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TODAY in Hong Kong:
Thu 26h, Day Four:
Steve Cubbins in HK |
Round Two, top eight go through ...
Another hectic day at Hong Kong Squash Centre, with four
courts in action again - and some heavy-duty clashes set for the
outside courts - before we go down to a single court for the
quarter-finals onward.
The story of the day is that all eight seeds are through to the
quarter-finals in both men's and women's events ... but it
wasn't quite as simple as that ...
[1] Nick Matthew bt [9] Daryl Selby
11/7, 12/10, 11/8 (49m)
[3] Amr Shabana bt [12] Laurens Jan Anjema
11/6, 11/7, 11/8 (43m)
[8] Peter Barker bt [15] Alister Walker
11/4, 11/8, 11/4 (51m)
[5] Gregory Gaultier bt [Q] Farhan Mehboob
11/5, 11/7, 11/4 (43m)
[7] Thierry Lincou bt [10] David Palmer
11/7, 4/11, 11/7, 11/9 (69m)
[4] Karim Darwish bt [16] Cameron Pilley
11/5, 7/11, 7/11, 11/9, 11/6 (68m)
[6] James Willstrop bt [11] Wael El Hindi
11/7, 11/2, 4/11, 11/1 (38m)
[2] Ramy Ashour bt [14] Mohamed El Shorbagy
11/2, 11/8, 11/4 (30m)
Malcolm's reports ...
photo gallery
[2]
Jenny Duncalf bt [12] Vanessa Atkinson
11/7, 11/9, 11/6 (38m)
[4] Alison Waters bt [11] Samantha Teran
injured
w/o
[5] Omneya Abdel Kawy bt [13] Annie Au
11/9, 1/11, 11/6, 4/11, 11/5 (41m)
[8] Kasey Brown bt [15] Donna Urquhart
7/11, 11/7, 11/2, 11/6 (49m)
[1] Nicol David bt [16] Rebecca Chiu
11/6, 11/8, 9/11, 11/9 (42m)
[7] Laura Massaro bt [Q] Lisa Camilleri
11/3, 11/6, 11/0 (19m)
[6] Madeline Perry bt [10] Engy Kheirallah
11/7, 12/10, 11/1 (35m)
[3] Rachael Grinham bt [9] Camille Serme
11/9, 11/9, 11/5 (30m) |
Photo & Video Gallery
HK One-Liners #3:
Adrian Grant:
Probably one of the coolest places on Earth.
Hisham Ashour:
The people are so kind and hospitable, I'm always happy to
be here.
Saurav Ghosal:
Really vibrant and positive, a fun place to be.
Tania Bailey:
It's much warmer than Oz!
Isabelle Stoehr:
The welcome and the people, you really feel at home and
everything's so handy.
Latasha Khan:
It's a great city and the people who run the tournament are so
nice.
Sarah Kippax:
The Jetlag's a bit ... but it's worth it!
Line Hansen:
The food is great!
Azlan Iskandar:
As good as it gets. |
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Matthew wins all-English clash ...
Top seed and world number one Nick Matthew moved into the
quarter-finals with a hard-fought three game win over Daryl
Selby, although the younger man had his chances in each of the
games.
Matthew pulled clear from 6-all in the first, and when Selby
recovered from 8-10 down in the second to force extra points,
the Essex man's reaction showed he believed he had a chance of
levelling, at least.
 Again
though Matthew's Yorkshire grit came through as he doubled his
advantage, and at the business end of the third too, Matthew
held firm, maintaining a slight lead throughout, Selby tinning
on the first match ball.
"Daryl's improved a lot and he's looking for scalps of the top
players," explained Matthew, "so I knew it would be tough. "When
I got the balance between attack and defence wrong I had
problems. I thought I could have finished a couple of the games
off a little better, but that's credit to him for making it
tough."
Selby was "disappointed to lose, I thought if I could have taken
that second I might have put myself in a position to win, but
Nick just played the big points at the end of the games better,
whereas that's what I did against Azlan yesterday.
"But I'm happy that I played well yesterday and today, after my
poor result in Australia it's good to get the season started."
Matthew will face another English opponent for a place in the
semi-finals after Peter Barker beat Alister Walker in
straight games.
Shabana looking sharper
After a bit of a scare yesterday, five-time Hong Kong champion
Amr Shabana looked more his old self today against
Laurens Jan Anjema, winning in straight games.
Not that the Dutchman didn't play well, but Shabana seemed to
have the edge when it mattered, particularly in coming from 8-3
down to take the third.
Shaban wasn't that impressed with his won performance though:
"That was a tough match, the scoreline doesn't really do LJ
credit, the rallies were getting longer and longer as the match
went on.
"We played an open match today, we both went for our shots and I
had to play well to win."
French duo through
 Gregory
Gaultier and Thierry Lincou were on adjacent courts
at the same time tonight. Lincou started first, and finished
last, as he overcame old foe David Palmer in four games.
