2008: [ TODAY ] [ SEMIS ] [ QUARTERS ] [ Round TWO ] [ Round ONE ] [ Day TWO ] [ Day ONE ] [ Preview ]

Gallery

Women's Second Round:

[1] Nicol David bt [13] Rebecca Chiu                             11/8, 11/5, 8/11, 11/2 (34m)
[7] Omneya Abdel Kawy bt [16] Samantha Teran                  11/8, 11/3, 11/8 (25m)
[4] Natalie Grainger bt Raneem El Weleily                           13/11, 11/9, 11/8 (26m)
[6] Alison Waters bt [9] Laura L-Massaro           12/10, 4/11, 11/7, 9/11, 12/10 (66m)
[14] Isabelle Stoehr bt [8] Vanessa Atkinson               10/12, 13/11, 11/1, 11/7 (39m)
[3] Rachael Grinham bt [12] Kasey Brown                               11/6, 11/7, 11/4 (26m)
[5] Jenny Duncalf bt [11] Tania Bailey                 8/11, 11/3, 11/9, 10/12, 11/5 (58m)
[2] Natalie Grinham bt [15] Madeline Perry          11/9, 12/14, 11/7, 6/11, 11/6 (55m)

Men's Second Round:

[1] Amr Shabana bt [16] Stewart Boswell                        11/7, 7/11, 11/5, 11/6 (62m)
[6] Karim Darwish bt [11] Peter Barker                                  11/4, 11/3, 11/8 (39m)
[4] Ramy Ashour bt Alister Walker                                     13/11, 16/14, 11/8 (57m)
[8] Thierry Lincou bt Borja Golan                                           11/7, 11/2, 11/7 (55m)
Cameron Pilley bt [7] Nick Matthew                                        11/8, 11/9, 11/4 (42m)
[3] James Willstrop bt [10] Ong Beng Hee                             11/8, 11/7, 11/6 (38m)
[5] David Palmer bt [13] Adrian Grant                                   11/5, 11/4, 11/4 (29m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier bt [12] Azlan Iskandar                           11/6, 11/5, 11/4 (39m)
 

[1] Nicol David bt [13] Rebecca Chiu
                11/8, 11/5, 8/11, 11/2 (34m)

Rebecca gets her game,
Nicol gets her half-century
Steve reports

Nicol David stayed on course for a hat-trick of Hong Kong titles, and extended her unbeaten run of WISPA matches to 50 in the process. The Hong Kong crowd were well entertained as their local darling Rebecca Chiu put up as good a fight as any have over the last year in which Nicol has been so dominant.

The Malaysian world champion opened up a lead in the first but Chiu, working the corners of her home court, stayed in touch without threatening the lead. There was no holding Nicol in the second though as she eased away from 4/3 down to double her lead.

Urged on by the crowd, Rebecca took an early 4/1 lead in the third, was pegged back but moved ahead again , and at 10/8 served into the nick to take the game she'd set her sights on in yesterday's post-match interview.

That was as good as it got though as Nicol came out strongly in the fourth, soon had an impregnable lead and shortly afterwards was in the quarter-finals.
 

"It was a good match for the crowd, they were really getting into it and urging her on, they willed her to take that game really.

"I knew that in the fourth I had to get back to my game plan, start playing my game rather than hers. She knows that court like the back of her hand and she was working the corners well - I just had to make sure I found them before she did!"

[5] Jenny Duncalf bt [11] Tania Bailey  
          8/11, 11/3, 11/9, 10/12, 11/5 (58m)

Another five for Duncalf
as Bailey runs out of steam ...

England's Jenny Duncalf survived another scare when she had to face another five game match after squeezing past Engy Kheirallah in the first round.

This time it was England team-mate Tania Bailey who was the obstacle. Although she has had little matchplay, Bailey started well before looking as if a lack of match practice was counting against her. But with a pump of her fist she took a tight fourth game, hanging in while Duncalf started to make errors.

The fifth was one game too many though for the former world number four. Bent double at times between points, she was being stretched while unable to hit enough outright winners as she tried to shorten the rallies.

Ten games, two hours and Duncalf has made the last eight.

"I’m fairly happy with the way the match went, I thought I played really well. She makes you move just a little bit more than I’ve been doing for a while! But my knee held up, and that’s all that matters….

