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TODAY in Paderborn,
Wed 24th, Day FOUR
Steve and Fram in
Germany ... |
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Roundup, session one:
Berrett takes Italy through to the quarters
 Well,
what a contrast in the first four top sixteen matches -
'pre-quarter-finals' as the Indians term them.
India themselves beat surprise package Denmark 2-0, and
although HarinderPal Sandhu on in straight games, Saurav Ghosal
was made to work a litter harder to beat Kristian Frost in four.
They will meet Australia, who beat the Netherlands 2/1.
LJ Anjema came from a game down to beat David Palmer in the
middle match, but either side of that first Stewart Boswell and
then Cameron Pilley won in straight games to put the Aussies
through.
 England,
as expected, breezed past Hong Kong 3/0, and they will play
Italy, who edged past Mexico in a thriller.
Amr Swelim put Italy ahead, Cesar Salazar levelled it,
and when Marcus Berrett went 2/0 up against Eric Galvez it
looked good for the Italians. It didn't look so good when he was
5/1 down in the fifth, but the tide turned a final time as
Berrett reeled off 9 of the next 10 points to set the Italian
pulses racing. |
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Roundup Session Two:
USA win North American clash,
Germans shake Egypt ...
 Well,
what an atmosphere it was at the Glass Court at Ahorn Sportpark
as Germany's own Simon Rosner came with a handful of points of
creating one of the biggest upsets the World Teams has ever
seen.
Before that France had made it through to their allotted
quarter-final place courtesy of Greg Marche and Greg Gaultier
wins against Finland, where they will meet Malaysia, for
who Wan Adnan and Azlan Iskandar (in five) did the business
against South Africa on the Springbok's favourite Centre Court.
And of course, USA had beaten neighbours Canada thanks to
a 3/1 win by Todd Harrity over a tiring Andrew Schnell, and a
comeback from two-nil down by Julian Illingworth to deny Shahier
Razik.
The Americans moved across to the glass court to watch their
prospective opponents Egypt, who they found were having a much
tougher time of it than they, or probably anyone, thought.
 First
up, Mohamed El Shorbagy was beginning to look a bit rattled as
Raphael Kandra took the first game to level the opening match.
Shorbagy settled though, taking it 3/1 and with Ramy Ashour up
next for the defending champions what could possibly go wrong
...
Well, Simon Rosner for one thing. The German number one played
an absolute blinder, sneaking the first after seeing a big lead
rapidly diminish, then going 2-1 ahead as the crowd went wild.
Ramy calmed them down a little as he took the fourth easily, but
there was no holding them back in the fifth as the game went
point for point to 7-all. Yes, Ramy won it in the end, but what
an atmosphere, what a performance from Rosner. |
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200 Caps for Derek Ryan |
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India 2-0 Denmark
HarinderPal
Sandhu 3-0 Morten W Sorensen 11/6, 11/1,
11/8 (29m)
Saurav Ghosal 3-1 Kristian Frost
11/6, 11/5, 9/11, 11/9 (66m)
Siddarth Suchde v Rasmus Nielsen
xxx
 Yesterday
Morten gave a crucial point to his Denmark team, by playing the
match of his life in five very gruelling, disputed and emotional
games. How he got the strength to finish it, God only knows, as
it was obvious to us all watching that he’d been running on
fumes since the third.
Morten, 32, not a squash pro anymore, didn’t have anything left
today, especially as it was the day after probably the biggest
upset of the tournament so far, Pakistan dropping off the top 16
for the first time of their history –
The Danish still tried and saved a match ball, and tried and
tried the whole encounter to fight, but Hari was pinning him in
the back, and Morten had to cover a heck of a lot of ground to
get to the Indian’s lovely volley drop shots.
Mission impossible today.
 I’m
a lot happier today than yesterday, which was a really tough
game, because I made far too many errors. So today, I decided
that I would avoid any loose shots, and was able to cut down the
errors, until the very end, where I did two.
 Yesterday,
I have to admit I was really happy to finish it, because I just
couldn’t make another step. And today, well, I started well, but
after a few rallies, I couldn’t push on my right leg, and he was
far too good and accurate for me today.
