In a repeat of their 2010
Bluenose Classic final, Thierry Lincou and Daryl Selby
treated the packed crowd at Halifax's Rebecca Cohn
Auditorium to a thrilling climax to the 2012 event, the
biggest yet.
It was the unseeded Frenchman who triumphed again though,
coming from 2/1 down to claim his 23rd PSA title just two
days short of his 36th birthday.
"I am delighted
with my
performance of this week. I had some meaningful wins and I
felt really sharp.
I think that my form was due for some part to the four big
matches in Montreal in hard conditions panels/bouncy) . It
really strengthened my fitness and my mental focus.
After a poor beginning of the year I really found my way
back, my determination, my fitness and the desire of wining.
This was a sweet victory two years after my last one which
was also in Halifax!!
Great birthday present, (36 in 2 days). I am a happy man."
30-Mar, Semi-Finals:
Capacity Crowd Witnesses Perfection
at Bluenose Squash Classic By Jon Boody
Perfection defined is, “the highest degree of proficiency, skill, or
excellence.”
This sums up the performances of both Daryl Selby of England
and Thierry Lincou of France on semi final night at the 2012
Bluenose Squash Classic.
Selby, ranked 11th in the world, and Thierry Lincou, ranked 12th in
the world, put on a true clinic in their respective matches. Both
were able to demonstrate how playing, “basic” squash can still get
the job done on the night.
Selby,
in his semi final victory over LJ Anjema, seemed to be operating
within “the zone” that LJ was describing in his post match interview
with Neil Harvey the previous night.
After securing match ball,
Selby stopped, looked out to the crowd, exhaled deeply and appeared
to come back down to earth.
His play tonight was simply inspiring,
and while it may not be flashy, it has booked him a ticket to what
could be, outside of winning his national championship last year,
the biggest win of his career.
Lincou
was impressive in his 3-0 victory over the charismatic Hisham
Ashour. Ashour raced out to an early 6-2 lead in the first game, but
admitted after the match that it was at this point that he let his
focus slip.
The momentum clearly changed following a change of ball
and a questionable call from the panel of referees. Lincou took
advantage of this lack of focus and didn’t let Ashour back into the
match.
Perfectly weighted drives and faultless drop shots saw Ashour
spending a lot of time unsuccessfully digging balls out of the glass
courts four corners.
Selby and Lincou, with straight set victories tonight, will be
equally rested heading into finals day on Saturday afternoon.
It appears that Selby and Lincou have become quite comfortable on
the all glass court that has called the stage of The Rebecca Cohn
Auditorium home for the past week. All that is left to be determined
now is who will walk out of “the cube” victorious on Saturday
afternoon.
The final, a repeat of the 2010 Bluenose final in which Lincou was
victorious has the potential to be an epic battle. While Selby has
only won one of four meetings between the two, his one success came
as recently as a few short months ago in Sweden and will surely
still be fresh in Thierry’s mind.
The auditorium doors will open at 2pm tomorrow and there is some
great pre-match entertainment in store prior to the 3:45pm start.
Tickets are still available at The Dalhousie Art Centre Box office.
Pour en revenir au match, après changement de balle au milieu du 1er
car une fusée j'ai pu contrôler un peu mieux le jeu.
La 2eme balle était quand même très vive par rapport aux autres
jours...
Donc je me suis employé à contenir Hisham avec des longueurs
frappées et basses.
Sous pression il avait moins de temps pour me feinter et je le
poussais comme ça à prendre trop de risques. Et comme je couvrais
bien le court, je pouvais bien contrer à l'avant aussi.
Donc ma plus nette victoire sur ce magicien.
Un vrai bonheur...
Quarter-Finals
29-Mar,
Quarter-Finals:
Thierry topples top seed Shabana
Quarter-finals
started out with an upset at the Rebecca Cohn auditorium as top seed
Amr Shabana couldn't build on a one-game advantage against Frenchman
Thierry Lincou, who took the next three games to advance to
the semi-finals.
There
he'll face another Egyptian after third seed Hisham Ashour
overcame Steve Coppinger in four fast paced games.
The bottom half went according to seeding as Daryl Selby and
Laurens Jan Anjema both recorded 3/0 wins. Selby was pleased
with his performance:
"Well
if only I could play like that every time I stepped on a squash
court! Very pleased with a 3-0 win against Borja,"
tweeted the Englishman after victory over Spain's Borja Golan.
Dutchman Anjema apparently wasn't as happy with his level of
performance against the USA's Julian Illingworth, but was
nevertheless pleased to be in the semis - "You gotta be in it to win
it. And I still am!" tweeted the second seed.
28-Mar,
Round One:
Seeds progress on Bluenose stage
As the Bluenose Classic moved to Halifax's Rebecca Cohn Auditorium
for the first round, all the seeded players made solid enough starts
to their bid to capture the title in PSA $55k event, now in its
fifth year in Nova Scotia.
Top seed Amr Shabana found himself tested by English
qualifier Chris Simpson, who led in each of the first two games
before the four-time world champion imposed himself. He now meets
another PSA veteran in France's Thierry Lincou, who
despatched Kiwi Martin Knight in straight games.
A
second Egyptian progressed as Hisham Ashour, the third seed,
took advantage of a less than fully fit Shahier Razik, who retired
early in the third game.
He meets South African Steve Coppinger, who also beat
Canadian opposition in the form of Andrew Schnell, also in three.
Home
interest ended when the USA's Julian Illingworth overcame
qualifier Shawn Delierre 3-2 in, typically, the longest match of the
day, to set up a meeting with second seed Laurens Jan Anjema,
the Dutchman who has been training in Halifax with Neil Harvey in
preparation for the tournament. Anjema faced a tough encounter with
Australia's Cameron Pilley but came through with a 3-1 in just over
an hour.
The remaining quarterfinalists are England's fourth seed Daryl
Selby and Spain's Borja Golan, who will meet after
recording 3/0 wins over Cesar Salazar and Jan Koukal.
Bluenose
Classic 2012
2eme finale en 2 semaines.
