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TODAY in Nantes Fram
in Nantes |
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10-Sep, Day SIX, Semi-Finals:
Greg keeps home hopes alive
Four matches on the glass court at Cité
Internationale des Congrès today, but only onme home winner as
defending champion Greg Marche beat top seed Daryl
Selby in straight games. He'll meet another Englishman in
the final after second seed Chris Simpson beat compatriot Tom
Richards in four games.
In the women's semis Egypt's Hana Ramada ended French
interest as she beat Laura Pomportes in three close games while
Rachael Chadwick won a gruelling five-setter against
compatriot Julianne Courtice.
Semi-Finals:
[3] Hana Ramadan (Egy) 3-0 [8] Laura Pomportes (Fra)
11/9, 11/9, 11/9 (33m)
[6] Rachael Chadwick (Eng) 3-2 [Q] Julianne Courtice (Eng)
10/12, 13/11, 14/12, 8/11, 11/8 (61m)
[4] Grégoire Marche (Fra) 3-0 [1] Daryl Selby (Eng)
11/7, 11/6, 11/5 (48m)
[2] Chris Simpson (Eng) 3-1 [3] Tom Richards (Eng)
11/4, 7/11, 11/9, 11/4 (51m) |
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Playing on the same court as people like
Mohamed ElShorbagy and Nour El Sherbini is important for me.
It’s a great opportunity and I’m so glad to be a part of it.
The atmosphere is great, and it’s such a great setup, all credit
to the people that organised it, well done guys!
I tried to focus more on my game plan and my shots. They weren’t
that deep at the beginning, so I had to regain focus, try to
work things out and concentrate on court because I wasn’t at the
beginning.
Laura is a very good player, wining 3/0 against her is a great
achievement, and all credit to her for making the game so
challenging.
It would be my third PSA title and it means a lot to me because
it shows how your hard work I do with Karim Shohayb, Ahmed
Shohayb and Captain Walid for the fitness pays off after all. It
is a great opportunity for me to win this tournament.
I want to take this opportunity to thank my mum that stayed home
and my dad that has been travelling with me on the tour. He is
my coach, my dad and my body guard. I feel so protected, so
cared for, I owe them everything, and if you think my dad moves
a lot when I’m playing, you’ve never sat next to my mum!
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[3] Hana Ramadan (Egy)
3-0 [8] Laura Pomportes (Fra)
11/9, 11/9, 11/9 (33m)
HANA, POWERFUL AND ACCURATE
If yesterday, the French favourite looked extremely tense to
start the match against her compatriot Chloé Mesic, today, Laura
looked more determined and relaxed, very focused. On the other
hand, Hana was like “un lapin pris dans un phare” a rabbit
caught in a car light. A bit impressed by the crowd, the
lighting, the court, not used to such a setting, she looked a
bit temptative, especially on the backhand return of serve.
 Laura
was in perfect control, moving well, accurate and well
constructed, she goes up 7/1 rather quickly, and it seems it’s
going to be all over soon.
But starting to relax, Hana lets her racquet have a life of her
own, finding superb powerful drives and crosscourts, pushing
Laura way at the back, and finishing the points at the front.
Little by little, with Laura doing very little wrong, she claws
back to 9/9, and with an Ace – doesn’t happen often in squash
and a superb winner at the end of a long rally, Hana clinches
the first game, 11/9 in 9m.
She will keep that momentum with her in the second, running the
show even if Laura defends a lot and seems always able to come
back, it’s still 10/4 game ball for the Egyptian.
Who suddenly decides she one a certain kind of winners, a volley
kill, and she tries and tries, making 5 tins in the process:
suddenly, I’m remembering she is only 18…. Laura is stringing
the points quickly, and finds herself at 9/10. But the Egyptian
sees the light, finds a superb crosscourt that finds the nick at
the back, 11/9 again and again in 9m.
The third is much much closer, Laura is more positive, more
assertive, she steps nicely in front of the Egyptian, and it
seems that we are going to have a great match in 4, maybe 5…
3/1, 3/3, 4/4, 7/7.
Laura looks very good, but out of nowhere, Hana finds a super
hitting mixed with feathery volleying, and the French lady just
cannot find answers today, and even if she saves a match ball,
at 10/8, Laura bows 11/9 in 12m, the crowd is fair, but truly
disappointed to see their girl exit in the semis…
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[4] Grégoire Marche
(Fra) 3-0 [1] Daryl Selby (Eng)
11/7, 11/6, 11/5 (48m)
GREG MARCHES INTO FINAL
Up to this match, those two had had a few battles, The Acrobat
had a few close calls and even a match ball during a French
League Final in Rennes a few years back, but never he manage to
beat the Cool Englishman.