 I
knew Morten back when he was in PSA, and Kristian for a few
years, they are great guys, I’m happy for them to have reached
the top 16, of course, Pakistan will be disappointed, but I’ve
seen the Danish play, and they really gave a great performance.
I thought Hari played so well today, I think he surprised
himself how well he played, and also the fact that he won 3/0.
He NEVER wins 3/0, always 3/2, even against Indian Juniors, so
he surprised me, I was not warmed up, I was expecting him to
take more time!!!!!!
On paper, we were the favourite, but there is a difference
between paper and reality, and I still had to get the job done
against Kristian. I wanted to be clinical and simple, but he
wouldn’t let me! He played very well, got some beautiful shots
in, and quite rightly, took the 3rd, which made things more
complicated. And even in the 4th, we were close, 7/7.
 I’m
very happy to get away in 4, we’ve equalised our best ever
result, and hopefully, we can get a bit deeper in the
tournament. I so enjoy it here, what a great set up, the venue,
the court, lights, music, the audience, packed from the first
day, thanks to the amazing marketing those guys have done. It’s
not packed because everybody loves squash in Paderborn, it’s
packed because the work has been done relentlessly to bring
people in….
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Australia 2-1 Netherlands
Stewart Boswell 3-0
Bart Ravelli
11/2, 11/6, 11/3 (31m)
David Palmer 1-3 Laurens-Jan Anjema 12/10, 4/11,
3/11, 8/11 (72m)
Cameron Pilley 3-0 Piedro Schweertman
11/5, 11/2, 11/3 (26m)
 Like
Peter Nicol, Dave is one of the players I always looked up to.
I had his poster over my bed, and when I started playing him, I
was losing 3/0, then 3/1, then 3/2, and about 2/3 years ago, I
would have been very happy to do well against him, against
Thierry.
But now, I feel I’m at a point in my career where it’s my time,
that I shouldn’t be looking up to them anymore, but that I
should beat them, that I SHOULD, and that makes all the
difference.
Of course, I have the greatest respect for Dave, and that will
never change. When I think that he was struggling with his
ankle, and still he made it so hard for me, I had to work very
hard for each point.
Now, there is still a long way before I can get more consistent
wins against the top players…
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Yesterday, I was
very nervous, I was thinking too much about what would happen if
I was losing, too much pressure on myself.
Erik had two tough matches yesterday, mine was still 3/1 but not
too exhausting, so I was much fresher than he was. I stuck to
the game plan, which worked but to be honest, I can’t take much
credit, as he was really too tired.
I played Stéphane 4 times, so I knew what to expect, I beat him
three times I think. I know that he doesn’t like playing at a
fast pace, so I tried and took the ball as early as possible,
going as fast as I could, making him forward, and backward,
moving him as much as I could, as I knew he was over 30, and
that could play a role in the outcome.
I made sure I was not falling into his game, but that I kept to
mine. I felt strong both mentally and physically, it’s important
in this tournament as we get to play top players…
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Italy 2-1 Mexico
Amr Swelim 3-0 Erik
Tepos
11/5, 11/3, 11/2 (25m)
Stephane Galifi 0-3 Cesar Salazar
5/11, 6/11, 9/11 (49m)
Marcus Berrett 3-2 Eric Galvez 11/9,11/4,5/11,4/11,11/5 (65m)
 Poor
Erik Tepos. I’m sure he’ll remember his travel to
Paderborn poor mite.
Against Canada, he is playing Andrew Schnell in the decider, up
2/0, and he loses. Not that great for confidence, is it.
Following day, again 2/0 up against Chris Small (Sco), a bit of
tiredness in the 3rd, big mental drop in the 4th, his previous
day defeat playing on his mind, and Chris that clinches at 3/2
unexpected victory in 71m.
Needless to say that today, Erik didn’t have much left, mentally
drained and physically exhausted, he tried and kept the ball as
straight as possible, tried and contained Amr superb attacks,
but just didn’t have much left in the tank.
