Welcome to the Aon U.S. Open, and here's hoping for another sweet success

By ALAN THATCHER

Chicago is one of the most active squash regions in North America, and the city's entire squash community is looking forward to welcoming most of the world's leading professional players to the Aon US Open.

The tournament is a Five-Star event on the PSA World Tour, offering a prize fund of $52,500 and follows the successful staging last year of the Sweet Home Chicago Open, which featured a stellar cast and a superb final in which England's Peter Barker beat the US-based Australian, David Palmer.

This year's tournament has moved up a gear or two, elevated in status from a Three Star to a Five Star event, with Palmer and Barker seeded three and four behind dazzling Egyptian shot-makers Ramy Ashour and Amr Shabana.

The players are guaranteed to provide outstanding entertainment for spectators surrounding the spectacular all-glass McWil court which will be set up in Pioneer Court, between Tribune Tower and the Chicago River, from September 2-6.

Looking at the seedings, the stage seems set for the U.S. Open to celebrate an Egyptian champion for the first time. Egypt is dominating much of the world squash scene at the moment, with a massive wave of exceptional juniors ready to swell the professional ranks.

Reinforcing their national presence here in Chicago, and providing four Egyptian players among the top ten seeds, are Wael El Hindi at six and Ramy's brother Hisham at nine.

Gus Cook, the PSA consultant with special responsibility for developing world-class tournaments in the Americas, said: "We are delighted to have attracted a fantastic draw that includes Ramy, the current World Open champion and Amr, a three-time world champion."

The Boston-based Palmer is also a former world champion and world No.1, which illustrates the tremendous depth of the draw. Palmer won both the US Open and World Open in 2002 and at 33 is still capable of competing at the highest level.

Cook added: "I have spoken at length to David about the tournament and he is really excited by the event, particularly being the highest world-ranked player living in the U.S. and a finalist in Chicago last year."

English players have dominated the US Open in the past 15 years, with four victories by Peter Nicol, two by Lee Beachill, and further successes by Nick Matthew and Simon Parke.

Last year's Sweet Home Chicago Open champion, Barker, is seeded four ahead of fellow Englishmen Adrian Grant (5) and James Willstrop (7).

Tournament Director Imran Nasir, head professional at Chicago's Lakeshore Athletic Club, said: "James Willstrop could spring a few surprises being seeded as low as he is after a spell out of action following an operation to cure a bone spur on an ankle.

"He is one of the most talented shot-makers in the world and assuming he gets through he will certainly be a dangerous opponent for the top seeds in the quarter-finals onwards.

"Peter Barker is also enjoying his highest ranking of seven in the world and the springboard for his rise up the rankings in the past 12 months was provided by his victories here in Chicago and then in Baltimore, where he also beat David Palmer in the final."

Adding a truly international flavour, Finland's athletic Olli Tuominen is seeded eight, Egyptian-born Canadian No.1 Shahier Razik is ten and Indian No.1 Saurav Ghosal 11. All three possess a track record of claiming some big scalps in the early rounds of major competitions.

Another player aiming to make a name for himself is Philadelphia's Gilly Lane, the tournament wild card who will be looking forward to pitting his skills against the best players in the world on home soil.

Nasir added: "Egypt is certainly enjoying an incredible spell of ascendancy in squash at the moment, and recently they won both the boys and girls' titles at the World Junior Open in India.

"They have a wave of young players who are dominating the world junior scene and the great news for the game of squash is that they all seem to mature into adult professionals who have a wonderful attacking flair which produces brilliant entertainment for spectators."

Nasir is delighted to see top-class squash headlining in Chicago once again. He added: "This event is a solid continuation of the work we did last year to stage the Sweet Home Chicago Open and it is pleasing to see our efforts recognised by US Squash in upgrading the tournament to US Open status.

"The world's leading squash players provide spectacular entertainment, with attacking shots countered by some immensely athletic retrieving, and we hope that many passers-by will be impressed by what they see on court and try their hand at the game.

"We have several top-class clubs in Chicago to welcome newcomers to the sport and we are staging several community events alongside the professional tournament to provide a genuine link between the world's leading players and the grass-roots of the sport.

"At the moment the Egyptians are dominating the top end of the rankings but American squash is developing solidly and players like Julian Illingworth, Chris Gordon and Gilly Lane are flying the US flag in major tournaments."

US Open Seeds:
1 Ramy Ashour (Egypt)
2 Amr Shabana (Egypt)
3 David Palmer (Australia)
4 Peter Barker (England)
5 Adrian Grant (England) 
6 Wael El Hindi (Egypt)
6 James Willstrop (England) 
8 Olli Tuominen (Finland) 
9 Hisham Ashour (Egypt) 
10 Shahier Razik (Canada)
11 Saurav Ghosal (India)
12 Gilly Lane (USA, wild card)