TODAY in Cairo ... Sat 19th, Day THREE
Framboise reports from Cairo
Reda beats Bozza
as Brits survive ...
Ali Anwar Reda produced one of the best results of his
career as he downed 13th seed Stewart Boswell to join five of
his Egyptian compatriots in the second round of the richest
event of the year so far.
Reda's win in the first set of matches in a busy day at the Sky
Petrosport club set the scene for more Egyptian success as Karim
Darwish, Ramy Ashour, Amr Shabana, Wael El
Hindi and Mohamed El Shorbagy all came through to the
last sixteen, as expected.
If Reda's was the only upset result of the day, Hisham Ashour
came close to providing another for Egypt, but Ramy's elder
brother ultimately fell just short, losing 11/8 in the fifth to
England's Peter Barker, the sixth seed.
Barker's next opponent James Willstrop also needed five
games to reach the next round, recovering from two games down to
defy Pakistan's Farhan Mehboob.
Three further Englishmen won to take their representation to
five, British Open champion Nick Matthew easing past
Karim AGA Samy, 'birthday boy' Alister Walker beating
compatriot Tom Richards, and Adrian Grant ending the run
of Kiwi qualifier Campbell Grayson.
[Q]
Ali Anwar Reda(Egy) bt [13] Stewart Boswell
(Aus)
11/8, 2/11, 11/9, 11/9 (69m)
REDA IMPRESSIVE
That boy loves playing in Sky, that’s for sure, as already last
year, he pushed Bozza out of the tournament in the first round
too, 3/2. This year, he did ever better, 3/1.
If Reda was a bit argumentative during his qualifying matches,
today, he was spotless, and his family can be proud of him. He
just outplayed the Australian on the day. He was patient,
consistent, set a good length in (apart from the second where he
just didn’t want to do the work and got punished), mixed it up
well, was aggressive just enough, and tight at will.
Bozza on the other hand, clipped too many times nice attacks,
still found some great lobs, but just couldn’t get the boy out
of his comfort zone…
"I certainly can
play better, but he played a good match, the same he did last
year. He did some good retrieving, and today, my game was not
good enough to force him under pressure.
"I hope that it will all come back together with a few more
matches getting used to be playing at that pace again…"
"Thank God for
this win…
"I feel that I deserve my win ever more this year, because I’ve
been working very hard, I’ve improved my fitness, I’m moving
well, and I changed my training.
"I’m happy I stuck to my game plan, staying away from his
forehand, and preventing him from volleying, he is so good at
that. I was lucky, I kept my focus in the 3rd and 4th.
"I would like to thank Ahmed Matany, Haithem Effat, Amir Wagih,
my fitness coach O Talha, and of course my family, that’s the
most important."
[8] Adrian
Grant (Eng)
bt
[Q] Campbell Grayson (Nzl)
11/7, 11/5, 3/11, 11/4 (77m)
ADRIAN PACES IT UP… Paul Selby reports
Although the front wall is quite bouncy, the court is dead, and
I think that Adrian was struggling in the first game to find the
pace right, and although he won it, he was less in control than
he was in the second, game that he won much more positively, by
putting more pressure on Campbell, speeding up the pace.
In the third, he lost his way a bit I feel, and Campbell is a
strong boy, who started to take the ball earlier and didn’t let
the ball go to the back of the court. So in the fourth, Adrian
speed up the pace again, forcing I think something like six tins
from Campbell, who couldn’t keep the rallies up anymore.
MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT???
It’s so hard for the Egyptians/Pakistanis who are fasting here,
you know. Take Shabana for example, when he played the US Open,
he was playing around 7, 8pm, which was around 2, 3am Egyptian
time. British Open, same, he always played late, so it was ok
for his body – may I remind you that they sleep during the day
and live at night.
So suddenly, he’s got to play at 12pm, first match on. Biiiiiig
shock to the system really, and 9 tins in the first game, is the
logical outcome.
But that doesn’t take anything away from my compatriot, Dog With
a Squash Ball Renan, who spilled his guts on there today. He
didn’t let one point go pass him, he fought for every shot, for
every point.
That put Shabana under a lot of pressure, not to mention that if
you’ve got to play against the Prince of Egypt, might as well do
it in the first round, on a traditional court, in Egypt!!!!
Hence a few hiccups – tin, tin tin – but no throwing away of any
point either. Just bad luck and/or pressure from the Frenchman.
A mighty pleasant match, I personally enjoyed it. Well, what I
succeeded to see anyway.
"Renan is playing
well, age has nothing to do with it, and he took a good start.
It’s good to have a hard match in the first round, that put you
right into the tournament. And if it was really perfect squash,
a lot of efforts were put into it!!!"