 But
today, it started well for the French. Daryl was close score
wise, and present at the front, and Greg was doing a lot of
work.
A funny moment when a clear stroke for Daryl was announced as a
let “I know I’m not going to get the benefit of the decisions,
I’m in France after all, but that’s one of the clearer stroke
that ever been!” Even the French crowd laughed bless them.
Close first game till the middle of it, 4/4, 5/5, and if
LittleGreg seems a bit passive up to then, but suddenly, he
starts to play like he can. Hitting hard but accurate at the
back, moving superbly, clever game plan and good read of the
shots of his opponent, he “quickly” take the lead, 7/5, 10/6,
game 11/7 in 17m, 1 unforced error, and 2 for Daryl. Good squash
all around.
The crowd goes BALLISTIC!!! The whole court trembles from the
hammering of the hundreds of French feet ...
The second is about of the same model, Daryl is still well
planted on the T, but I feel he is not playing as powerfully as
the night before. He is despatching shots yes, but a lot at the
front, volleying nicely but no real deep shots as he normally
bases his squash on. Maybe it’s Greg? Is it his back? Not sure.
Excellent start for Greg in the second, 3/0, but Daryl is still on
it, 3/3, 4/4. Like in the first one, Greg finds his groove and
moves so well, 7/4 and game 11/6 on the first attempt, same game
length, 17m, same unforced errors, 1 for TGreg, 2 for Daryl.
The third is always going to be Greg to be honest. Daryl doesn’t
seem to be able to take him out of his comfort zone today, from
2/2 it’s quickly 8/4, and match 11/5 on his first match ball,
12m, 49m match.
The noise of the crowd is deafening, the ovation at the end last
a few nice seconds. And Greg, quite rightly, “savoure l’instant”….
"Weird match for me, never got into it at all. Felt good
beforehand but that's sport I guess. Greg played exceptionally
well. Haven't played a tournament since April so good to get
some matches in the legs. Next week in Macau to focus on now,
hope for a better one."
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That was maybe one of my best matches. I think I played pretty
well from the beginning to the end. I don’t know if Daryl was
100 per cent today, he seemed to have troubles turning, but I
did the job and I think I played my game, I was really focused
and I had my game plan from my coach in the US Thierry Lincou.
He gave me a lot of advice today and I’m really happy to win 3-0
like this because it means my level is improving because I have
never beaten Daryl before, so it’s a great win.
I felt good physically, I felt much better than yesterday. I was
aware of starting the match differently to yesterday. I played
my game and felt really good physically as well.
I’m very happy I managed to play at the same pace the whole
match, even if there were a few drops in the focus at the
beginning of the games, but I was solid from beginning to end,
that’s something I never managed to do up to now against him.
And even at 2/0 up, I was telling myself that it was not
finished, that he is such a fighter that he never says die, and
that he was even more dangerous when down in the score.
I need to thank the crowd that was so supportive. I’m aware that
it was probably not that fair towards Daryl, but at the end of
the day, TOUGH! It’s not everyday we manage to play at home….
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It’s been a fantastic week, in
front of a fantastic crowd.
As ever, it was a huge battle 3/2 against Julianne, I know how
hard she’s been training, I was expecting tough, and it was. I
think she played extremely well, hitting very hard and very
solid. As for me, I was retrieving well, and I dug in well.
So excited to be in the final, so happy…
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[6] Rachael Chadwick (Eng)
3-2 [Q] Julianne Courtice (Eng)
10/12, 13/11, 14/12, 8/11, 11/8 (61m)
A GREAT BRITISH BATTLE
A huge crowd, a huge match, a huge battle. And a great advert
for squash.
 Those
two girls today – who know each other well from the juniors –
played I feel way above their rankings. 98 for Rachael, and 204
for Rachael, even if her best ranking a few years back was 119.
They were both worried to look ridiculous on the glass court,
very nervous and the number of tins in the first game (5 each)
shows that.
But soon enough, they both just played their game: Rachael, the
Lefthander, kept finding lethal boasts that or were winning the
point, or were setting up the winner.
Meanwhile Rachael – who didn’t more than 2 boasts the whole
match, one tinned, one was the winner – kept hammering on the
backhand volley some superb winners, with a delicate feathery
touch.
