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Daily Newsletter
EXTRAS:
Malcolm's ASIDES
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Wed
7th Dec, Quarter-Finals:
[1] Nick
Matthew (Eng) bt [7] Thierry Lincou (Fra)
11/3, 11/5, 11/2 (38m)
[3] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [5] Gregory
Gaultier (Fra)
6/11, 13/11, 4/0 rtd
(57m)
[8] Peter Barker (Eng) bt [4] Karim
Darwish (Egy)
11/7, 6/11, 6/7 rtd (45m)
[6] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [13]
Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy)
11/9, 11/8, 11/8
(50m)
Gaultier's Pain is Shabana's Gain
Richard Eaton reports
Three Englishmen
in World Open Semis
The semi-finals of the Saudi PSA World Open will be contested by
Egypt's defending champion Amr Shabana and, for the first
time ever, three Englishman after a dramatic night at Sunset
Beach.
First up, top seed Nick Matthew cruised to victory over
an out of sorts Thierry Lincou. He'll meet Shabana for a place
in the final after Gregory Gaultier was forced to retire injured
early in his third game against the 'Prince of Cairo'.
An English finalist - the first since Lee Beachill in 2004 -
is guaranteed in the bottom half of the draw after Peter
Barker benefitted from another injury, third seeded Egyptian
Karim Darwish being forced to concede in the middle of their
third game.
His opponent will be James Willstrop who overcame Egypt's
third representative in the quarters Mohamed El Shorbagy in a
close three games.
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[1] Nick
Matthew (Eng) bt [7] Thierry Lincou (Fra)
11/3, 11/5, 11/2 (38m)
Matthew marches
into semi
Malcolm reports
The rest days, welcome enough for hard-pressed players, in the
early stages of the championship, have meant a gradual buildup
to the quarter-finals. But now the pressure is seriously on,
with seven matches left from the original 63. Nor has there been
a shortage of quality matches.
Opening proceedings was an all-European confrontation before
three matches involving Egyptians against English and French
opposition, which will bring out noisy and patriotic support.
Thierry Lincou has looked in fine form, moving and playing well
and he looked likely to offer a first serious challenge to top
seed Nick Matthew.
With Matthew the more aggressive in the early stages he led 4/1
and a French drop clipping the tin took him to 5/2. Matthew,
attacking judiciously, cleared away to 10/2, Lincou apparently
powerless, and he won the first game 11/3 unchallenged.
Lincou can be a slow starter, but on the evidence of the first
game he needed to move into a different gear quickly. He did
lead 3/2, but the feeling was that it was on suffrance. Another
forehand drop into the tin gave Matthew a 5/3 advantage, but
Lincou was hanging on better than in the first game and drew
level at 5-all.
Matthew, though, went to 10/5 effortlessly, save for a tough
rally at 8/5, and soon enough it was two-nil to the Englishman,
11/5.
Lincou has a reputation for finishing strongly, but it was hard
to see him recovering from two-nil down this time. Matthew,
pressing on, soon went to 5/1 in the third and the end was in
sight.
Lincou looked as if he knew it too, resigned to the inevitable.
At 10/2 Matthew served for and won the match and took the first
place in the semi-finals.
Lincou's movement is still intact, but in truth he was outplayed
by an eager-looking top seed, perhaps more clearly than might
have been anticipated.
 "I
was focused, but he was even more focused," said Lincou. "I
didn't play tight enough and he took advantage of all my loose
balls, I just couldn't do anything to get him off the 'T'."
The Frenchman34, didn't rule out future World Opens though -
"I'm playing well enough to reach the quarters, but maybe the
last eight is a bit of a step up. If I can keep playing like
this there's no reason I can't play more World Opens." |
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[3] Amr
Shabana (Egy) bt [5] Gregory Gaultier
(Fra)
6/11, 13/11,
4/0 rtd (57m)
Shabana goes on as Greg
limps out
Malcolm reports
After almost an hour's play between two great friends off
court and great rivals on it, Gregory Gaultier was forced to
retire early in the third game with a thigh injury as the
defending champion reached the semi-finals ...
