TODAY in Hong Kong
Saturday 19th, Day SEVEN                                             Fram & Steve in HK

Semi-Finals:  

[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [8] Annie Au (Hkg)
           9/11, 11/2, 11/4, 11/6 (45m)
[10] Raneem El Weleily (Egy) bt [13] Low Wee Wern (Mas)
            11/6, 9/11, 11/3, 11/9 (47m)

[3] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [5] Gregory Gaultier (Fra)
            11/9, 11/9, 11/1 (67m)
[2] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt Azlan Iskandar (Mas)
             11/3, 11/8, 11/2 (37m)
 

It's Nicol again but a first for
Raneem, James and Karim ...

After a day of upsets and revenge at Hong Kong Squash Centre yesterday some of the semi-final lineups at the Kowloon Cultural Centre on the harbourside overlooking Hong Kong Island, had an unfamiliar feel to them, particularly the women's semi-finals where top seed and six-time defending champion Nicol David was the only one of the original top eight seeds remaining.

Hong Kong's Annie Au delighted the home crowd as she took the first game off the overwhelming favourite, but David struck back to take the next three to reach a seventh successive Hong Kong final.

There she'll meet Raneem El Weleily, the tenth seed who overcame Malaysia's Low Wee Wern in a high-quality match, coming from 7/1 down in the fourth game to clinch the win.

The men's had more representation from the top echelons but a new champion was already guaranteed.

James Willstrop and Gregory Gaultier took an hour to play out two tough, tough games, the Englishman winning both 11/9 before taking the third in double quick time to reach his first Hong Kong final, denying Gaultier a fifth in a row after the Frenchman finished runner-up from 2007 to 2010.

It will be a first final too for Karim Darwish, after the Egyptian continued his impressive form this week, ending the run of Malaysia's Azlan Iskandar in just 37 minutes.
 

EN BREF #4:
A trip to the Football Club

 [1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [8] Annie Au (Hkg)
           9/11, 11/2, 11/4, 11/6 (45m)

Nicol ends Annie's dream

It was good while it lasted - no, it was great while it lasted! As the first Hong Kong player to reach this stage of the event Annie Au had already exceeded expectations, and up against the six-time World and six-time Hong Kong Open champion, well, even a game would be a bonus.

And, to the delight of the crowd at Kowloon's Cultural Centre looking across at Hong Kong island over Victoria Harbour, that's exactly what she got - and not just any game, but the first game too.

Annie led throughout, and though Nicol closed and couple of errors from the Malaysian's racket eased the Hong Kong nerves as Annie took the lead.

It couldn't last, could it? No. The second game delivered a sharp dose of reality as Nicol assumed control. Not with flashing winners, but with pace and precision, steady enough but making her opponent do the work.

And that's how the next three games went. Annie never stopped trying, still caught her illustrious opponent out occasionally with her tricky shots, but the pattern was set and the end result, inevitable.

It was good while it lasted, but it's Nicol who advances to a seventh consecutive Hong Kong final.

"I knew it would be tough, that the crowd would get behind her," said the victor, "and she played really well in the first. I knew I had to tighten up and find my lengths from the second and I managed to do that."
  

[3] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [5] Gregory Gaultier (Fra)
            11/9, 11/9, 11/1 (67m)

GREG, FLAT, JAMES, CLEVER….

First game was 28m. With a James as patient as I’ve ever seen him, two unforced errors in the whole match. A relentless James, playing a devastating mid pace where everything or was perfect length at the back/corners, or remarkable drop shots at the front.

Not enough to score quickly, but relentless enough to sap Greg's very very tired legs….

All credit to the Frenchman, he dug in. And went very deep to try and fetch that energy back. Even after losing the 1st game. The “Old Greg” would have given up, threw away the towel. “New Greg” never game up. Even from 10/6 down, he clawed back to 9/10, to finally bow on a tin 11/9…

James had spent only 27m on court, and in that second, it showed. He was only too happy to keep on working hard, and twist and turn Greg. Varying the pace, the angles, he made more and more damage. White as a sheet, Greg kept James in view, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, and clawed back from 7/9 to 9/9. But there again, James gives it a big push, and a backhand boast and a shot that clips the corner, James is now 2/0.

In the third, Greg never saw the light, as he didn’t hit the wall, he actually was buried alive in it. James, again, patiently, made sure he nailed the coffin with a beautiful accurate and lethal squash…

Well, everything that has been said about the venue, needs to be said again. It’s been phenomenal every time. I got to the semis a few times, but today, getting to the final, and trying to put my name alongside the prestigious names on that trophy… It’s pretty special.