Gaultier, meanwhile, ended the run of qualifier Farhan Mehboob
in clinical fashion.
The writing was on the wall for the Pakistani at 2-0 and 10-3,
but they then played what must have been the longest rally of
the tournament, both settling into safety-first squash after a
frantic opening, Mehboob daring his opponent to go for a winner,
Gaultier playing a number of trick shots before finally tinning.
Mehboob's relief was short though, as he tinned on his third
shot in the next rally to send the Frenchman into the quarters
where he and Shabana will reprise the last three Hong Kong
finals, all won by the Egyptian.
Pilley denied by Darwish
as Egyptian trio go through ...
 Joining
Shabana, two more Egyptians went through to the last eight, but
Cameron Pilley came close to taking out former world number one
Karim Darwish, leading 2-1 and 7-4 before Darwish rallied
to snuff out the danger.
Wael El Hindi lost out in four games to James Willstrop,
while second seed Ramy Ashour met the only other player to win
the world junior championship twice, Mohamed El Shorbagy, and
raced through to win a quickfire match that was more like a wild
west shootout, such was the pace, variety and attacking intent
of both players - virtually impossible to get decent photos, I
tell you ...
We meet again ...
So, the quarter-finals comprise three Englishmen, three
Egyptians and two Frenchman - the same lineup, in fact, as the
recent Australian Open, just with different playing combinations
... |
Duncalf in three,
Waters in none
Second seed Jenny Duncalf was the first player into the
quarter-finals as she beat former world number one Vanessa
Atkinson in three tough games.
 "It's
trick moving from the glass court to the inside ones," she said
afterwards, "the glass court is really fast but here you have to
work much harder for an opening.
"I was constantly trying not to rush it, Vanessa's squash gets
better under pressure, somehow!"
In their next to last meeting the Atkinson had triumphed as her
Dutch team ended England's reign as European Champions, but was
"not at all on my mind", as she'd already avenged that in the
European individuals.
"I was happy with my performance, and that I kept my
concentration throughout the whole match, which has been a
problem for me in recent tournaments," she admitted.
Next up for Duncalf will be an Aussie opponent, Brown or
Urquhart.
Malcolm's match report to follow ...
Fellow Englishwoman Alison Waters technically beat
Duncalf into the quarters, with her opponent, Samantha Teran,
pulling out this afternoon.
The Mexican explained: "I twisted my ankle during a rally in
yesterday's match, but because it was hot I was able to carry
on. But this morning it was sore, and although they could have
given me something to be able to play on it today, I didn't want
to risk making it worse with other big tournaments coming up.
"It's such a pity, to travel all this way and not be able to
play!"
Omneya battles past Annie,
Nicol ends home hopes ...
It was an unusual sight, to see Omneya Abdel Kawy back on
court early for the third game, furiously hitting the ball to
try to get some heat and bounce into it. It's usually the
Egyptians opponents who do that, in an attempt to stop the
barrage of winning boasts, drops and volley kills coming their
way.
Having sneaked an even first game, Omneya found herself on the
wrong end of that type of game in the second, a game which had
no rallies of any significance, just a succession of winners
from Annie Au and the odd tin from Omneya. After the
point the Egyptian did win, Annie dropped the ensuing serve into
the nick.
No wonder then that she wanted the ball warmed up. "I wasn't
winning anything at the front," she explained, "so it was no
good to me to have a dead ball on a cold court!"
Hitting more length and extending the rallies, the tactic
appeared to work as she regained the lead, but Annie was on
target again in the fourth to level.
The Hong Kong youngster paid the price for several unforced
errors in the fifth though, as a relieved Omneya took her place
in the last eight.
"She served really well, and her boasts are so hard to read, by
the time you see it it's dead. But she made four or five tins in
a row in the fifth which helped me a lot."
 Nicol
David met Rebecca Chiu for the third time in a row at
this stage, and made it a hat-trick of wins as she ended home
interest in the tournament. It wasn't all plain sailing though,
as Chiu, trailing two-nil, fought back to take the third, and
tinned a winning opportunity at 9-all in the fourth. Nicol, of
course, needed no second invitation.
"I was definitely expecting a hard
match," said Nicol, celebrating her 27th birthday today. "The
last time I played on my birthday was in the Asian U13s," she
recalled.
"Rebecca had nothing to lose, so she just went for it,
especially in the third and fourth. I made a few errors sand my
focus went up and down a little, the fourth could have been
anyone's but fortunately she made a mistake at 9-all."
Elsewhere, Kasey Brown recovered from a game down to win
the all-Aussie clash with Donna Urquhart, Madeline Perry
eventually wore down Engy Kheirallah, Laura Massaro ended
the run of Lisa Camilleri, and Rachael Grinham survived two
tight games before easing to victory over Camille Serme.
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