The inaugural Madison Open and first stop of the Squash Design Tour kicked off with a bang with some exciting squash for the members and friends of this brand new facility in Madison, Wisconsin.
In his first PSA appearance, youngster Anthony Graham took the first win of the night against Ned Marks. Anthony looked sharp against the former Denison University player.
Next on court was British U19 standout Ben Coleman vs. MSW club owner and teaching pro Damon Bourne. Suffice it to say, that despite playing squash for longer than Ben has been alive, Damon considered it a victory by simply keeping Ben on court for 35 minutes without even stalling too much.
The last match of the day was the Head Squash Professional at the University Club of Chicago and not incidentally, former World No. 39, Mark Heather vs. Omar El-Kashef of Egypt. Mark managed to win the first 11-5, despite starting with some nerves. The guys traded the next two games and then things got serious in the fourth.
Omar went up 9-4 and looked to be cruising, but Mark settled down and played a bit more aggressively to bring the score up to 8-9. Things got bit messy with a lot of mid-court contact and more than a few tumbles by both guys, but Omar turned it up and played some great shots and closed out the game 11-8. In the decider, Mark had an excellent start and jumped to a 6-0 lead before Omar could get on the board. The Egyptian seemed a bit tired in this game after his efforts in the fourth, and the Englishman finished the match 11-3.
Final qualifying rounds on Wednesday night.
Round 2
Jonas Laursen (DEN) vs. Ehimen Ehalen (NGR)
Tiago Cabral (BRA) vs. Ben Coleman (ENG)
Anthony Graham (ENG) vs. Maxym Leclair (CAN)
Mark Heather (ENG) vs. Paul Mathieson (ITA)
Round 1
Anthony Graham def. Ned Marks: 11-6, 11-3, 11-5 30 min.
Ben Coleman def. Damon Bourne 11-8, 11-6, 11-3 35 min.
Mark Heather def. Omar El-Kashef 11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-3 65 min.
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