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TODAY at the Canary Wharf Classic |
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Mon 22nd March,
Round one part one ...
[6] Thierry Lincou
(Fra)
bt [Q] Simon Rosner (Ger)
11/6, 6/11, 11/8, 11/3
(40m)
[1] Nick Matthew (Eng) bt [Q] Chris Ryder (Eng)
11/3, 11/6, 11/3 (34m)
[3] James Willstrop (Eng) bt Saurav Ghosal (Ind)
11/7, 11/8, 11/9
(40m)
[8] Daryl Selby (Eng) bt Tarek Momen (Egy)
7/11, 11/9, 6/11,
11/4, 11/7 (54m) |
Seeds safely through on day one
By ALAN THATCHER
 English
rivals Nick Matthew and James Willstrop powered
through their first round matches in the ISS Canary Wharf Squash
Classic in front of a sell-out crowd at the spectacular East
Wintergarden venue.
Top seed Matthew, the world No.2 from Sheffield, took just 34
minutes to remove qualifier Chris Ryder, the world No.40 from
Leamington Spa.
Matthew, who faces former world champion Thierry Lincou
in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, said: “It’s good to get the
first one out of the way and I was feeling nice and sharp. I
haven’t played a tournament for three weeks and I wanted to get
things right from the start.
“I played Chris in the Premier league last week so I had a good
idea of what to expect. I'm looking forward to playing Thierry.
He is someone I have always looked up to throughout my career.”
 Lincou
was made to fight by German qualifier Simon Rosner, who played
exceptional squash to win the second game. Lincou, the
33-year-old former world champion from Marseille, squeezed home
in a tight third game and then asserted his authority to race
home 11-3 in the fourth.
 Matthew
is seeded to meet fellow English powerhouse James Willstrop in
the semi-finals. The 6ft 5in Yorkshireman overpowered 5ft 6in
Indian No.1 Saurav Ghosal 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 in 40 minutes of
high-quality squash.
Willstrop did not have things all his own way as his Pontefract
training partner led 7-4 in the opening game and 7-5 in the
second.
Willstrop admitted: “Saurav is one of the fastest players on the
world tour. He is a very difficult and frustrating opponent
because he keeps getting the ball back and forces you to play a
lot moré shots than you would like to.”
 No.3
seed Willstrop meets world No.12 Daryl Selby in
Wednesday’s quarter-finals.
Essex ace Selby defied jetlag to beat talented Egyptian Tarek
Momen.
Selby won the Rocky Mountain Open in Calgary on Sunday and flew
back to London yesterday morning.
He struggled to move fluently at the start of the match as Momen
fired in a succession of dazzling winners to win the opening
game. The score see-sawed throughout the match as Selby won the
second game, producing gasps from the crowd with an audacious
shot played behind his back.
Momen asserted himself again to win the third game but Selby
produced a gutsy performance to win the fourth and draw level
again. Selby maintained the pressure in the fifth as Momen’s
touch deserted him.
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[6] Thierry
Lincou (Fra)
bt [Q] Simon Rosner (Ger)
11/6, 6/11, 11/8,
11/3 (40m)
Experience prevails in opener
Malcolm Willstrop reports
Thierry Lincou may be 33, but there were no signs of advancing
years in the first game against German number one and qualifier
Simon Rosner. There were errors in abundance, offset by winners
and it was a run of winners that saw Lincou go from 7/6 to 11/6
to take the lead.
 The
second game saw much fewer errors and Rosner reached 7/2 quite
quickly with a succession of winning shots on both sides of the
court, including one notable forehand volley drop. As Lincou
resisted there were some heavier rallies which drew tennis-like
cries from him, but from 8/6 Rosner, playing positively, cleared
away to level the match 11/6, deservedly.
Lincou would have been less than happy at his failure to
capitalise on his first game lead, but showing the resolve that
has characterised his distinguished career, he took control of
the third game at 3/2 and was never headed from then on as a
combination of his winners and Rosner's errors took him into a
2/1 lead.
Lincou was not inclined to let another opportunity to capitalise
slip, and as Rosner faltered and struggled physically he romped
into a 9/2 lead and at 10/3 he served for the match and won it
at the first attempt.
Rosner looks good enough to compete at Lincou''s level, but
needs greater consistency. Lincou is no bad number, as he
demonstrated, and it is good to see him so competitive.
To both of their credits the three referees were redundant,
apart from keeping the score. |
"He's a good up and coming player, and it's good to see a few
new players coming through from Europe, the Egyptians are ruling
the world at the moment.
"I'm still playing well and enjoying my squash, my aim is to
stay in the top ten as long as I can, I should be around for a
couple of years yet ..."
