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Sat 17th, Day
SIX, Semis ...
Fram
reports, Steve Clicks away, and Malcolm rules... |
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Semi-Finals:
[1] Nicol David
(Mas) bt [8] Laura Massaro (Eng)
11/6, 11/5, 12/10 (41m)
[6] Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy)
bt [3] Rachael Grinham (Aus)
11/4, 11/4,
11/7 (27m)
[3] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [1] Karim
Darwish (Egy)
12/10, 11/8, 11/4
(35m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt [8] James Willstrop
(Eng)
11/3,
11/8, 11/5 (47m) Champions still
on course
 It
was off to the mall today - and no, not for shopping. The
Plaza Hollywood in Kowloon's Diamond Hill district is one of
Hong Kong's busiest shopping malls, and with the court set in a
three-tier plaza with a giant screen situated above the back
wall, it's a real experience for shoppers, fans and players
alike.
On the court defending champions Nicol David and Amr
Shabana continued their impressive runs in Hong Kong, and
are both one win away from fifth successive titles.
After her British Open wobble David continues in the form that
saw her retain the World Open title last month in Amsterdam,
beating Laura Massaro in straight games, although the
Englishwoman will feel unlucky not to at least have taken a
game.
Shabana turned in an impressive performance to beat top seed
Karim Darwish, looking increasingly confident as the match
progressed.
David will meet Egypt's Omneya Abdel Kawy in the final
after the sixth seed avenged her Amsterdam loss to Rachael
Grinham, while Shabana will face second seed Gregory Gaultier
- for the third time in row -
after the Frenchman avenged his defeat in the World Team
Championships, beating James Willstrop in straight games.
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[1]
Nicol David (Mas) bt [8] Laura Massaro (Eng)
11/6, 11/5, 12/10 (41m)
Nicol comes through Massaro test
Steve's view
Still unbeaten after all this time. Well, four years and 24
matches in Hong Kong terms, but despite beating Laura Massaro in
straight games in today's first semi-final, Nicol David didn't
have it all her own way, far from it.
It was the Englishwoman who adjusted to the new court and the
new setting faster, despite David having won two of her Hong
Kong titles in this venue.
Faster, bouncier, noisier and much brighter than the Squash
Centre's showcourt, it's got to be a very different playing
experience, but Laura seemed more at home as she took a 6/3 lead
in the first. But we all know Nicol's not flustered by being
down, and she slowly worked her way back into the match, playing
patiently and waiting for a chance to strike, and took the next
eight points to take the lead.
 Undeterred,
Laura made a good start to the second, leading 3/0, but again
Nicol came back with another eight-point run to go 8/3 up, and
as she doubled her lead she was starting to look in her comfort
zone, no need to force the issue, happy to retrieve and rally
until something happened.
But Laura was looking comfortable playing that game too. True,
she was going for the kill on slightly riskier shots than was
Nicol, but there was nothing between them in the third. The
rallies were generally long, the score invariably close. 2-all,
4-all, Nicol edges out to 7-5, Laura levels, 8-all, 9-all, Laura
gets a game ball with a cut dropshot, Nicol responds with the
same to save it.
A volley drop gave Nicol a chance to take the match, a long
rally ended in a let, and another when Laura's boast just
clipped the tin to end Laura's challenge.
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 "The
glass court was new for both of us, and she started seeing the
ball earlier than I did.
"I started getting the feel for it and got my timing towards the
end of the game, and she made a few errors which helped me back
in.
"In the third she was keeping a good length and playing good
shots, I had to hang in and thankfully I just managed to win it.
"It's great to be in Hong Kong, there's a very Asian feel to it
which makes me feel at home, and all the spectators watching
here in the Plaza makes for a great atmosphere."
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 "I’m
happy to be in the final of Hong Kong again, beating Karim
today, the world number one, is a great moment for me.
"I know that Karim had a few hard weeks now, some hard back to
back matches, winning Cairo, then the World Event where he had
some tremendous matches, and here.
"So I knew he was going to be a bit tired. But I also know that
Karim is so dangerous, physically, he can dig in quite deep, and
if you give him a glimpse of opportunity, he’ll snatch it.
"Physically was not the hardest aspect of the match, it was more
from a mental side it was the hardest, you’ve got to be
extremely strong.
