Mark Sealy produced a dominant performance on his way to winning the US Squash Masters 60+ competition in New York over the weekend.
Playing at the Open Squash Bryant Park, Sealy held his nerves to beat World Masters finalist and multiple US Masters champion Dominic Hughes, 11-9, 12-10, 4-11, 11-6, to claim his third title.
The first game started with Sealy moving well to the front and taking the first three points, but Hughes fought back with good drives and deft touches to lock the scores at 9-9, before Sealy won the next two points to take the opener.
In the second game, Sealy started confidently but Hughes again pounced on anything loose, putting it away short. Hughes leveled at 10-10, but once again Sealy held his nerve to take a 2-0 lead.
With the pressure mounting on Hughes, he let his arm go with shots to all corners. His aggressive play reaped dividends, as Sealy lost his length and eventually the third set.
However, in the fourth Sealy tightened up with better length and attacked with drops and quick boasts, taking a quick lead and holding on to it. After losing the first match point at 10-6, Hughes put Sealy in the front left and countered with a quick trickle boast to end the match.
An elated Sealy said he was relieved to get over the line.
“This one was big. It was a very strong field and Dominic is an incredible player, so to win 3-1 is extremely satisfying.
“I changed up my training programme to include more ghosting, lighter weight training, and made some technical changes to my swing and it has really paid dividends,” Sealy said, while also thanking coaches Peter Nicol, Nicole Bunyan, Karen Meakins, Shawn Simpson as well as Surfside Gym and Red Zen Pilates Studio.
Earlier, playing his first three matches at the Harvard Club of New York, Sealy had a bye in the first round and then came up against James Green in the round of 16 winning easily 11-3, 11-3, 11-2.
On Saturday, Sealy played Thomas Weylen from California in the quarters, dispatching him 11-4, 11-1, 11-1, before facing Richard Kenny in the semis two hours later.
This was a very competitive match with Sealy winning 12-10, 11-7, 11-6.
(PR)