"I’m so happy I can now start training again, if you knew how happy I am to be here with everybody, competing again. I can’t wait to start working hard again…

"But it was tough, I didn’t have anything left AT ALL in the fifth…"

[14] Isabelle Stoehr bt [8] Vanessa Atkinson 
             10/12, 13/11, 11/1, 11/7 (39m)

Stoehr stuns Atkinson
Malcolm reports

Vanessa Atkinson had scored an important win over Isabelle Stoehr in the European Club Championships earlier this year, but the Frenchwoman had her revenge in some style in their second round meeting tonight.

Atkinson began well enough, containing Stoehr sufficiently to take the first game. But as the second game became fragmented, Stoehr's racket skills became more and more telling, especially on the forehand side.

Nor could Atkinson stem the flow of winners from Stoehr in the third, as she was unable to find any depth. Stoehr hit five winners on the forehand side, volley drops and drops off the ground, played with touch and delicacy.

From the promising first game Atkinson had lost her way and it seemed unlikely, with Stoehr confident as she now was, that she would be able to turn things round.

Stoehr continued to attack whenever possible on both sides of the court and although Atkinson offered some resistance, the match was soon over as she eased to a 3/1 win. She will now meet Rachael Grinham in the quarter-finals tomorrow.

"First two games were very very tough, and physically exhausting. I lost the first one only just, 12/10, whereas I was leading, but then, I took the second one 13/11, where she was ahead…

"Once I got my first game under the belt, it all changed for me. I was able to relax, to let the arm go, to free myself completely. And when I reach that state, I don’t have to think about my technique anymore, the shots are just getting in perfectly.

"I think the fact I was able to take good starts was damaging for Vanessa, and put her under a lot of pressure. After that, I had to manage my emotions, which have caused me trouble before… I had to stay in the match, to stay relaxed, not to think about the victory, but just mentally, work on staying free of stress…

"Tomorrow, Rachael on the glass court. I’m happy to be on there, just need a bit of practice on it beforehand…"

[6] Alison Waters bt [9] Laura L-Massaro 
         12/10, 4/11, 11/7, 9/11, 12/10 (66m)

Waters edges it

There has been nothing between these two since junior days, and still the gap is wafer thin. In the battle of the English team-mates, Alison Waters justified her slightly higher ranking in over an hour of outstandingly physical play by a 12/10 in the fifth margin.

She was within touching distance of the match in the fourth, and more so at 6/2 in the fifth, but Laura is a tough cookie. She battled back to lead 7/6 and then earned two match balls at 10/8.

Waters levelled, then his a rasping crosscourt drive to set up match ball and won it when a tired lunge from her opponent came up short of the front wall.

After a match like this Waters may find playing fourth seed Natalie Grainger a tough task tomorrow ...
 

"That was a battle! It went back and forth the whole match, it was down to whoever got the better length so they could stay at the front of the court.

"At 6/2 up in the fifth I made a few errors to let her back into it, but I was lucky that she hit a tin on match ball.

"I lost 10/8 in the fifth when we played in Ireland, so we seem to like long matches!"

[2] Natalie Grinham bt [15] Madeline Perry 
        11/9, 12/14, 11/7, 6/11, 11/6 (55m)

"It was a good game, I'm just a bit disappointed to lose out if five games. Even when I was 9/2 down in the second I thought I was playing well, so I just stuck in and got a few points back.

"I knew she'd be playing a few dropshots, I was chasing most of them down but that last one on match ball was just too good ..."

[1] Amr Shabana bt [16] Stewart Boswell    
                 11/7, 7/11, 11/5, 11/6 (62m)

Shabana races away

Top seed Amr Shabana was being given a tough test by Aussie Stewart Boswell at the start of the match. At one game all and 4-all a slip caused Boswell to go off for some brief treatment, but on his return he couldn't recapture his previous form, although the volume of winners that the Egyptian was throwing in had a lot to do with it ...

"I thought I play well for 2 1/2 games, I stuck with my plan, but after that, it was a combination of factors, first, me not doing it as well as I did before, but also a lot of pressure from him. And in the third and fourth, he just ran away with it…

"It's only the second time I played him, first time was in Bermuda, it's always a fair game, but still very frustrating, even if you are playing well, you feel a bit off…"

[4] Ramy Ashour bt Alister Walker        
                         13/11, 16/14, 11/8 (57m)

Walker stretches
World Champion
Malcolm reports

The new world champion has never the common sporting expression "yourself in", and he was immediately into drop shot mode at the beginning of his match with Alister Walker.

