar last met at the Nationals in the quarter-finals where Rahul came back from 2-0 down to take Adam to five games, so we knew we were in for a fight. Once again Rahul came back from 2-0 down winning the fourth game in the tie-breaker to force a fifth game. It was a battle to the end as both players pushed themselves to the limit hoping to get that final point. As fatigue started to seep into the match, the fifth game headed towards a tie-breaker. With the crowd looking for a set-1 call, Adam called set-2 and went on to win the match 10-8 in the fifth.

Final Results