In the second match, Cesar
atomised Stéphane, by I think playing the perfect game
plan, twisting him around again and again, until the fifth, and
asphyxiated him. Galif dug in, fought with all his heart, but
Cesar was dominating every rally, and got a 3/0 victory that put
Mr Berret on the spot.
I need cloning I tell you, as I was trying to follow three
encounters at the same time, and could only arrive from the 4th
game in the match Marcus Berrett, 35 v Eric Galvez,
27.
Marcus had led 2/0, but Eric caught up 1/2 and looked pretty
good, something like 8/2. Marcus looked drenched, as if all the
water of his body had left the building, he could hardly move,
lost his lobs, was making plenty unforced errors, while Eric was
making the Italian go back and forth, cat with a mouse like….
 And
as the 5th started, not one person in the crowd would have bet a
euro on Marcus, completely gone physically. Points were still
very hard to win for the Mexican, but he got a comfortable lead,
5/1.
And hit the wall.
Suddenly, the match did a 180° turn. Marcus had by then found
his second wind, and was flying around the court, lobbing at
will, finding lovely length, delaying to perfection, while Eric
was tinning far too many shots, looking physically dead.
Supported by his team mate, Marcus came back from 1/5 to 9/5,
made one little error, and went straight to the finishing line.
Italy camp erupted, they were embracing, lifting the poor Marcus
who looked slightly overwhelmed by all the hugging and
demonstration bless him, and for a few minutes, I would see the
Yorkshireman in him feeling a bit embarrassed by all the
attention, while his Italian Heart was rejoicing with his team
mate in that emotional and dramatic match.
 After
the first two, I got pretty tired, I was late on the ball, and
you know what that means in terms of squash, my timing was off,
and he managed to get in front of me.
In the fifth, although I was down 5/1, I knew I managed to hurt
him physically, by playing two or three very hard rallies, and
broke his legs a bit.
Also, I started to hold the ball again – I tell that to my
players, and forget to do it myself… And I was able to close it
down.
It’s certainly the most intense of sport drama I’ve been
involved in, playing a decider for the quarters of the world,
being 2/0 up, then 2/2, then down 5/1 in the 5th to finally take
it… But that’s why we are doing it…
Thank GOD for Marcus…..
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Malaysia 3-0 South Africa
Nafiizwan Adnan
3-0 Clinton Leeuw
11/4, 11/9, 11/8
Azlan Iskandar 3-2 Steve Coppinger 8/11, 11/2, 7/11, 11/6, 11/0
Ong Beng Hee 2-1 Shaun Le Roux
6/11, 12/10, 11/7
 Today,
it took me two games to get my rhythm on. Since I arrived here,
I’m having trouble getting used to the court, they are much
harder than the ones I’m used to, so I had to mentally prepare
myself for a very long match, and if, like today, I win 3/0,
it’s a bonus.
It’s a funny court, and I was not playing at my best, I just
didn’t how to play it, if I was supposed to go short.
But I’ve been around long enough to know that when you are not
playing at your best, you’ve got to stick in there, and make it
as hard as possible.
 In
the third, he was pretty tired, and I think he was really lucky,
he got three strokes in a row, I don’t think the level of
refereeing there was at its best unfortunately.
I’m very proud of what I achieved in the fifth, 11/0, that’s a
great result, I think that two, three years ago, I would have
gone for too much probably, being too excited, so, pretty happy
with that last game.
Today is an excellent win for Malaysia, we are in the quarters….
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Steve was broken
physically in the fourth, he is not as match fit as he would
like to be. After his brother’s motorbike accident, he stopped
squash completely for two and a half months and went to England
to take care of him. So, he fell a bit behind squash wise, but
he’s been catching up.
Steve has got nothing to be ashamed about, he just played a 3/2
match against the world number 12, so, I’m really proud of him.
His squash is on the right path, he is improving constantly, and
in South Africa, he is a true inspiration for a lot kids who now
work very hard at their squash to try and be as good as he is…
South Africa coach |
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It was a good decision to put Todd under fire.
I think the team gave him a good game plan, he had to be taken
out of his comfort zone, he had to be more aggressive, and he
was. He had to attack that boy and he did.
