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Seattle Open
2019
30 Jan - 02 Feb, USA, $11k |
Final:
It's all Tandon in Seattle final
Jay Prince reports
Despite surrendering the third game in their first ever meeting,
India’s top-seeded Ramit Tandon controlled the final of the
Seattle Open against Egyptian Mohamed ElSherbini from the word
“Play.”
It wasn’t that the third-seeded Egyptian, and cousin of women’s
World No. 2 Nour El Sherbini, played poorly. He simply had no
solutions for the puzzle Tandon was creating. Superior length
and width, along with deft touch at the front by Tandon led to
clear winners or loose balls from ElSherbini that, on six
occasions in the opener, resulted in strokes against him. The
stroke-fest continued in the second game as Tandon built an
insurmountable lead before ElSherbini made a game of it with a
handful of winners of his own.
ElSherbini managed to solve his self-imposed traffic jam in the
third by cleaning up his errors to build a 7-1 lead that Tandon
was seemingly willing to let go. But in the fourth, Tandon—who
reached a career-high World No. 58 on February 1—put the hammer
down and ran away with the title.
The win was Tandon’s second title in the last 12 months and,
despite not currently working with a coach, he has leveraged his
time on court with his training partner, Ramy Ashour, into a
rise in the rankings from No. 493 in April 2017. Currently the
second reserve, Tandon is hopeful of gaining entry into the the
$1 million World Championships that begin in Chicago’s Union
Station on February 23. But for now, the rising star can enjoy
the rewards from a week of dominant play in Seattle.
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Seattle Open
2019
30 Jan - 02 Feb, USA, $11k |
Round One
30 Jan |
Quarters
31 Jan |
Semis
01 Feb |
Final
02 Feb |
[1] Ramit Tandon (Ind)
11/2, 11/1, 11/9 (25m)
Ben Coates (Eng) |
[1] Ramit Tandon
11/2, 11/4, 11/4 (30m)
[6] Sebastien Bonmalais |
[1] Ramit Tandon
11/6, 11/5, 11/2 (38m)
[8] Lyell Fuller |
[1] Ramit Tandon
11/4, 11/7, 2/11, 11/2 (50
[3] Mohamed Elsherbini |
[5] Sebastien Bonmalais (Fra)
11/5, 8/11, 11/6, 11/6 (45m)
Ondrej Uherka (Cze) |
[7] Lyell Fuller (Eng)
11/2, 11/2, 11/6 (20m)
Armando Olguin (Mex) |
[8] Lyell Fuller
11/5, 11/2, 9/11, 11/6 (42m)
Matias Tuomi |
[4] Chris Gordon (Usa)
13/11, 5/11, 11/7, 11/7 (95m)
Matias Tuomi (Fin) |
Faraz Khan (Usa)
14/12, 11/5, 13/11 (35m)
[3] Mohamed Elsherbini (Egy) |
[3] Mohamed Elsherbini
11/8, 11/13, 13/11, 11/6 (84m)
[7] Daniel Mekbib |
[3] Mohamed Elsherbini 11/8, 11/7, 11/7
(50m)
[5] Andrew Schnell |
Joeri Hapers (Bel)
11/7, 8/11, 11/8, 11/4 (44m)
[6] Daniel Mekbib (Cze) |
Jamie Ruggerio (Usa)
11/5, 11/5, 11/1 (25m)
[8] Andrew Schnell (Can) |
[5] Andrew Schnell
11/8, 11/3, 11/4 (40m)
[2] Shawn Delierre |
Tristan Eysele (Rsa)
11/4, 11/7, 11/0 (30m)
[2] Shawn Delierre (Can) |
Semis
Dominant Performances Rule the Semifinals
With the glass court at the Seattle Athletic Club back in action
at the Seattle Open, Egyptian Mohamed ElSherbini and Canadian
Andrew Schnell kicked off the evening’s semifinals with the
Egyptian prevailing in three long games.
World ranked No. 81, ElSherbini will, for the
first time, face Indian Ramit Tandon in Saturday night’s final.
Tandon’s relentless and precise placement of width, length, and
nicks overwhelmed his semifinal opponent, Lyell Fuller of
England.