Although Walker was doing all the chasing, he stood up well and Ashour onlt led for the first time at 6/5. Despite Ashour's seeming control he only led twice more in the game, at 12/11 and 13/11 when he won it. Walker deserved all he took from the game, but four or five errors from Ashour's forehand helped.

The second was similar in terms of the score with Walker never behind from 4/3 to 10/8. He was not able to convert five game balls, as the match continued at a hectic pace and high quality.

Both players, more noticeably Walker, were doing their best to referee the match, or at least to influence decisions, and Walker was less than impressed when decisions went against him.

Ashour won the tiebreak on his third game ball to take a 2/0 lead, which probably did not do justice to Walker's efforts.

The third game was not a lot different, less intense though and Ramy this time led almost throughout, winning it and a hard fought victory 11/8.

If Walker had felt hard done by at being 2/0 down, he will feel much more harshly treated at losing 3/0. He most certainly deserved a game playing and for much of the time matched his charismatic opponent.

Ashour played with his usual freedom, but outside courts do not reward him, or anyone else for that matter, as much as the glass court does.

 

"I’m happy, I played well, every game was close, and I had a few game ball in the first, but I just couldn’t win the big points.

"Of course you don’t come into a match against somebody that you lost again with the same attitude, because you’ll lose again, but you learn little by little, even if it’s frustrating. I think I did my best at this point in time…"

"It was a good, clean and fluid match, I thought we both played very well, and I was very happy with the way I hit the ball…I just played two of the fairest players on the tour, and also the two nicest players on the tour.

"I’m pleased to get a win, he’s got stuff that he can hurt you with…"

[3] James Willstrop bt [10] Ong Beng Hee    
                   11/8, 11/7, 11/6 (38m)

Willstrop eases through
Malcolm reports

There are a significant number of players who have had injury problems this season and James Willstrop is one of them.

Several including El Hindi, Hisham Ashour and Julian Illingworth have had problems in Hong Kong and Ramy Ashour's ankle is well strapped up. These are the ones I know about! The game at world level is a hard, physical business these days.

The signs are though that Willstrop may be emerging and he will be happy with the way he is hitting the ball.

At odd times his movement does look a little impaired but he began the match in controlled fashion, putting the ball in precise places, especially necessary on these courts.

He won the first game despite Ong's convincing and determined efforts and although not quite as accurate in the early part of the second, he continued to control matters, taking a 2/0 lead.

Knowing how difficult it is to recover from 2/0 deficits the Malaysian must have felt his number was more or less up. He persisted though, until Willstrop broke away in the second half of the game to win the third more easily than either of the first two.

Ong has been a regular visitor to Pontefract and these two have often worked together. Their mutual respect showed as the match was played in excellent spirit.

"I was happy with my first two games, but then, I quite didn’t take my chances, and James played the big points a lot better.

"This is the best I played for the past two months, but still, it was not enough.

"And I thought he was injured, well, he didn’t show it today unfortunately!!!!! But James is James, he is a tough guy…"

[6] Karim Darwish bt [11] Peter Barker  
               11/4, 11/3, 11/8 (39m)

"So frustrating…

"I know that Karim played very well, but I didn’t respond to anything he was sending my way… I know his forehand is really good, so maybe I over did it, playing on the backhand.

"I felt that there was no element of surprise, that my game was too predictable. I just didn’t ask him any questions mentally, and see how he would respond to it. I never reached that stage… It was pretty poor…"

"I think that yesterday took a lot out of of me, both mentally and physically, and when you want to beat Thierry, you need to be$at your 120%, and I guess I was at my 90%....

"He pushed me all the time, I was on the backfoot constantly, he was hungrier than me, he was faster, quicker than me. He had a good start to each game, and it was hard to come back from there.

"But I’m very happy with my tournament, my aim was to reach the second round. And if I beat Thierry in Paris, he is still a top 8, and I’m a top 16, so it’s a logical result. But now I know that, when I get on court, I can take my chance, and that I can win. And that’s what I’ll try and do next time…"

[8] Thierry Lincou bt Borja Golan   
                11/7, 11/2, 11/7 (55m)

LINCOU BACK ON TRACK…
Framboise reports

Thierry's defeat in Paris in the quarters was perceived like a shock France was not prepared for. Lincou has been for years the Squash flagship and opened doors that have now placed Squash in the ascending tendency that sees squash clubs open week after week. His poor performance in the World Open a few weeks later, was it announcing the end of the former Word number one’s career?

