Press Release:

 

St. Louis MPM Open

Squash Tournament

 

 

- September 29, 2004 - Missouri Athletic Club - St. Louis Missouri - USA

 

 

The final draw of the 2004 St. Louis Missouri Physicians Mutual Squash Tournament is set following the final day of qualifying matches. Four qualifiers moved into the main draw today surviving from the round of 16 qualifiers.

 

Recap:

 

Simon Parke (England) Def. Cameron Pilley (Australia)  3 games to 1

 

11-3, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6

1 hour 8 minutes

 

In what was certainly the match of the qualifying round, former world #2 Simon Parke outlasted Australian Cameron Pilley in a 1 hour and 8 minute marathon.  Parke controlled the opening game, which featured long rallies as the two players felt each other out.  Park only surrendered points late in the game when his lead seemed insurmountable.

 

In game 2, the shortest game of the match, Parke made a couple of early unforced errors but quickly over came them hitting winners on loose balls by his opponent. 

 

Cameron Pilley poured on the steam in game 3 to take an 11 - 8 victory in a game that lasted nearly 25 minutes.  Pilley earned his first lead of the match at 3-2 and promptly served a ball out of court.  At 3 - 3 Parke made an unforced error giving the serve back to his opponent.  Pilley never looked back, and although game 3 was hotly contested, Pilley pressured Parke into several errors at the end of some very long rallies.

 

In game 4 Parke proved that he had arrived at the tournament in top condition.  He gained an early lead in the final and never surrendered.  Pilley made a tremendous late surge but could not over come Parke's advantage.  At 9 - 6, in possibly the point of the match each player looked to be out of the point on several occasions.  The rally lasted over 100 strokes with Parke finishing with a misdirection drop shot. 

 

Parke's conditioning and experience gave him the victory in this match.  He will need all of his skills in his first round match against #1 seed Jonathon Power Thursday at the Missouri Athletic Club.

 

 

Wael El Hindi (Egypt)  Def. Gavin Jones (Wales)  3 games to 1

 

11-6, 7-11, 11-4, 11-4

52 minutes

 

In this 4 game match, El Hindi never seemed to be out of position and no ball seemed out of his reach.  His movement to the ball looked effortless.  The first game lasted only 10 minutes and featured relatively short rallies with several unforced errors by both players.

 

Longer rallies in game 2 taxed both players causing numerous let calls by both players.  In the end, Jones proved victorious due to several late unforced errors by El Hindi.

 

El Hindi controlled the pace in games 3 and 4 winning both with a score of 11-4.  He will go on to face #3 seed  Karim Darwish in the first round on Thursday night at the Racquet Club

 

 

In other qualifying action at the Racquet ClubÉ

 

Ben Garner (England) Def. Lee Drew (England) 3 games to 0

 

11-9, 11-3, 11-7

44 minutes

 

After a close first game in which both players performed well, Drew left many shots loose and gave Garner too many openings.  Garners solid play moves him into the weekend draw.

 

Garner faces Australian Anthony Ricketts at the Racquet Club in St. Louis on Thursday.

 

Laurens Jan Anjema (Netherlands) Def. Rodney Durbach (RSA) 3 games to 0

 

11-6, 11-10 (2-0),  11-10 (2-0)

53 minutes

 

Anjema came out firing in the first game and put Durbach on his heels who seemed a little slow out of the blocks, lacking in depth on the length.  Durbach improved, and put up a good battle and gained the lead in games 2 and 3 but was unable to make his leads stick.  Anjema played at a typically high pace, restricting Durbach, especially on the return of serve.  Despite this, Durbach was able to get ahead 8-6 in the 2nd and to 8 in the 3rd, pushing Anjema to the back corners, but in the end was unable to keep up with the fast pace and constant pressure applied by his opponent.

 

Anjema faces Egypt's Mohammed Abbas in the first round on Thursday at the Missouri Athletic Club

 

 

 

 

 

Round 1 Match Ups

 

Jonathon Powers (Canada) vs. Simon Parke (England)

Anthony Rickets ( Australia) vs. Ben Garner ( England)

Karim Darwish (Egypt) vs. Wael El Hindi (Egypt)

Graham Ryding (Canada) vs. Mark Chaloner (England)

Mike Puertas (USA) vs. Joseph Kneipp (Australia)

Alex Gough (Wales) vs. Gregory Gaultier (RSA)

Laurens Jan Anjema (Netherlands) vs. Mohammed Abbas (Egypt)

Paul Price (Australia) vs. Amr Shabana (Egypt)

 

For full tournament coverage and complete brackets please go to www.stlouisopen.com