 Basically,
nothing between the girls in the first three, it could have gone
either way, two game balls for Julianne in the first, she takes
it 12/10, she’ll have two in the second as well, but it’s
Rachael that grabs that one 13/11, and again, a huuuuuge third,
Rachael will need 4 game balls to take the lead 2/1, 14/12!
We think that’s it, good effort from Julianne, but.. well, guess
again. 3/3, 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, and she finds some lovely winners on
that backhand front corner again and again, 9/6, 11/8.
Both girls have now reduced their errors rate to a minimum, they
both run, and read, and hit and retrieve. It’s a superb game of
squash, shame we need a winner.
And today, it’s Rachael, she will be ahead the whole game,
although Julianne will come very close, 7/8, to finally, finally
bow on two “lucky bounce” in the left back corner, 11/8, but
what a battle!!!!! Loved every second of it!!!
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[2] Chris Simpson (Eng)
3-1 [3] Tom Richards (Eng)
11/4, 7/11, 11/9, 11/4 (51m)
ANYTHING YOU CAN DO….
These two have been playing since forever really… If you look at
the stats – PSA and non PSA, their first official meeting was…
15 years ago, in the British Nationals U15! Tom won 10/8 in the
5th… And basically, their 12 meetings have been more or less the
same battles, score was 6/6, last encounter going to Chris last
year in St George’s, in 3, an event Chris actually won against
Daryl.
 Today
was strange. Strange because I may be tired, I know that, but I
still find myself wondering what happened tactically in that
match. First game, I was sitting next to Mr Ramadan, Hana’s dad,
and when the game finished, we looked at each other and said..
what happened?? There were huge absolutely HUGE rallies, Peter
Barker’s style length and intensity wise, but played at a
ridiculous pace, and with Chris attacking and Tom defending. Not
their usual set up. Plus, it lasted 15m, that’s long for an
11/4!
The second was more as I’m used to, as in, Chris being extremely
solid in the length/width department, but still attacking all
the opportunities he created, while Tom was volleying ridiculous
shots, finding nicks and making a superb nuisance of himself.
A little detail, as he went for a shot on the right front
corner, Tom suddenly stopped and seemed to feel a niggle in the
right calf. I forgot about it as he seemed to be moving very
well.
 That
second was close again, pace a tad less ridiculous, but still
great rallies, 3/3, 4/4, 6/6, Tom taking a comfortable lead and
equalising, 11/7 in 13m.
The third is crucial. Tom is ahead 6/3, looking very much flying
and controlling the game, but Chris just seems unshakable. Tom
gets a volley kill nick on a return of serve, with Chris sort of
responding “anything you can do” with the next return of serve.
The crowd goes BALLISTIC!!!!!!!!! God Bless the French squash
lovers…
Chris is back on track, Tom doing nothing wrong really, just
Chris being too accurate both at the front and back, moving so
well. 7/7, 8/8. At 9/8 for Tom, an absolutely ridiculous rally
ending on a reflex finishing in the Tin for Tom, 9/9, followed
by a lovely volley drop shot, 10/9, and another tin from Tom,
11/9.
Three tins both in that third, but Tom made them at crucial
times, Chris at the start….
I thought we were in for a huge battle in the fourth, but I
realise then that Tom started not moving at all from 3/3, just
going for nicks and kills. And I remembered that niggle in the
leg. 8/3, 11/4 in 7m, match to Chris. It would have been
interesting to ask Tom what happened at the end, but he was long
gone by the time I was able to get to his chair…
Still, Chris demonstrates again how improved his game is, and
how much depth he added to it. Well done, and nice to see the
hard work paying off. |
The pace at the start was unbelievable. It was a very high
quality squash, but no way we could sustain such pace for the
whole duration.
The strength of these M25 tournaments at the moment means that
they’re not easy to reach the final, so I’m delighted to reach
back-to-back finals in this size of tournament.
Tom and I have been playing since we were nine or 10 years old.
He’s one of my best mates, and when we play each other it’s
always very close and very enjoyable.
I thought that match was no exception, it was a very high
standard, very fair and very, very tough.
He was on top, not just in the second game, but for most of the
third as well.
At 8/6, I realised that I was not positive enough, I had gone
passive, so I got back on top by just fighting and trying to
force myself to be positive at the end of that game because I
knew he controlled the start of the second until two thirds of
the way through the third game, so I had to change something.
It wasn’t easy, I had to stick to what I thought was the right
tactic and see what happened.
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