For the first time in the Graham Company Cup’s eighteen years, the tournament elevated its prize money to the $25,000 SDA Silver level, opening the event up to the tour’s top teams including world No. 1 and world No. 2 Manek Mathur & Damien Mudge, who recorded a seventh consecutive title this weekend at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia.
For the second consecutive tournament, the top seeds did not drop a game on the way to claiming a seventh title out of eight tournaments this season.
The twelve-team main draw played out according to seeding with the top four teams progressing to the semifinals. While Mathur & Mudge needed just three games against four seeds Raj Nanda & Clive Leach to reach the final, two seeds John Russell & Yvain Badan came back from 2-1 down to beat three seeds Johnny Smith & Chris Callis in five games.
In the final, Mathur & Mudge fired their way to their inaugural Graham Company Cup title 15-8, 15-10, 15-13.
The Graham Company Cup was the first SDA event in a month since Mathur & Mudge claimed the Johnson Memorial title in February—also without dropping a game.
“Tough to say we picked up where we left off after the Johnson, but we were definitely working on using our positive momentum as we head into this event,” Mathur said. “Damien came in this weekend so strong and it showed throughout the weekend. He makes the court so small, for me on the left too! It’s incredible to be out there with him and watch him do his thing.”
Both Mathur & Mudge made their Germantown debut thanks to the increased prize money in 2017.
“I have never played at Germantown and was excited to be there,” Mathur said. “It’s home to a lot of good squash players and was extremely glad that they raised the prize money to make it a major event. It’s a very unique club with a lot of history and for sites like that to take the next step is a great place for our tour to be in.”
View images on the tournament Smugmug page.
Watch Graham Company Cup replays below.