His victory over Ramy in Qatar – although the Egyptian fell heavily to damage his knee – was perceived like a glimpse of hope for the French camp. His “putting the record straight” against Spanish Champion will now reassure all his fans.

It was never going to be an easy match, between a confident Borja and a hungry Thierry, on a traditional court. The Spanish had two advantages today. 1. He knew the court, as he already played on it the day before. 2. It was a plaster court, and he probably feels more comfortable on a warm court. But he had two disadvantages. He played a grinding match the day before, stop and start, far too many lets, mentally exhausting, not to mention 100m long. And also he was playing a player with injured pride …

From the start of the match, the two players set the scene: Borja asked for lets, and Thierry made clear that he should play the ball more. That little game between them went on all the first game, a very long one that I truly believe was crucial for Borja’s mental. Tired from the day before, he didn’t have his usual “do or die” spirit, he was playing very well, of course, his length perfectly in place right away, but he seemed to go from one game plan to another, and not being able to sustain one line, as he did superbly in Paris.

There were no more lets asked for the next two games, and rallies starting to last longer and longer, most of the time won by the Frenchman, or putting Borja under enough pressure for him to find the tin. In the third, Thierry seemed to have match won at 7/2, but Borja is no push over.

He regrouped, wiped his hand on the left wall very slowly, “stop frame” as he does when he wants to find his focus, and started to dictate the pace again. Hitting extremely hard, and mixing his shots beautifully, finding his trademark delicate counterdrop shots, he was now in control of the rallies, and we thought he was able to come back and take the third.

But at 7/9, Borja went too short too early, and his drop shot clipped the tin. The match ball was very long, the Spanish gave it a last push, but the Frenchman was not going to be denied.

Another “putting the record straight” tomorrow, this time for Ramy, who’ll be keen to beat Thierry who denied him a Qatar Title only a few days ago…

"It was the same draw as the Internationaux, but I’m happy to report that the outcome was different. I had to rethink my tactic completely…

"But I wanted to congratulate Borja, because he’s improved a lot, he’s got more self confidence, and I had to play very good squash to beat him…"

Cameron Pilley bt [7] Nick Matthew  
               11/8, 11/9, 11/4 (42m)

"I don’t want to make any excuses, but I’ve not been too well up to the day before I took the plane, and I feel now that this is the day before the tournament, and that I’ll probably be ok tomorrow…!

"I felt fine today, but I guess it’s the difference between practicing and playing the ball at 200m/h… I would have had to be 100% to beat him, and I wasn’t… But all credit to him, he played very well…

"At the end of the day, the minute you step on court, that’s it, you are fit to play… It was just one of those days…

"I hope that this defeat won’t make me forget the journey I’ve made to come back, the fact that I’ve been pushing the top four again, I mustn’t forget where I’m coming from, that it won’t stop my confidence to build up, and that I’ll realise that it’s only a blip on the way…"

"I’m really happy with the way I played, shots went in pretty sweetly… I’m aware that Nick was not at his best, he played a few unforced errors, played a few tins, and I took advantage of it, like you do…

"I’ve been playing Nick a few times now, and you learn about things that work and things that don’t work, and you try and put them into the game, into action…

"I had a run of bad tournaments lately, and I think it’s because I was putting too much pressure on myself, nobody else than me… So on this one, I just decided to let it go, and to start the tournament with a positive frame of mind, and it worked! So I’m going to try and do it all the time now…"

[5] David Palmer bt [13] Adrian Grant     
         11/5, 11/4, 11/4 (29m)

"Adrian is a slow starter, we know that, and we also know that if you don’t take the first game, that’s not a good sign!!!! But that suits my game perfectly, as I’m a quick starter…

"Problem is sometimes, the first game is so easy, you think you are playing well, but you just haven’t played any long rallies. So you’ve got to keep very focused. So, I tried to stay with him in the 2nd and 3rd, we played fast, I was on a run, it was one of those days…

"I had the feeling that he was not 100%, he didn’t seem to want to extend the rallies, I was happy with that!!! Two matches in 3/0 here is a huge bonus, I’m still in the tournament…."

[2] Gregory Gaultier bt [12] Azlan Iskandar                           11/6, 11/5, 11/4 (39m)

"I fought well, and on every point, which is the most important. Azlan has played at his usual fast pace, I was patient, and also matched his speed at sometimes. And I was confident with my shots, that actually came in at the important times…"

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