 Amr
Shabana began putting the ball into testing areas, Gaultier
having to use his undoubted athleticism, but errors by Shabana
gave Gaultier a 5/1 lead. Gaultier continued to press on
to 7/2, with Shabana looking in need of motivation, not
withstanding his relaxed style. Another error from Shabana took
Gaultier to 9/3, and after a number of long, well-contested
rallies he took the game 11/6, a subdued effort by Shabana which
left the crowd subdued too.
Gaultier led 5/3 in the second, appealed for less crowd movement
during the rallies, then found himself at 6-all as Shabana
raised his game. But Gaultier pressed on to lead 9/6 and was
given a let at 9/8 when a stroke in his favour looked more
correct, both at the time and on the big screen replay.
Gaultier secured a 10/8 lead, but Shabana levelled with a
sublime crosscourt nick to take the game to extra points. 11/10
to Gaultier and another winner from Shabana, and the Egyptian
went on to take it 13/11 and revive the crowd.
Early in the third Gaultier pulled up stretching forward and
took a short injury break. On the resumption he quickly went 4/0
down, went to the floor clutching his thigh and conceded.
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[8] Peter
Barker (Eng) bt [4] Karim Darwish (Egy)
11/7, 6/11, 6/7 rtd (45m)
Darwish drops out
too
The World Open quarter-finals were dealt a second successive
blow as third seed Karim Darwish was forced to retire with a
thigh injury in the middle of his third game with Peter Barker.
The Englishman had maintained an advantage throughout the
14-minute first game, taking the lead with a determined "yes"
and a fist pump, but Darwish, equally determined, fought back to
take the second with a run of five points from 6-all.
They went point for point in the third, but with Darwish leading
7/6 he slipped and took an injury timeout to receive treatment
to the back of his left thigh.
 After
the allotted three minutes had elapsed Karim went back on court,
but before a ball had been struck he offered his hand in defeat.
"I thought I was playing well and had a good chance to cgo
through," said a subdued Barker, "but no-one ever wants to do it
like that.
"It's a very physical game and when there's a bit of sweat on
the court that can happen to anyone. I really feel for Karim and
wish him a speedy recovery.
"I'm in the semi-finals of the world open, and I'll get to play
Shorbagy or James [Willstrop]. If it's James, then I've never
beaten him, what better time to do it ..."
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[6] James
Willstrop (Eng) bt [13] Mohamed El
Shorbagy (Egy)
11/9, 11/8, 11/8
(50m)
Willstrop makes it
three for England
James Willstrop made it three Englishman in the World Open
semi-finals - a first, surely? - with a straight games win over
Mohamed El Shorbagy that was anything but straightforward.
 Last
night Willstrop played a "standard" game against Daryl Selby
while Shorbagy played a "mix it up" match against Aamir Atlas
Khan. Tonight's was somewhere in between the two, with Shorbagy
holding back on his attacking instincts, Willstrop mixing it up
more willingly than in previous matches.
And there was little in it, they
effectively went point for point for three games, Shorbagy
holding a single point advantage in each - 9/8 in the first, 8/7
in the second, 8/7 in the third - but Willstrop finding the
necessary impetus to finish each one off.
The penultimate rally was one of the best of the tournament,
Willstrop moving his opponent from corner to corner before
delicately volley-dropping Shorbagy's boast with the Egyptian
nowhere in sight.
Then,
to finish it all off Willstrop scored with a mishit at the front
of the court, reminiscent of the shot that David Palmer beat
Willstrop with to win the British Open.
"It's not really good to finish like that," said Willstrop, "but
a few have gone against me in my time, so I'm happy to take that
one."
 He
was full of praise for his opponent too: "All credit to him, he
came out firing, stuck in and his intensity never dropped, good
stuff for a 19-year-old. When I was down towards the end of the
games he started getting confidence in his shots and I had to
dig in, the extra seven or eight years experience probably
helped there.
"I'm not thinking about my record against Peter, he's a good man
and I know we'll have a good clean match. We've played each
other a lot and played some tough matches together for England,
so there's a lot of respect between us.
"I think I'm playing well enough to win the tournament, but it's
not about that, you just have to prepare for each match and hope
that you've done everything right. What's happened to Ramy, Greg
and Karim shows that anything can happen at the end of a long
hard season."
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