World no 1 Nick Matthew wins the Swedish Open 2011 after beating Peter Barker in the final.

The big crowd saw a world-class match at the final when Peter Barker lost against Nick Matthew with the result 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-5). There was some long battles and a close match. - It was a close match but today I deserved to win, said Nick Matthew after the match.

Fredrik Johnson announced after the match that Swedish Open will be played in Linköping again next year and the cooperation with Case will continue. Both Nick Matthew and Peter Barker said that they hope to return for next years tournament.

All-English final in Linkoping

Tomorrow at Linköping Sporthall an All-English final was gusranteed after Peter Barker's win over Karim Darwish in the first semi-final.

World no 8 Barker struggled a bit in second game after the referee called against him a few times. "I have to apologize for my emotions, but it helped me fire up and win," said Barker.

It seemed that world no 3 Karim Darwish from Egypt had some problems with his injury that kept him off court a couple of months, and that helped Peter winning this one 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8.

"It's sad that Karim's not 100% fit. Anyway I'm glad that I handled the pressure it means to step on court at this major tournament. Now in the final it doesn't matter who I play, cause their both my best friends on tour (Selby and Matthew), and I know their style of playing well," added Barker.

It was two fired-up players in the second semifinal, Daryl Selby against world no 1 Nick Matthew.

Matthew seemed to be one step ahead his opponent and took the first two games. In the third game Selby had a huge comeback and played lots of tricky shots that got the crowd going.

- Squashplayers are mentally ridiculus, cause when I threw away my headband it felt like I got my energy back and was back in the match again, said a humorous Daryl Selby afterwards.

But Matthew played some solid squash through out the game and won 11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5.

"I felt fresh today even though I'm probably the hardest trainer on the tour. And Daryl was a good competitor, with or without headband," said Matthew.
 

H2H final


Players Info

[2] Karim Darwish

2010 Event

02-Feb, Qualifying Finals:

Davide Bianchetti (Ita)bt Joey Barrington (Eng)                   11/4, 11/4, 11/7
Alan Clyne (Sco) bt Mark Krajcsak (Hun)             4/11, 4/11, 11/4, 11/9, 11/3
Chris Simpson (Eng) bt Robbie Temple (Eng)                   11/3 8/11 11/4 11/5
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Steve Coppinger (Rsa)      6/11, 11/7, 12/10, 4/11


01-Feb, Qualifying Round One:

Joey Barrington (Eng) bt Yann Perrin (Fra)                11/9, 11/7, 11/8
Davide Bianchetti (Ita) bt Joe Lee (Eng) v                 11/9, 11/8, 11/8
 
Alan Clyne (Sco) bt André Wilstrom (Swe)                  11/4, 11/4, 11/3
Mark Krajcsak (Hun) bt Henrik Mustonen (Fin)            11/8, 9/11, 8/11, 11/7, 11/7

Chris Simpson (Eng) bt Christian Drakenberg (Swe)     11/6, 11/8, 11/5
Robbie Temple (Eng) bt Kristian Frost (Den)                 11/7, 11/9, 11/7

Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) v Faod Hammouni (Swe)        12/10, 11/4, 11/6
Steve Coppinger (Rsa) v Adrian Waller (Eng)               11/5, 11/7, 11/8

Andreas Suihko reports, photos by Tommi Tapola

Northern Europe's biggest squash tournament has reached the quarterfinals. $60.000 is at stage in the prize pot and the Linköping Sporthall is sold out.

Linköping Sporthall was almost sold out at the first match-up between Stewart Boswell and Karim Darwish. And the crowd got a good battle in the quarterfinal which the egyptian Darwish managed to win by 11-8, 11-9, 11-8.

Trhoughout the match Darwish was pressured, but in the end he provided some clean shots for the win.

"I managed to play my game and a more decent game than yesterday, said Darwish. ""Boswell is tough to beat, so I'm happy with the win," he added.

Farhan Mehboob had a hard evening against Peter Barker. Even though Mehboob took some quick points in the second, he didn't have any really good chances to come back into the game.

After the win Barker commenteded: "It felt good all the way, I played well here. And its lovely to play in front of this crowd."

Italian Davide Bianchetti proved to be a hard competitor for world no 10 Daryl Selby in the quarters. "He's been on the tour a long time and always pushes himself," said the Englishman.

Bianchetti was struggling at the beginning and gave away four quick points. But soon after that Selby did the same and the game was tied. Same story happened in all three games, but Selby was the strong one and took the match 11-6, 11-7, 11-9.

The crowd saw some world-class squash in the fourth quarterfinal as world number one Nick Matthew took on Cameron Pilley. It was anyone's match when the two fan favourites  met. They showed off some great moves and long battles.

In games two and three Matthew seemed disturbed and struggle a bit, but in game four he proved why he's ranked as world no 1. In the fifth game it could have gone either way as both the players had matchballs.

"After winning two games I got confident and felt that this was my match to win," said Pilley.

But Matthew won by 11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 13-11.

"It was lots of drama in this one, and hard to find the rhythm. Sometimes I played really scrappy," said Matthew.

Afterwards the crowd gave their favourites a standing ovation for a couple of minutes.

"Even though I lost this one, I feel fine actually," concluded Pilley.

H2H

Players Info

Andreas Suihko reports, photos by Tommi Tapola

Northern Europe's biggest squash tournament has finished the first round. Today's matches had lots of great battles. Simon Rosner from Germany was close to a win against world no 3 Karim Darwish and Tom Richards from England put up a good fight against Nick Matthew, the world no 1.