"And you know, people don’t realise what one of Karim’s greatest
talent is, he reads the game better than anybody else. So you’ve
got to keep mixing up your shots constantly, because if you keep
on doing the same thing again and again, he’ll get used to it,
so you’ve got to keep changing and changing all the time…"
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[3]
Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [1] Karim
Darwish (Egy)
12/10, 11/8, 11/4
(35m)
THE PRINCE IS BACK
 If
Shabana was not well at all physically last year, and just did
his best to maintain himself in the top five by reaching as many
semis and finals he could, my word, the man, now fit as a
fiddle, is making clear this week to everybody that the Prince
of Egypt is back, and he is pissed off!!!!!!!!! Shabana II, the
Return!!!!
And he is starting by showing his camp who’s boss. He started
with Shorbagy two days ago, and again today, the player
that dethroned him of his cherished number one position, the
message was clear. I’m back, and I want my seat back.
From the first rally, Shabana put Karim under tremendous
pressure Egyptian style, attacking like a lunatic everything
that he found under his racquet, with Karim matching him winner
for winner. And then, at 3/3, they both decided to start playing
grinding squash.
Hard and disputed rallies followed, but it was Shabana attacking
still, and Karim defending, retrieving some stunning shots, and
finding some lovely counter attacks. But at that game, Karim did
an awful lot of work, that he paid for later …
 At
8/4 then 10/6, game ball for Shabana in the first, we thought it
was all over. But the World number one is not an Egyptian for
nothing. And he too can attack. And he started to find stunning
winners, to catch up at 10/10. A great hold – backhand
crosscourt - for Shaabz sets up a fifth game ball, and a stroke
give him the first game.
Shabana relaxed a bit at the start of the second, and made three
tins in three points to find himself down 4/1. And suddenly, it
was like something clicked in Shabana’s brain. He started to
read Karim’s game like a book, anticipating more and more, and
putting his opponent under more and more pressure, and soon
Karim could only defend. Score went back to 5/5, 7/7, with the
World number one working hard to defend his turf, but Shabana
was unstoppable, 11/8 in 8 minutes. Two games up.
 To
quote a corny phrase, the third was a formality. Karim was still
finding great shots once in a while, and still ran, and still
fought, but he had trouble moving, you could see he was really
tired. I feel that Azlan’s great performance yesterday took a
lot out of him, both mentally and physically. And that today was
just one match too many for Karim after all those hard matches
he had for a few weeks.
Shabana was over the moon with this victory. He is up for
getting his supremacy back, he looks good, he looks hungry, and
I think getting his first World Team title for his country took
a very heavy weight off his shoulders… Nice to have you back,
your Highness, we sure missed you… |
 Malcolm's
view
Amr Shabana did not start too briskly in his quarter-final with
Daryl Selby, but no doubt reminding himself that he was two wins
away from another Hong Kong victory, he began his semi-final
with Karim Darwish as if he had a train to catch.
At no stage was he behind in the first game, striking the ball
cleanly, volleying crisply, but Darwish still managed to take
the game to the tie-break, which somehow flattered him. It was
Shabana who won it 12/10 and he carried his eminence into the
second game, where, despite Darwish establishing an early 4/1
lead, he recovered to 10/7 and won the game 11/8 on his second
game ball.
With Shabana playing as well as he was, a notch or two notches
above anything he had previously shown in the championship, it
hardly seemed likely that Darwish would be able to turn the
match around. Nor did he resist especially strongly in the third
as Shabana dominated not only the play, but the score too. A
combination of delayed winners by Shabana and errors by Darwish
gave him the third easily 11/4.
Despite Darwish's lengthy tenure of the no 1 world ranking there
are many, myself included, who believe that Shabana is the best
player in the world. What he did today didn't prove that for
sure, but certainly asked the question.
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[6]
Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy) bt
[3] Rachael Grinham (Aus)
11/4, 11/4,
11/7 (27m)
Omneya makes it this time
Steve's view
Having losing from two games up against Rachael Grinham in the
World Open in Amsterdam last month, Omneya Abdel Kawy found
herself in a similar position today, but this time made no
mistake.
The Egyptian started excellently, taking a 7/0 lead in the
opening game with Rachael struggling to get involved.
As ever between these two it wasn't crash bang wallop stuff,
more like chess on a squash court with the ball being floated,
caressed, cut and sliced to all corners, trying to work an
opening.
 And
it was almost invariably Omneya who was working the positions
better, forcing a loose return from Rachael, and putting it
away, usually with a dropshot, usually with Rachael stranded
behind her, often not making any move forward as she saw point
after point disappear in the same fashion.