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"It
was nice to have a bit of preparation time before this
tournament, the events have been coming thick and fast so far
this year, but there's a danger of not being sharp so I was
conscious of having to make a good fast start.
"It's always tricky playing a couple of matches on normal courts
and he didn't manage to adapt to the glass until too late."
"I was playing well in qualifying and if Nick had left any
openings I would have taken them, but there was just no way in
there, he kept the ball so tight to the wall."
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[1] Nick
Matthew (Eng) bt [Q] Chris Ryder (Eng)
11/3, 11/6, 11/3
(34m)
Matthew Impressive
Malcolm Willstrop reports
 Chris
Ryder is a thoroughly competent player who, whenever I have
watched him has always given of his best.
Whether that best would be good enough to trouble the in form
world number two Nick Matthew seemed doubtful beforehand, and in
the event he could make little headway in the first game, as
Matthew applied pressure of pace and accuracy.
Nor did matters improve for Ryder in the second game which
Matthew dominated totally to serve at 10/4 for the game. A brief
flurry took Ryder to 10/6 but at 11/6 he was 2-0 down, in truth
flattered by the scoreline.
Matthew's dominance continued as Ryder, despite his best
efforts, was forced into errors and Matthew hit his share of
winners.
It was an impressive start for the top seed and Thierry Lincou
will have to be at his best on Wednesday night on this evidence.
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[3] James
Willstrop (Eng) bt Saurav Ghosal (Ind)
11/7, 11/8, 11/9
(40m)
Willstrop weathers Ghosal storm
For sure James Willstrop and Saurav Ghosal would not have chosen
to meet in the first round, both live in Leeds, both train at
Pontefract and they regularly practice together.
 However
the draws produce these meetings, it could be worse, the Ashour
brothers for example.
Ghosal, looking more comfortable than he sometimes does against
the world's leading players, began in fine style and after some
quality exchanges deservedly led 7/4. Willstrop then put
together a series of rallies, ending in winners, which carried
him through to 11/7 with Ghosal perhaps feeling a little hard
done by after playing so well to lead.
The standard of play was maintained in the second game with the
Indian number one more than holding his own, once more leading
7/5 before Willstrop drew away from 8-all, winning the game on a
mishit.
So far the match had been very entertaining and Ghosal's
contribution considerable.
It was Willstrop who got away 6/2 in the third, the crowd
enjoying the match, but Ghosal was not done with and, playing as
well as he had at any time in the match, he levelled at 8-all
and then 9-all before two tins cost him the chance of a fourth
game.
Willstrop will be pleased enough with his performance and the
fact that he had to work hard with a day's rest to come, and
surely it won't be long before Ghosal is in the top twenty.
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"He's
mighty fast, you all saw that, and it feels as bad as it looks!
"It's frustrating that he gets so many of your good shots back
and you have to do it all again. You have to be persistent with
him but we play and train a lot together so I'm well used to
that now."
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"It's never easy to come straight off a flight into a
tournament, and it did take me a while to get going, although
that was a lot to do with Tarek, he's so fast and puts in those
killer drops.
"I wanted to play more attacking shots but Tarek wouldn't let
me.
"I was never playing at my best, but sometimes you have one of
those matches where you just have to dig in ... and win!
"Now I've just got to regroup, get a bit of rest and try to put
it all in against James on Wednesday. I've never beaten him
before, it must be my turn soon ..."
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[8] Daryl
Selby (Eng) bt Tarek Momen (Egy)
7/11, 11/9, 6/11,
11/4, 11/7 (54m)
Selby still on a roll
The last match promised much, but with Daryl Selby having just
flown in from Calgary, there had to be doubts about how fresh he
was.
The immediate answer was not very, and Tarek Momen eased to a
one-nil lead. It was important for Selby to get involved and
although he went well behind in the second, he recovered and
finally levelled the match at one-all.
He was then unable to capitalise on that and the Egyptian,
despite making frequent errors especially on the backhand side,
took a 2-1 lead which looked as though it might be crucial.
Once again Selby, who doesn't give way easily, fought back and
with Momen continuing to play unevenly, he was able to take the
match to a decider.
It was anybody's guess who would
prevail, but Selby's resolve is certainly greater than Momen's
and he was now moving better than at any stage of the match,
without being at his best. He took a 5/2 lead and from there was
never likely to be caught.
To win under such circumstances is much to his credit and he
will have a valuable day's rest before facing James Willstrop.
Momen should be disappointed. After his wins over David Palmer
and Gregory Gaultier he should have gone on, but he looked
insecure in New York and more so tonight.
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