Sweet Home Chicago Open Daily Update - September 10, 2008
Contact: Erika Skorupskas or Ryan Kuntz, Healy & Schulte, Inc.
Phone: 312/765-8770
E-mail: eskorupskas@healyandschulte.com
Local Pro Mark Heather Wins
By: Kim Tunney
Sweet Home Chicago Open Begins Play In Glass Court on Michigan Avenue
On a beautiful summer night under the watchful eyes of the venerable Chicago Tribune building, and the historic Wrigley Building , qualifying match play began for the Sweet Home Chicago Open, the nation's first squash tournament to be held outdoors.
Both qualifiers and spectators were equally stunned at the locale; . It's a great venue. Amazing. Really the best I've ever played," said Ireland's Arthur Gaskin. "It's like watching a really fantastic squash match in your backyard," declared a spectator who stopped to find out what was going on while power -walking down The Magnificent Mile.
The first match of the evening took the longest to complete at 85 minutes with Shaun Le Roux claiming victory over Ryan Cuskelly in four. The game start was delayed due to the setting sun peeking through the buildings to the west. Le Roux claims his ticket to play Shahier Razik in the round of 16.
Local pro Mark Heather, who has been training to run the Chicago Marathon in October, used all his stamina to beat Rob Sutherland in a grueling five game match. Heather gets one day of rest before facing Peter Barker (#2 seed) on Friday.
Ireland's Arthur Gaskin worked his short game to success against USA's Chris Gordon winning in four. Surprised a bit by his result, Gaskin said, "I started shabbily, but got stronger during the match; that's not usual for me." No rest for Gaskin as he moves on to play Daryl Selby tomorrow.
The final match of the evening ended at 11:00 pm and pitted two South Africans: Reggie Schonborn against Steve Coppinger. Coppinger came through in four: " The third game was hard. But I knew if I got the third game, I'd win it." Schonborn, assistant coach at Trinity College in Connecticut , said " I played well in the first game. But Steve picked up the pace in the second and I never found an answer for that." Schonborn also heads down to Houston tomorrow, but hates to leave agreeing that the Sweet Home Chicago Open is a great event; it's beautiful to be here in Chicago.
Wednesday, September 10 Results:
Shaun Le Roux beat Ryan Cuskelly 3-1 (85 min) 9/11, 11/7, 12/10, 11/9
Mark Heather beat Rob Sutherland 3-2 (67 min) 11/7, 8/11, 3/11, 11/3, 11/8
Arthur Gaskin beat Chris Gordon 3-1 (54 min) 11/7, 5/11, 7/11, 1/11
Steve Coppinger beat Reggie Schonborn 3-1 (50 min) 9/11, 11/7, 11/5, 11/3
On September 11:
Palmer v. Mudeen at 6:00 pm
Illingworth v. Kenny at 7:00 pm
White v. Halaby at 8:00 pm
Gaskin v. Daryl Selby at 9:00pm
On September 12:
Heather plays Peter Barker at 4:00 pm
Le Roux plays Shahier Razik at 5:00 pm
Coppinger plays Hisham Ashour at 6:00 pm
Tournament Details:
Date: Wednesday, September 10 . Monday, September 15, 2008
Location: Pioneer Court on Michigan Ave., between the Tribune Towers
and the Chicago River
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