"I was 1/1, 9/8 up… I think I did a big match here, and one
thing is sure, I gave it all I had, I have no regrets. Yes,
maybe one, to get again one of the only 2 top 10 players in the
main draw from the qualifiers…
"Tactically, physically, I was pretty lucid, well in the match,
and it came down to not much really, but he takes the ball so
early, and in the fourth, I started to be less precise both
width and length, opened up the court for him, and gave him the
way to the T…"
"I
was hitting it well, we were playing at a very high pace, but I
got carried away, and started playing too short too soon from
the second on, and Ali is 12 in the world, he’s bound to put me
under pressure if I give him time at the front…
"I was trying to do the right thing, I’m happy with the way I
played, but he was just too good.
"I was up 8/3 in the first, I guess I must have relaxed a bit, I
shouldn’t have lost that one…
"Because Tom always attacks, I couldn’t never relax, always had
to be on the alert… He plays at a ridiculous pace, he is good…"
In the first two games, Pilley got in front of him, Beng Hee started to get a bit frustrated, went and started to play short,
and Cameron forced errors on him.
Then in the third, Beng Hee took it short, and Cameron made a
lot of counter shots and a few unforced errors, handing the
control of the match to BH.
In the fourth, Pilley stopped those counterattacks, went for
deeper shots, opened up opportunities for himself and took
control…
"The
main difference between the first two games and the third is it
looked like he made up his mind to play 85% of his shots shorts,
and unfortunately – for me – they all went in!
"In the fourth, I knew he would be trying to keep on doing the
same, so I stopped counter attacking, and started defending, or
sending the ball deep, or high in the air, not to mention I was
more patient…"
This was the match of the
tournament I’m told, yeah, course I didn’t see it, only from 5/6
in the fifth. What I saw was two great warriors playing superb
squash in front of such a knowledgeable crowd.
To show you how much knowledgeable they are, at 8/8, again a
long rally, and Hisham who opens the court completely, but makes
the wrong tactical choice. Half of the crowd went hooooo, and
raised their arms in the air… Only in Egypt….
A credit to squash that match I’m told. I quite believe it…
"I really believed
I was going to make that one, although I didn’t much because I
was in the states doing coaching, I had the feeling I did the
right things, the right sessions with the boys, I was playing
well, for the first time in a few years, I was “playing the
game”.
"Peter is one of the toughest players you can find on the
circuit at the moment, and at times, I thought I had him, but at
9/9 in the 5th, I just put the ball in the tin….
"I really thought I was going to win this one, I could see
myself playing Wael, I was feeling good, comfortable and
confident… Well, just need to train and work a bit more…"
"He is such a dangerous player, he didn’t let me settle once, he
was hitting great shots, and to be honest, I don’t have a good
record against Hisham anyway… I could never relaxed, and it
showed in my movement and in my hitting.
"I didn’t play my best, all credit to him, I’m happy to get
through, but honestly, I just couldn’t do anything right today,
couldn’t find my length, and against somebody like Hisham, in
front of his home crowd, he was bound to attack…
" wasn’t great today, but still won, I played well last week,
you can’t play well all the time I guess, those matches, you’re
happy you’ve won them…"
"I played really
well in the 1st, 3rd and 4th, put a lot of pressure at the back
of the court, but in the second, I lost my precision and he
started to be able to play short, especially as the court is
dead at the front.
"After that, I got back to put more pressure at the back, but
still, I was always edgy, I’m never comfortable on that first
round match…
"Now, playing Shabana, in front of his home crowd, I can’t ask
for a better challenge…"
"I didn’t play badly, I got more opportunities to attack in the
second, but for the rest of the match, he was too precise and
never let me settled.
"I didn’t give him the match away or anything, but I’m sad I
lost, he was better on the day. Now, I’ve got to find a way to
be able to attack when I’m under a lot of pressure...."
First half belongs to Farhan, he was fast, he was attacking,
making James’ life very difficult, and the Englishman looked at
odds what to do, Farhan looking like he was in control
Then the other half belongs to James, who did the same to
Farhan! The third could have gone either way,9/9, and James
managed to win it, then James looked the stronger of the two.
