Everything’s big in Texas. Case in point: the 2004 Texas Open Squash Tournament, which took place in Houston March 30 – April 4. Folks in Texas are rightfully proud of this WISPA Gold Tour event, which had a $42,500.00 purse and counted for Grand Prix points, and in which fifteen of the world’s top sixteen women squash professionals competed. These players hail from countries such as England, Scotland, Australia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Malaysia, Egypt, France and Canada. The Texas Open, until 2002, was solely a Houston tournament. That year during the tournament banquet, the Presidents of the Houston and Dallas Squash Racquets Associations teamed up and pledged to host this increasingly popular annual event alternately, setting aside their traditional rivalries to cooperate on this spectacular tournament. And spectacular it was this year. Pamela Nimmo of Scotland started the ball rolling by upsetting higher ranked Shelly Kitchen of New Zealand in the qualifier for a berth in the main draw. She then went on to upset the #6 seed Linda Charman of England in the first round. The five-game match between Vicky Botwright and Fiona Geaves resulted in another upset, with Vicky showing off some fantastic squash. She played another great match in the second round against second seed and ultimate winner Rachel Grinham and will no doubt be rewarded by a spot on the English national team to be announced later this year. The semi-final between world #1Cassie Jackman and world #5 Natalie Grinham was showcased before the tournament banquet Saturday evening. The spectators worked up an appetite watching this nail-biter in which Jackman squeaked by to win 10-9 in the fifth game in what was described by several spectators as arguably the best and cleanest squash seen in years. Both players played their hearts out and there were less than ten let calls in the entire match. This match was truly a lesson in “making every effort to get to and play the ball”. PSA players, please take note! In the other semi final, Vanessa Atkinson staved off Rachel Grinham in the second game, but succumbed to the #2 seed in the fourth game in yet another great squash match. With the top two seeds playing in the final on Sunday, the bleachers were packed to capacity. But Cassie was obviously exhausted after her semi final match and couldn’t show us her best game – it took the combined effort of both Grinham sisters to wear her down and Rachel won the last match of the weekend 9/5, 9/5, 9/5.

The Downtown Club at the Met, under the direction of committee member Amabelle Cowan, hosted an enchanting banquet, and Nite Beat Band singer Mickey managed to get all the WISPA players on their feet for solo and line dances. Even self-proclaimed non-dancer Susan Morrison strutted her stuff on the floor with her husband Bob.

With almost 100 amateurs from all over Texas competing in their own divisions, amateur tourney director Alan Frink had his hands and courts full all weekend. Even the non-pros had international participants from as far as Scotland and El Salvador, so competition was fierce!

Many thanks to tournament chairman and HSRA president Rishad Alikhan for spearheading this mammoth effort. Susan Morrison of Quetico Corporation was the main sponsor and mentor, without whom this tournament would be just an unattainable dream. George Ball of Sanders Morris Harris was once again the lead sponsor of the amateur portion of the tournament.

See you in Dallas next year!