The first match was between Scottish Alan Clyne and Davide Bianchetti from Italy. The first two games were very even and they won one game each. In the third game the Scotsman lost focus and lost with 11-2. In the end, it turned out to Bianchetti's experience to be decisive as he won the match 3-1  (12-14, 12-10, 11-2, 12-10).

"After all I knew it would be a tough game with long duels, so I'm very tired now, but happy with the effort," said Bianchetti.

In the second match the two Englishmen Daryl Selby and Chris Simpson played each other. It seemed from the first ball to the dividing all 38 places in the world ranking. World no 10 Daryl Selby controlled the match and was able to comfortably win in three straight games (11-5, 11-2, 11-8).

"I played well throughout the match and managed to push back Chris on the court, which was the key to victory," said Selby.

How will the tactics be against Davide Bianchetti in tomorrow's match.
"To win, I have to try to get him a little angry. Meanwhile, I have to stick to 100% of my capacity," Selby continued.

The crowd was anticipating an easy game for the world no 3 Karim Darwish against german Simon Rosner.

The match between Karim Darwish and Simon Rosner was seen as an easy match for the Egyptian. But Rosner took the first game quite easy, winning by 11-8. In the second game Darwish woke up and hit back by winning 11-6. After that it was anyones game, Simon Rosner took the lead by 2-1. But Karim Darwish took home the match by winning the critical games 4 and 5.

"I think a played really well, but Karim is an amazing player, so it's tough to beat him. But I feel that I get closer to the top-players every match against them," said Rosner. And he leaves with a promise; "Next time I will for sure win against Karim Darwish if I meet him, and advance to at least quarterfinals."

Afterwards Darwish spoke to the media and said this about the tournament;
"The Swedish Open is really a great venue. It's so well organized and Freddie (Johnson), his staff and all visitors is so friendly to me. I just love it here!"

Farhan Mehboob from Pakistan entered the Swedish Open in a match-up against Mathieu Castagnet from France. Mehboob won the match 3-1 (11-7, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9).

"It was a good match with high pace, a great starter for tomorrow's quarterfinals," said Mehboob.

The winner of the Swedish Open 2003, Stewart Boswell played against the young Aamir Atlas Khan. And Boswell proved that experience sometimes wins over young passion in three straight games (11-6, 11-3, 11-5)

"It's always good to have the first match out of the way. And I think Aamir struggled a lot in the second game. After that he couldn't come back in the game. So my 14 yrs as a pro really helped me out here," said Boswell.

Last year's crowd pleaser Cameron Pilley was back at the glascourt in Linköping Sporthall to play against Olli Touminen from Finland.

Australian Pilley had a hard fought victory when he met Touminen earlier today. Eventually he won by three straight games (11-8, 12-10, 11-8). But the numbers don't says it all. The match could have gone the other way since Touminen really battled for a victory. It was truly a close win for the aussie.

"Since we practice a lot together Olli knows my style of playing. So I'm happy with the win," said Pilley.

What do you think of this years tournament?
"Well, it's great as always. And for me, I hope it will be one step further."

It was a tough starter for Rasmus Hult when he met world no 8 Peter Barker.

Peter gained momentum as soon as the match was started and Rasmus didn't stand a chance. But he got some good plays and entertained the crowd. You could really see the difference in the world ranking on the court. Peter Barker wins in three straight (11-4, 11-6, 11-6).

"I wasn't sure what to expect of Rasmus. But he played good and managed to get some tricky balls with his backhand," said Barker.

"It felt good to play in front of the audience. But I'd rather not discuss my playing today, Peter is too good," said Hult.

Expectations were high at Linköping Sporthall when world no 1 Nick Matthew entered the tournament in a match-up against fellow countryman Tom Richards.

Richards didn't show any respect for Matthew's status and delivered some high-class squash from the start. But Matthew's clean shots showed off to be the key factor for the win. Matthew won by 11-8, 11-4, 11-8.

"Tom is a young and hungry player, so it was a tough first round for me. But I had the extra edge and I'm pleased to win by three straights. But it gets even tougher for every year, since Freddie (Johnson) keeps getting more high-class player to the Swedish Open," said Matthew.
 

Qualifs: Bianchetti Battles Back Into Swedish Open

Italy's 33-year-old Davide Bianchetti battled to a surprise straight games win over England's world No35 Joey Barrington in the qualifying finals of the Case Swedish Open to claim a place in the main draw for the sixth time since 2002.

The former world No24 from Brescia, now ranked 65, despatched his English opponent 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 and will now line up against fellow qualifier Alan Clyne in the first round.

Scot Clyne, the world No47 from Edinburgh, had to fight back from two games down to overcome the Hungarian number one Mark Krajcsak 4-11, 4-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-3.

Englishman Chris Simpson and Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet also made it through the qualifying finals - Simpson defeating compatriot Robbie Temple 11-3, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, while Castagnet outlasted South African Stephen Coppinger 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 4-11, 11-7.

England's world number one Nick Matthew is seeded to win the title for the third time in as many years. The 30-year-old from Sheffield faces fellow countryman Tom Richards, ranked 31 in the world, in the first round and is expected to meet up with Egypt's world No3 Karim Darwish, the No2 seed, in a repeat of the 2009 final.

Darwish, who won the event in 2004, will be hoping for better luck than in 2009, when an ankle injury forced him to concede the final without striking a ball. The 29-year-old from Cairo begins his 2011 campaign against German number one Simon Rosner.