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20-Sep, Quarter-Finals
Marathon Day in Toluca
It was a long day in Toluca with three marathon women's
quarter-finals to finish off play at the Zinacantapec
Club, followed by five matches on the glass court which finished
at around 2am ...
Quick updates on the BLOG
Results on the DRAWS
What was scheduled as a comfortable
afternoon session of just three women's quarter finals turned
into an absolute mammoth session as all three matches went to
five games, and each one increasing in length.
Victoria Lust bt [4] Siyoli Waters 4/11, 6/11, 13/11,
11/4,11/9. 39m
 With
only one place separating these two players in the rankings, it
certainly did not appear that way from the start as Siyoli raced
through the first game 11/4, and eventually stopping Victoria's
short comeback took the second 11/6.
Siyoli appeared the firm favourite as she got to match ball at
10/7, but as this strange game has proved many a time, the
obvious does not always happen, as Siyoli's strength seemed to
disappear like magic and Victoria found her lust for victory as
she sailed through the points to equalise at 10/10, Siyoli got
another match ball but then Victoria reeled off three straight
points to take the game 13/11.
Victoria had certainly got her game back in order as she took
the next game comfortably 11/4 to take the match to a decider.
The fifth started fairly evenly as Siyoli moved into a 5/3 lead,
Victoria then took the lead at 6/5, both players shared the
points then up to 9/9 before Victoria got match ball at 10/9 and
took the match first time thanks to a tin from Siyoli. A great
match to get the afternoon started.
Coline Aumard bt [2] Joey Chan 11/9, 11/5, 8/11, 8/11, 12/10.
57m
 Coline,
WR #42, started off brilliantly against No 2 seed and WR #20
Joey and got to game ball in the first at 10/5, but Joey fought
back to save 4 game balls before succumbing at the final hurdle
for Coline to take the game 11/9.
Coline then took the second in even easier style with a great
display of beautiful squash at 11/5. She then seemed to be
heading for a comfortable win as she led 8/3 in the third, but
then, as she told me afterwards, she lost all strength in her
legs and Joey took advantage as she started to play the strokes
that Coline had not allowed her up till then, taking the game in
one hand 11/8.
Coline was still struggling in the fourth, and having difficulty
with her shoes as well, sliding all over the court, and despite
a short comeback from 3/7 down to level at 7/7, Joey managed to
take the game 11/8 to leave us with another decider.
Coline got the strength back in her legs for the final game to
take a 7/4 lead, Joey levelled at 7/7, then got match ball at
10/9, but in a great finish Coline levelled then took the next
three for a fantastic win 12/10 and a 3 - 2 match win.
Tesni Evans bt Olga Ertlova 10/12, 11/3, 11/5, 9/11, 11/9.
77m
 After
all the excitement of the first two matches the third was
unlikely to change things, as these two players were only three
places apart in the rankings, and it proved very much to be the
case. After her heroic win over the No 1 seed yesterday Olga got
the better start in the first game taking an early 7/4 then a
9/6 lead but Tesni fought back to level at 9/9. Olga got game
ball at 10/9, Tesni levelled but then Olga took two points to
win the game 12/10.
Olga took an early 3/0 lead in the second before Tesni changed
the game completely as she sailed through in one single hand to
take the game 11/3. The third was fairly even until from 6/5,
Olga took five straight points to win the game 11/5 and a 2 - 1
lead. A determined Tesni battled her way through the fourth game
and despite several discussions with the referee she withheld
Olga saving two game balls to take the game 11/9 in the end, and
yet to another decider.
Both girls were now feeling the effects of this match and many
errors and lets came into the game, many of the decisions by the
referee being discussed at length, mainly by Tesni, but Tesni
managed to stay in front up to 9/5, Olga fought brilliantly to
level at 9/9, but just did not have enough strength left to stop
Tesni taking the game 11/9 and a brilliant 3 games to 2 victory
in what I thought was the best women's match I have seen for a
long time after a superb 77 minutes of wonderful squash.
Off to the Glass
Fortunately from my point of view that was the last we were to
see of the Zinacantepec Club as, after a short break we moved
over to the centre of Toluca at the Glass Court, which
unfortunately was again in the middle of a thunderstorm, but
play did get underway at 7.00 pm.
Yathreb Adel bt [3] Samantha Teran 11/8, 11/9, 11/8, 11/5. 61
m
 After
moving to the Glass Court in Toluca, the crowd grew eager in
anticipation of seeing Mexico’s number one player Samantha Teran
in action against the young 17 year old Egyptian Yathreb Adel.
Unfortunately the crowd did not get what they wanted as Yathreb
proved she can handle the big occasion as she fought strongly to
win in four very close but at sometimes scrappy games. Both
players were taking too many lets and causing a little
confusion, which at times affected the referees.
However Yathreb now moves to the semi finals which no longer
contains any of the eight seeded players.
Men’s Quarter Finals
[1] Gregory Gaultier bt Marwan El Shorbagy 11/8, 11/4, 11/9.
46m
 The
first of the men’s quarter finals brought on to court the French
maestro Gregory to face Marwan, the younger of the two Egyptian
brothers, and in a hard fought match, with both players playing
some delightful, and at times not so delightful squash, Greg
managed to hold out with some smart silky racquet play to take
the match in three.
Miguel Rodriguez bt [4] Omar Mossad 11/6, 6/11, 11/7, 7/11,
11/9. 113m
 The
only slight surprise to the seedings of the night eventually
came here in this match where after a long long drawn out battle
of wits between these two fine players.
"with the match being suffocated with let calls, which surely
must have outnumbered twice the points scored, and constant
interruptions and discussions with the referees, crowd favourite
Miguel eventually managed to take the match 11/9 in the fifth
against last year’s finalist Omar.
[According to a few players watching, it was "match of the
day" still... FG]
[3]Borja Golan bt [Q] Alfredo Avila 8/11, 11/6, 11/6, 6/11,
11/6. 85m
 This
match was much more enjoyable than the previous one as another
crowd favourite, the young Mexican Alfredo showed why he had got
to this stage from the qualifiers with the fabulous and
energetic squash, but after a fantastically fought battle over
five very close games Borja eventually managed to put an end to
his run by taking the fifth 11/6.
Although it was after midnight when this started the large crowd
all stayed behind to show great support for this fine Mexican
player, and of course for the silky smooth play of Borja.
[2] Mohamed El Shorbagy bt Gregoire Marche 11/3, 11/6, 11/8.
28m
Finally we came to the last match of the day at 1.45 a.m., which
fortunately for us spectators did not last too long as Mohamed
went through his usual routine of superb shot making to stifle
any attempt Greg tried to make to get into the game.
The younng Frenchman did increase his points in each game, but
nowhere near enough to trouble Mohamed, who finished proceedings
off at 2.15 a.m.
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