You expected Rachael to find her range sooner or later, but she
never really did. Omneya closed out the first, took an early
lead in the second then raced away from 4/3 to finish it, and
did the same, from the same score, in the third.
Rachael never led, never really got into it, but then Omneya
never let her, she never showed any sign of letting it slip this
time, and she was understandably delighted to reach her first
major final. |
 "I
was really focused, it was my second major semi-final and I
really wanted to make a final, and I lost from 2-0 against
Rachael in the worlds which was so frustrating so I really
wanted to win for that reason too.
"Our matches are always close, so I knew I had a good chance,
and I made the pace fast from the beginning.
"I could see she had
a problem with her movement which gave me confidence when it
came to playing my shots.
"Last time I was thinking too much about what was happening,
about the next round, so this time I made sure I was just taking
it point by point in the third, I think I kept my focus well.
"I'm so pleased to reach my first major final, I've done well in
a few silver events, but this will be good for my ranking and my
confidence ..."
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[2]
Gregory Gaultier (Fra)
bt [8] James Willstrop
(Eng)
11/3,
11/8, 11/5 (47m) JAMES NOT ALL
THERE…
As I feared, the victory over Ramy took a lot out of the
Englishman, mentally and physically, he was not as sharp as he
can be – as Greg mentions - I feel that he was playing his first
round. But I’m sorry to stress that the refereeing didn’t help
James getting into the match tonight…
There were so many decisions that I felt were not right, not to
mention some “cafouillages”, as in yes, let, I mean, well,
actually no, appeal, all right, yes let, kind of atmosphere ...
it was a bit, well, not dignified for that level of the
competition.
Mind you, to be fair, I really don’t think James would have won
tonight, but still, not really helping him keeping his focus….
Greg was strong and solid tonight though, and trust me, he’s got
only one idea in mind, preventing Shabana from getting his fifth
title, and stopping that run of 25 victories so far in Hong
Kong…
 "If
you want to compare the last match we played, it was in Odense,
for the Team Event, and the court was not as good as here, from
far. There, the ball was flying, it was very bouncy, whereas
here, it’s a much better court, you can really play squash….
"I was feeling good movement wise today, and I have to say that
Shabana’s match really inspired me. Pierre [Canto, his osteo]
stressed how even a shotmaker like Shabana would base his whole
game on the basics, as in, length, before tempting anything at
the front…
"Also, if James’ match against Ramy yesterday must have taken an
awful lot out of him mentally, my match against Thierry helped
me tremendously, because we played at such a high pace that
today, not that it was easy, not at all, but it was a much
slower pace, I had the impression that James was not that fluid
with his movement. There again, I feel he is probably paying for
his first round against Beng Hee, where he stayed a long time on
court. And although he played very well against Stewart and
Ramy, I think he was probably paying the effort of the first
round…
"But now, tournament is not over, this will be my third final
here with Shabana. Actually, when I arrived here at the start of
the tournament, he saw me and said, “see you in the final,
Inshallah…"
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 Malcolm's
view
Gregory Gaultier took his place in tomorrow's final with an
impressive 3/0 win over James Willstrop. Although the scoreline
did not flatter Willstrop's efforts, Gaultier scarcely made an
error, finishing each game strongly. He was quickly into his
stride, and from 4/3 in the first he went straight through to
11/3, although the rallies were contested and the final
scoreline somewhat deceiving.
Willstrop went on the attack at the beginning of the second, and
perhaps taking Gaultier by surprise, established a 6/1 lead in
no time in the second. To Gaultier's credit he set about
reducing the deficit, which he did by stages, moving well,
giving little away and playing positively himself.
 At
7-all he had got himself level and though none of it was easy,
he won the game 11/8 to give himself a 2-0 lead and the
confidence which goes with it - not that he was lacking
confidence, the way he was playing.
Willstrop held Gaultier to halfway through the third, but did
not convince that a recovery was on the way, and Gaultier ran
out a deserved 3-0 winner.
He did not take too much out of himself, not that Shabana did
either, and they should both be fresh enough to set up a match
worthy of finals day.
Hardly for the first time this week the refereeing created
problems, and it is disturbing to see players who generally give
officials no trouble disturbed by poor decisions and
indecisiveness. The three referee system has not been seen to
great advantage of late. Perhaps the shortage of top class
referees makes it untenable, and perhaps the rules needs
clarifying and be seen to be clear.
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