Sweet Home Chicago Open
Chicago, Illinois, USA 
Story by Zee Shaan Jamal
Photos by Bill Nau

David Palmer vs. John White - Two mates were on the all-glass show court tonight, as matches resumed on the outdoor court in Chicago’s chilly night. Although watching them play each other, one would never guess that these two are the best of friends off court. They play with such sheer intensity and take no prisoners, even bumping into each other if the occasion calls for it.

Before this match, their head to head record stood in Palmer’s favor with him having won 8 matches to White’s solo victory coming in Bermuda in 2005. Amazing considering the way White plays, it just goes to show that Palmer knows how to contain ‘the Great White’.

First game both started well and made only one unforced error each. White showcasing his touch in the front corners to deadly effect. Palmer keeping it tight all throughout. The one shot Palmer used to devastating effect was his forehand boast, with that shot winning him three points in the game outright, with White failing to read them completely. Coupled with some deft counter attacks and a few exquisite drop shots, Palmer managed to close the game out at 11-6.

Second game, all White, all over. Showcasing every shot in his impressive arsenal, White sped past Palmer with the help of some backhand crosscourt nicks which absolutely rolled on the floor and some amazing backhand drops which remained elusive to Palmer’s incredible reach. White closed out the game with a brash authority by bashing the ball on the volley into the cross court nick. 11-5 to White.

Palmer was back to being the ‘Marine’ we’ve come to know him as and was working White around the court as if to remind him that getting past Palmer was going to be an impossible task today. White countered bravely by chasing everything down, but his three tins gave Palmer enough of an impetus to stay ahead all the way through and he closed the game out at 11-6.

White looked depleted at this time, but the eye of the tiger kicked in once again. Surprisingly this game saw Palmer making more than a usual number of errors, which bolstered White’s attempt at a strong but increasingly desperate comeback. At 9-all White drums the tin to give Palmer match ball, but then plays a very patient rally to force an error out of Palmer to take the match into its only tie-break. After a steady rally, Palmer rockets a straight forehand kill, which forces White to contort into the side-splits position, but the ball speeds past him. Match ball to Palmer. On the next rally a desperate White asks for ‘let’ in the deep forehand corner, which is denied by the referees. 12-10, Palmer confirms his place in the final.

Hisham Ashour vs. Peter Barker - What a wonderful match we had lined up in the form of these two, ready to go at it from the get-go. Ashour looked up for the match and their head to head record before this match stood at one match-all as well, so this was no foregone conclusion and Barker never looked to have underestimated his opponent either.

Barker came to the court focused, striding heavily and deliberately, he gave the impression that nothing was out of his impressive wing span. This set up an interesting clash, because Hisham likes to find the empty space on the court to hit his ever creative winners but when he found Barker on every nook and corner of the court, he got a little frustrated and tried to make things happen. Playing certain shots when they weren’t there to be played, Hisham suffered some paralyzing tins and Peter stomped all over the remains as he closed the first game out at 11-6.

Second game went under way, this was the time for Hisham to make a push and carve out a lead which would have undoubtedly helped his cause, but the push never came, in fact it was Peter who started to push even harder and carved out a slight lead to begin with but built on that advantage with some very shrewd counter-attacks which left Hisham stranded. To his credit, Hisham kept pushing, but Peter never let up, he was a man on a mission and that mission was a meeting with David Palmer in the final and he wanted to give him every chance of successfully completing that. Peter closed out the second game with again an authoritative score of 11-7.

Bouncing back from a two games to love deficit is a very tough task and it doesn’t happen every often on the tour. Peter Barker in the 66 occasions in his pro career that he has been up 2 games to love up in a match, has never lost a match from that position and he certainly wasn’t in a mood to start now. Hisham although didn’t seem to care about such things and went to work, carving out a lead and looking like he was at least going to push this match into a fourth game, when he again drummed the tin to shift the momentum at a crucial point in the game. That was all the break Peter was looking for as he ran away with that advantage, playing error-free squash and sprinting past the finish line by closing the match out with a third game score of 11-8.

Both finalists look in great form and should put up a great match for the Chicago crowds tomorrow after the exhibition doubles are concluded.

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