The fifth was like extra time really, and it could have gone
either way, but I think James’ great experience got him through,
he’ll be happy with that win, but Farhan made his life very
difficult…
"I thought I was
going to be flying home tonight, but no…
"I was feeling flat today, a bit lethargic, and to be honest, I
thought I was on my way home at some point, I really didn’t see
how I was going to get out of it…
"So I just tried to stick to the simple things I would do during
training, not to feel sorry for myself. It happens to all the
players, you get those days where you’ve just got to do the best
you can, where you don’t want to go out, so it was a great
effort in the end…
"I was dead and buried, so it’s good to get out of it and win…"
[15] Mohamed El
Shorbagy (Egy) bt Olli Tuominen (Fin)
11/3, 11/ 8, 15/13 (41m)
FASTING AND FURIOUS
This is good, ain’t it…. Ok, I’ll make it obvious for you,
Mohamed was fasting, and his pace was furious, from start to
finish. And I mean, furious as in I’m going to take the ball as
early as possible, hit it as hard as I can, pierce the wall with
it, and do it again on my next shot!!!!
What I don’t understand is this. Olli knew that Shorbagy was
fasting, he could see that his opponent wanted to make it as
short and as fast as possible, why on earth didn’t he slow it
down and make it last?? Especially as when he did run it up and
down the wall, Shorbagy would eventually lose patience and clip
it.
“I don’t know, Fram, I think it’s just my game”… Olli said after
the match.
Well, that suited the Egyptian fine. I’m not sure that Mohamed
would have lasted a fourth game, but he gets the first match
under his belt, and walks on to play Greg, unless Tarek
surprises us again...
"I
had in my mind that I had to win in three, and you could see
when my energy level was going down, I was making unforced
errors…
"I was trying to finish quickly, so tactically, it was not the
best of games, and I expected Olli to make it last and slow down
the pace, but he didn’t, and it suited my game perfectly..
"I was so disappointed to lose at the British Open, I had put in
my mind that I couldn’t win while fasting, whereas this time, I
concentrated on what I had to do to win, nothing else.
"Now finally, I can eat in 15m, and drink, and tomorrow as
well…"
No offence to Omar, but in my eyes, the result was never in
doubt. World number 1 Karim Darwish showed his class today,
controlling 95% of the rallies, and distributing length and drop
shots like Father Christmas.
Omar didn’t really do anything wrong, but he didn’t seem to know
where to send his shots, and tactically was not making the best
choices, sending the ball far too close to Karim for his own
good.
We still had a few nice rallies, but Karim was never under
threat. Good to see him move that well after his ordeal in
Manchester against James…
NOT TONIGHT…
If last year Tarek created an immense upset by taking number two
seed Greg Gaultier out of the tournament, none of that this
year. Although Greg didn’t have such an easy time out there…
The pace was given in the first five rallies, where Tarek
attacked at will, a burst of energy that he would pay for the
rest of the game, to find his second wind in the second,
impressive at the front as ever, exploding with positivity and
attacking skills.
But there again, big drop of energy, and Greg walks away with
the game. Giving it everything he has, the Egyptian threatens
the French all the fourth game, and Greg feels it.
He gives it a big push, fighting for each shot, throwing himself
on the ball as if he was playing a final of the Worlds, well
decided to win that game. You never know what would happen if
Tarek would equalise at 2/2…
Tarek finds some lovely attacks, pushes the French to the limit,
but Greg doesn’t let go and imposes himself finally, 11/8 in the
fourth. Ouffff, goes his coach, obviously relieved by the
victory. Neither Greg nor him ever took that match lightly.
"I’m tired, I’m
exhausted with the fasting and everything.
"I speeded up the pace from the start, but then, I would hit the
wall, I felt like I crashed…
"I played well, I did my best, but Greg was really focused
today, he didn’t want to lose one point, all credit to him to
put me under such pressure…"
"He plays well, the court is not that easy to play on, it
bounces a lot, I wouldn’t have had as many problems on the glass
court I think, but here, I really had to work hard.
"I only played well in the third, the rest of the time, I was
just defending.
"Oh well, today, I just did what I could with what I had on the
day, tomorrow, I’ll be much better, I know it, I had to move it
off today, and that’s what I did…"
This match was never going to be a long one, was it… Kempy is
famous for his attacking at will game, and what to say about
Ramy, the words up-and-down-the-wall are not recognised by his
spellchecker.
Trouble is, at that attacking like a lunatic game, Ramy is
slightly
better, sorry Jonathan. And if he surprised the Egyptian in the
first – there again, we all know about Ramy’s slow starts – he
was never able to really put him under real pressure for the
rest of the match…
"I
was hitting it well, we were playing at a very high pace, but I
got carried away, and started playing too short too soon from
the second on, and Ali is 12 in the world, he’s bound to put me
under pressure if I give him time at the front…
"The
main difference between the first two games and the third is it
looked like he made up his mind to play 85% of his shots shorts,
and unfortunately – for me – they all went in!
"I thought I was
going to be flying home tonight, but no…
"I
had in my mind that I had to win in three, and you could see
when my energy level was going down, I was making unforced
errors…
