If there is one stop on the professional doubles squash schedule over the past dozen years that can be counted on to consistently deliver a high-quality presentation, significant innovations and memorable results, both on-court and off, it assuredly has been the Maryland Club Open, which debuted in emphatic fashion with a pair of first-round upsets of seeded teams on Halloween night of 2003 — during which qualifiers Alex Pavulans and Chris Deratnay straight-gamed reigning Kellner Cup champs Blair Horler and Clive Leach right before fourth seeds Josh McDonald and Viktor Berg, four-time finalists the prior season, were ousted by Preston Quick and Jamie Bentley — and whose subsequent history has been permeated with surprising outcomes and first-time occurrences ever since. These have ranged from the Tournament Committee’s decision in 2008 to partner up with Baltimore SquashWise, a brand-new urban squash program, resulting in further incentive for the membership to support the tournament and leading to […]

This weekend will mark the 11th edition of the Maryland Club Open, making it the sixth longest-tenured event on the North American Doubles tour, and quite possibly the one that has seen the greatest number of changes and unexpected outcomes of any on the circuit during that considerable time span. Significant rivalries have either begun or had important chapters written, established powerhouses have been stopped dead in their tracks and budding stars have announced themselves, all within the confines of this host venue that has for so long been the flagship location of Maryland squash. Nearly every time this tournament takes place, something novel and/or noteworthy can be counted on to occur, often with lasting effects (given its October/November placement on the schedule) on the remainder of a given pro-doubles season or on the competitive dynamics of the pro doubles tour as a whole. It is a revealing sign of how change-prone the results in […]

Squash racquets came to the States from England in 1882 and was first played at St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH. The game arrived at the Maryland Club in 1928, seventy years after the founding of the Club and at a point midway between the two world wars. One must realize that in 1858 when the Club was first organized it was a meeting place for gentlemen, and I do mean “gentlemen” in every sense of the word. Those old fellows literally basked in an ambiance of beautiful oriental rugs, dark paneling, the finest food in Baltimore, perhaps the best supply of oysters and terrapin in the whole area, generous drinks, pure white Irish linen, sparkling crystal, sterling silver, (even some gold place settings), priceless historical and sporting prints and paintings, Havana cigars, and a privacy that was almost sacred. The idea of ladies on the premises was not even a dream. As a matter […]

The Maryland Club Open, which marks its tenth anniversary this weekend (there was a one-year hiatus in 2009 with Baltimore hosting the U. S. National Doubles the following spring), is already the sixth longest-tenured event on the North American pro doubles tour, trailing only the David Johnson Memorial event in Brooklyn, the North American Open, Boston, Wilmington and the Jim Bentley Cup in Toronto, all of whom have been stand-bys on the schedule for more than two decades. The Maryland Club courts have borne witness to some extraordinary results since its dramatic debut on Halloween night in 2003, by the end of which two of the top four seeds were sent packing and a third barely survived. Enough landscape-transforming trends were either stopped, marked or jump-started on Eager Street to have given the tournament a character and dynamic all its own, and on this landmark occasion it seems fitting to list them and elaborate on […]

The much-ballyhooed debut was starting to veer far off course from the way they had planned it. Damien Mudge and Ben Gould, fierce rivals throughout the prior several years before deciding to join up during the summer just past, were rapidly and increasingly sliding into trouble in the first-ever match of their partnership, the opening-round quarterfinal of the 2010 Maryland Club Open, where they were being out-played by a slight but definite margin by Mark Chaloner and Chris Walker, who had taken a 1-0, 7-4 lead, their confidence growing with every passing point. Would the prohibitive top seeds, who between them had won every one of the 34 full-ranking pro doubles tournaments that had been played in the three years since the 2007 edition of this event, actually be bounced from the draw in the very first round? And if so, would they ever be able to recover from this rather noteworthy false start? Two […]