He lost the third game but, you know, in any match adjustments
are as important as anything else. Between games, you’ve got to
make sure that, if you lose, you make adjustments, and if you
win, you don’t have to, but you know he is going to make them,
so you have to plan the adjustment to his adjustment!
Today, all the pressure was on Julian. He is at a stage of his
career where he is expected to win against somebody like
Shahier, but only just, and that’s the worst scenario possible.
He didn’t play at his best to start with, and he showed a lot of
courage on there. You know, he is a bit of a cagey character!
In the fifth, Shahier had a very good start, but Julian, as a
seasoned pro, knew what to expect, and was ready for it.
Now, we are going to play the quarters, on the glass court,
against Egypt. It doesn’t get much better than that ...
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Canada 0-2 USA
Andrew Schnell 1-3 Todd
Harrity
11/13, 7/11, 11/7, 4/11
Shahier Razik 2-3 Julian Illingworth 11/6, 11/3, 2/11,
0/11, 5/11
Shawn Delierre v Chris Gordon
xxx
 A
superb ambiance between the two camps who know each other so
well, and jokes like Gilly (USA) telling the Canadian Camp
“Whouaaa, guys, that clapping was a bit loud for you” as the USA
are slightly more noisy than their neighbours, or Yvon
Provencal, coach to Canada, thanking Paul Assiante and Co when
Gilly stepped away for a while “Cheers, boys, it’s going to be
bit of rest for our ears, we owe you a beer.”
As you see, a perfect atmosphere for a close game….
And close it was, a very disputed game between two “gentleboys”,
if that word exists, two very well behaved, yet intense but
always positive young players, having the same goal, get the
last point, but with respect for both the game and their
opponent.
 Todd
yesterday had a great start against Amr Swelim, taking the first
game, to fall apart after that. Today, none of that, although
leading 2/0, he lost the third, but because his opponent played
extremely well, young Andrew Schnell found some stunning volley
drops that put Todd under too much pressure and forcing errors
out of him.
In the fourth, having learned his lesson from the day before,
Todd didn’t give any chance to the Canadian to get in the game,
to lead 10/0, match ball. Andrew seemed more tired from a mental
point of view than physical, I thought, probably to be put down
to a lack of experience at that level… USA 1, Canada, 0.
 Yesterday
I played at a pace I’m just not used to, it’s so different from
the level I play during the year, it’s so much faster, much more
intense too. And when I let go a bit and took the foot off the
pedal for a while, those boys punished me.
Today I felt a bit tired after the first couple of games, but I
knew that if I kept pushing and pushing myself to the intensity
I knew I could push, I would eventually get rewarded. And I’m
very proud of my mental toughness today.
And on went Shahier and Julian.
I’m not ashamed to say that, after the middle of the second
game, I thought we were heading for a Shahier victory, as Julian
was unable to get the Canadian out of his comfort zone, letting
him function with that slow pace he can last the whole night at.
 So,
I went to see the end of the South African Malaysian game. I
could hear Gilly Lane’s encouragement from 500 metres away, so I
knew that something was going on, and expected to find Shawn and
Chris on court battling on.
But when I finally arrived, it was all over. Julian, changing
his game plan at the start of the third, took that game and the
next one within five minutes each! Shahier gave it a big bush at
the start of the fifth, but he is not a spring chicken anymore,
and I guess that in the end, he finally got a bit tired. Even
Shahier can get tired, you know….
 I
didn’t start so well. You expect to win the first game if you
want to win against Shahier, as he is a slow starter… I think I
had the wrong game plan, I was getting frustrated. So, in the
third, I told myself every ball that will go to the back, I’ll
volley it. And it started to work, and it gave me a bit of
confidence, I took the third and fourth, 11/3, 11/0.
When you get in the fifth, it’s anybody’s ball game. We had some
pretty hard rallies, at 4/2 and 5/3 I think, and I could see he
was getting really tired.