The top-seeded Tandon will be in search of his fourth PSA tour
championship, while third-seeded ElSherbini will be looking for
his career eighth title.
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Quarters:
Quarterfinal Action Busts the Floorboards at the Seattle Open
 The
quarterfinals of the Seattle Open were highlighted by strong
play from the no. 1 seed, and a match so fiercely contested that
it broke the court.
The evening started with 36-year-old Canadian Shawn Delierre
squaring off against Andrew Schnell, a fellow countryman nine
years his junior.
Next up was what would prove to be the most
hotly contested match of the night, between Mohamed ElSherbini
of Egypt and Daniel Mekbib of the Czech Republic.
The remaining two matches of the night were less dramatic.
Englishman Lyell Fuller's attacking play kept Finn Matias Tuomi
reeling for their first two games. Tuomi got his bearings and
upped his own aggression level to win the third, but he wasn't
able to maintain the fight in the fourth, dropping the game and
the match.
The nightcap featured Indian top seed Ramit Tandon against
20-year-old Frenchman Sébastien Bonmalais, whose exceptional
movement in the previous round marked him as a player to watch.
He continued to cover the court well, but it wasn't enough to
contend with Tandon's nuanced tactics and clean, accurate,
error-free hitting. The Indian was in control from start to
finish.
Tomorrow's semis match Schnell against ElSherbini and Fuller
against Tandon. If repair work during the day is successful,
play will return to the glass court, which has a well-traveled
history. Before arriving in Seattle it belonged to Squash
Canada, and it was originally put to use as a show court at the
2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. |
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Round One:
Seeds Triumph in Seattle, with One Bloody Exception
Matthew Lombardi and Jay Prince report
Sixteen players representing 11 countries squared off in the
first round of the Seattle Open, a PSA Challenger event, with
seven of the eight seeds coming out on top.
The one upset resembled a gladiatorial battle--or a hockey game.
Matias Tuomi of Finland beat American Christopher Gordon
in a four-game match that included over 30 minutes of delays due
to blood injuries sustained by both players. Gore aside, the
match was a display of the lethal effectiveness of driving deep
along the left wall and following with a straight drop, a
strategy that paid dividends for both players. Gordon worked the
combination well late in the first game, coming back from 1-7 to
even things 9-all.
At 11-11, Tuomi took a racquet just above the eye, but following
his injury break returned to take the game 13-11. Gordon gained
his own 7-1 advantage in the second and cruised to a win in the
game. Early in the third, though, he suffered a cut below his
mouth, and after that he never got entirely back on track. Tuomi
won the third and fourth, both 11-7.
Two more of the evening's matches went to four. Daniel Mekbib
of the Czech Republic and Joeri Hapers of Belgium both
looked to impose pace on each other, but it was the lefty Mekbib
who managed to dominate the middle of the court, sending Hapers
scrambling repeatedly deep into the back right corner,
particularly in the first and fourth games. Hapers found his
form in the hotly contested second, taking an early lead and
holding for his only game of the match.
With an emphatic forehand crosscourt nick, Frenchman
Sébastien Bonmalais finished off the other four-game win,
over the second Czech in the draw, Ondrej Uherka. It was one of
the evening's most entertaining matches, with both players
hitting tight length and displaying soft touch at the front, and
both working through interference rather than asking for lets.
Bonmalais, just 20 years old, showed the influence of French
stars Thierry Lincou and Gregory Gaultier, moving fluidly and
using severe delays in his swing.
The remainder of the matches were decided in straight games.
Englishman Lyell Fuller, Indian Ramit Tandon, and
Canadians Andrew Schnell and Shawn Delierre all
notched decisive victories, while Mohamed ElSherbini of
Egypt had to work harder for his 3-0 win over American Faraz
Khan, with the first and third games going to extra points.
In the first, ElSherbini dominated a series of long, testing
rallies to take a 9-3 lead, then proceeded to lose his length
and find the tin. Khan came back to reach game ball at 10-9 and
again at 11-10, but the Egyptian elevated his play to close out
13-11. The story in the third was a reverse of the first, with
Khan going up 6-1 and ElSherbini fighting back. The tail end of
the game was marked by a series of contested calls and tins from
both players, with ElSherbini ultimately triumphant, 15-13.
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