The court conditions between here and the club couldn’t be more different! At the club, dead court, very hard for the body, needs about an hour for your joints to warm up, and very short rallies. Here, warm conditions, more sapping for Greg, the rallies going on for ever…. And I was quite happy to make the rallies to last…

We saw how important taking the first two rallies was. In Rotterdam, he took the first two, and won 3/0. Today, I took those two games, and won 3/0. Mentally, it’s an enormous step, especially on those court. Maybe on the other court, he could have come back with shorter rallies, but here, it makes it very difficult.

Today, the conditions suited me better, he also had a very hard match yesterday, that took a lot out of him, so a bit lucky, but that’s not been always that good in the past, there was also a lot of disappointment on the way, so it’s nice when everything is actually coming together. And giving myself a chance to get that title, is a great feeling.

Now, I’m going to take the opportunity we didn’t finished too late to go back to the hotel, rest, have a bit of treatment, and recover for tomorrow…

I tried to do what I could today, but honestly, I just didn’t have anything in the legs. Mentally, I tried to put, to step up and volley more, but I was as flat as it comes.

I guess the difference of time on court yesterday made a bit of a difference, but to be honest, I think it’s more the accumulation of hard matches for a few weeks.

But all credit to James, he played a perfect game, and took advantage of the conditions…

[10] Raneem El Weleily (Egy) bt [13] Low Wee Wern (Mas)
            11/6, 9/11, 11/3, 11/9 (47m)

Raneem rallies into the final

Two unexpected semi-finalists, but the gave the crowd at the Cultural Centre a high-quality second women's match with plenty to enjoy.

Raneem El Weleily held the lead throughout the first, pulling away after Low Wee Wern had levelled at 5-all to take the lead 11/6. But it was the Malaysian on top for most the second. El Weleily levelled at 8-all but Low surged ahead to take it 11/9 and level.

The Egyptian's delicate and disguised shots, which have been wreaking havoc with top ten players in the last few months, started paying dividends as she took the third with something to spare 11/3, but the hot humid conditions weren't entirely to her suiting and Low was able to stick with it and build a 7/1 lead in the fourth.

A decider looked likely, but a few quick winners gave Raneem heart and once she'd closed to within a couple of points she started to do the pressing once more.

It was still tight though, but on her first match ball she was making Low do a lot of running, and the pressure told at the end of one of the longest rallies of the day as the Malaysian tinned.

"It's very hot on there, difficult to breathe even for us Egyptians and I could see she was suffering too!

"I've been having success against higher-ranked players but there's more pressure when you play someone ranked lower than yourself, which was the case yesterday and today, I'm happy with how I played and handled it though.

"She got a good lead in the fourth, I'm glad my mum wasn't watching I would have given her another heart attack, I never seem to do it the easy way, so it's easier to just tell her I won afterwards rather than go through all the stress of watching me!

"Obviously I'm really pleased to get through to the final, especially in such a wonderful setting, I just hope I can play my best ..."

[2] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt Azlan Iskandar (Mas)
             11/3, 11/8, 11/2 (37m)

KARIM JUST TOO ACCURATE

Although Azlan denied being tired after his week in Macau and week here, I truly believe this was just one match too far for the Malaysian.

He didn’t do much wrong, and still counter attacked beautifully. But against him tonight was the Master at counterattacking. And he didn’t have enough fuel in the tank to take it to the back again and again.

Very few errors from both, a lot of good and intense rallies. But honestly, there always was going to be one winner tonight…

Like I said yesterday, at that stage of the competition, I really wanted to spend as little time on there as possible, so a 3/0 is perfect for me.

But it was not easy, Azlan is a tough competitor, we’ve been playing each other since we are 10, so we know each other’s game pretty well. And I feel that today, he was not at his best, but I’m still happy to win!

The court conditions were pretty warm and humid, hard for squash players, but we are used to adapt to court conditions…

Looking forward to play James, he is such a fair player and a great guy on and off court.



No, I wouldn’t say I was that tired. It’s just, Karim was so quick on there today, a masterclass really. I kept digging and digging, but I was struggling on there. I tried and come back in the 2nd, but it was too little too late.

I hate to lose, it’s so disappointing, especially for the crowd.

Oh well, going to try and catch a flight to go home for 2 days to rest, then Kuwait next week.

Ah, and it was my first time ever on this venue. I never played here, or even came here. Amazing.

Good week at the office, can’t complain.

A ferry trip to view the venue - on the Star Ferry from Central, a look around
the Cultural Centre, and a trip back to Wan Chai (by the hotel)