I’m happy to come through for the team, it’s my first victory
for the team (apart from against Ukraine)…
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Egypt 3-0 Germany
Mohamed El Shorbagy
3-1 Raphael Kandra 11/7, 9/11, 11/7, 11/4
Ramy Ashour 3-2 Simon Rosner
9/11, 11/7, 8/11, 11/4, 11/8
Karim Darwish 2-0 Jens Schoor
11/9, 11/6
 Simon
played the best match ever! He played with no pressure, he had
nothing to lose. And he didn’t think about anything else that
WIN! He was on his best day EVER, only thing he wanted was to
beat me….
Apart from the match, the whole setting here is absolutely
amazing, playing squash in front of so many people, they are
making even more noise that in Egypt! It was like Soccer
tonight, Manchester United against Real Madrid or something!!!!
And it’s good for us, and it’s good for the game. Honestly, I
was taken aback by the support he got, there was 1000+ Germans
shouting, and that was amazing.
We played a great match, I’m proud of my performance, and so
should Simon! And the whole of the German Team as well has
performed beautifully the whole week, and deserves the applause
they got.
 I
could see, every time I was looking at the back, like flashes of
Hisham, Wagih, Shorbagy, and they were reminders of what was at
stake here. So I was decided to do what it took to win. And even
if it didn’t look like that, I was very disciplined in my head.
Simon played as fast as I did tonight, and normally, when that
happens, two things can happen. Or I change my game, or I play
my game better. But tonight, nothing did work!!!! My shots were
that high.
And if sometimes I can win with flicks and nicks,
today, the only thing I could do was to count on my fitness, and
keep pushing and pushing.
 So
today, I’m happy with myself for my victory, because there was a
lot happening in my head…
I didn’t want to play five games….
It’s just the best you can get, to play in front of such a
crowd, against Ramy, and getting close to him.
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No, today, I was not trying to get
used to the court, I was just very nervous. I’m not used to play
in front of so many people, the noise level was just amazing…
And if it’s good for squash, it did make me really nervous, and
put a lot of pressure on me, not to mention that Raphael played
really well.
I’m so proud to play for Egypt for the first time, and I hope
we’ll win again this year for my country.
Very close. Simon
played like he never play before, with 0 stress and 0 pressure,
and with the help of the crowd and the drums.
He was dead 15m before the end of the match, and still, he would
find some extraordinary shots, that would keep him alive a bit
longer!!!!! Amazing, amazing stuff…
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France 3-0 Finland
Andre Delhoste reports
Grégoire vs KNUUTILA
 Gregoire
works to find his lengths from the beginning of the game and
keeps his opponent behind him. Furthermore the Fin struggles to
follow the pace of the French.
In the second game Grégoire still dominates the T and wait for
the right moment to play his dropshots and his kills.
The third game is even faster than the first two, the Fin
doesn't seem to be able to fight back anymore and concedes the
match 3/0.
Greg vs TUOMINEN
 Greg
dominates the beginning of the first game occupying the T, and
keeps Olli behind him. In the middle of the game Greg plays a
fast pace squash that Olli particularly like, and the game is
tighter. Greg concludes the game with his backhand kills.
In the second game, Greg takes an early 6 points lead varying
well both paces and shots. He will keep this lead throughout the
game finishing it with 2 superb dropshots, one on the volley,
the other from the back of the court.
The third game is more intense, the pace is even faster than in
the first two games, and Olli attacks superbly in an almost
error free game. Greg is forced to defend fiercely to counter
the Fin's attacks. Greg will conclude the match with a great
variety of attacking shots that Olli cannot retrieve.
Mathieu vs MUSTONEN
 The
1/4 final spot being already won, Mathieu is supposed to try for
two games to stay in the competition rhythm, and then stop to
keep trying if the match is too demanding.
In the first game Mathieu seems to dominate the rallies but his
opponent is picking everything up, and ends up winning the
important points. Mathieu will concede the first game 11/9.
In the next two games Mathieu increases his pressure, and his
attacking shots are more decisive. Mustonen isn't able to defend
as well as in the first two games, and Mathieu wins the last
match 2/1.
We are now facing Malaysia in the quarter finals for a spot in
the semis.
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