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TODAY
at the Wimbledon Club Squash2 Open |
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17-Mar, Day FIVE,
Semi-Finals:
[2] Omar Abdel
Meguid (Egy) 3-1 [Q] Joshua Masters (Eng)
11/8, 9/11, 11/8, 11/7 (58m)
[1] James Willstrop
(Eng) 3-0 [3] Declan James (Eng)
11/9, 11/8, 11/7 (40m)
Top seeds through to
Wimbledon Final
Top seeds James
Willstrop and Omar Abdel Meguid will contest the inaugural
Wimbledon Club Squash Squared Open final ...
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Photos by Patrick Lauson
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At 8/8 in the 3rd, I made two silly errors, two silly shots,
and that where he’s shown his experience, at that crucial times.
I’ve got to learn to be patient in those crucial points… It’s
the biggest event I’ve ever been to where I went so far, it’s
all about getting experience now.
When I was 2/0 down in the first round
of the qualifying, I didn’t think I would be standing here
tonight, in front of this great crowd, so there is a lot of
positive I can take away from this event, and mostly that I was
playing better and better each match.
I want to
thank the organisers for putting on such a great event, it’s
been such a great atmosphere from the first round of the
qualifying and that’s nice really.
In some events, for the
qualifying, there are only the players that watch. It’s really
important for us to have that atmosphere, it helps us to play
better, well it helps ME playing better anyway!
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[2] Omar Abdel
Meguid (Egy) 3-1 [Q] Joshua Masters (Eng)
11/8, 9/11, 11/8, 11/7 (58m)
Josh raised his game
I feel this week has been a fast forward in the learning curve
for the young English player. Funny that boy. He is for a bit of
a Mohamed Elshorbagy in the sense who when he was young – first
time I saw him he was 12 – he was half Egyptian, and half
English: je m’explique, he was patient and could rally like a
typical English game, but he would attack and kill that ball
like a true Egyptian.
Same difference for Josh. And that, people, like I did say for
Mohamed, makes him lethal. Also, he seems very keen, with a
capacity to absorb quickly new factors, he adapts to the next
level every time to get to play against a better opponent,
raises his game and learns by the second…
And today, he gave some hard work to the number 2 seed, Omar
Meguid, who I KNEW was going to be surprised by the attacking
skills of his young opponent. Every time I could see a loose or
just a not perfect width leaving the racquet of the Cairo
player, I KNEW Josh was going to get a roller out of it. And it
didn’t fail…
 First
game very close, 1/1, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8. Josh is
playing a very patient, very mature game – raising his level
tremendously from the night before, yet again. Omar is taken
back, a bit nervous, but still takes the game, 11/8 at the end
of great rallies.
The second is controlled by Josh from the middle of the game,
from 3/3 to 7/4, just superb squash and great attacks – thanks
to Omar opening the court nicely for his opponent. A few traffic
problems in the middle of the game, with Steve Richardson
keeping the Egyptian in line, allowing him to focus his energy
in the game, back at 7/7, 8/8. This time, it’s the Englishboy
that let go of the arm, nothing to lose and 11/9 to Josh on his
second game ball.
Omar comes back extremely focused and plays superb squash,
leading 6/3, 8/5. But Josh is on fire, and strings the points –
and the great rallies – to come back to 8/8. And that’s the
moment that separates the Men from the Boys… Experience is on
Omar’s side, while Josh just goes for two silly juniors shots,
that of course end in the tin, 11/8 for the Egyptian, who makes
only 1 error in that one, against 5 for Josh…
Excellent start for Omar in the 4th, Josh is a bit tired, 3/0,
5/1, 6/3, 8/5. A big push from the young man, but tiredness and
all the matches played from the Qualifying feel heavy in the
legs, and the Egyptian closes down nicely 11/7.
“I’ve only been comfortable from 9/7 in the 4th”, he will
confine at the end. Yes, a walk in the park, it certainly
wasn’t, and the standing ovation that the knowledgeable crowd
gave to those two gladiators saluted the great performance they
both produced today.
He caught me by surprise, I think also the court suited him more
than me, it sits up and my game is to hit hard so it was not my
favourite conditions. I was keeping on playing on my backhand
side, which is normally my strongest side, but he kept killing
any loose shot, and every time I was about to play that shot, I
was telling myself, ‘don’t play that shot’ and still I would
play that shot. That’s how stupid I am…
At the end of
the games, I just kept pushing, because I didn’t want to go to
5, the older you get, the less you want to stay on court you
see!
Tonight, it was anybody’s game, I just
played the crucial points better….
Tomorrow, I
don’t mind whoever I play, because I know that it was be a hard
match anyway. And I’m here to play my best and hopefully to win…
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[1] James
Willstrop
(Eng) 3-0
[3] Declan James (Eng)
11/9, 11/8, 11/7 (40m)
Mirror Mirror on the wall
 As I was watching those two magnificent sportsmen battle on
court, I realised how much alike they are. Both Gentlemen, both
real nice and good boys, both on and off court, both tall and
slender, both loving those tight drives and floating crosscourt
lobs that die in that back corner, both attacking beautiful and
both retrieving and counterattacking superbly.
You guessed it. There was very little wrong in that match.
I made the bet with the gentleman that was sitting next to me
that the number of decisions wouldn’t get over 10. I counted 9….
“Super!”… “What a length”… “Great squash”… “What a shot”….
“Great match”… “Good rally”… the spectators were enjoying every
second of the match. Completely different squash from the first
match, where the rallies were fast pasted and short, this one
was all about constructing rallies, cat and mouse, reeling your
opponent in, patiently and skilfully crafting your game.
Beautiful indeed.
Having very little to lose, I feel that Declan truly played a
very balanced game between defence and attack – I know he’s been
working on his short game – it’s working fine Dec, keep going in
that direction…
James leads the first game, a couple of points, 5/3, 6/4, but a
few lovely volleys from Declan put James under pressure, 7/7,
8/8, with James taking it still but only just, 11/9.
Excellent start for Dec in the second, 3/0, but our James just
put the foot on the pedal, 6 points in a row, and the game
balances out, 7/7. Annnd like for the previous match, a little
immaturity/loss of focus for Declan at a crucial time, three
tins in a row, 10/7, and despite a SUPERB nick roll return of
serve from Declan, James takes the second 11/8 to lead 2/0.
I thought after his hard match the day before against George,
the contender would fold in the 3rd... yeah right. Point for
point up to 7/7, the crowd is truly living every point, but
James finds his magic as only few players can find. “James is
world class” said Declan to the MC – who for somebody who had
never seen a squash match before, did a great job indeed.
And you know what? James was, is, and always will be. |
 James is a world class player, he is one of the
best English player ever to play on the tour, the quality of
what he is doing is just amazing.
My quality on the other hand
was good but not good enough at the end of each game, and any
loose shot he would punished me which was to be expected….
It was so
intense, not only physically but also mentally, you can’t afford
to put a foot wrong against him, and I went for a few shots I
shouldn’t have played. But I just tried and kept in as long as I
could.
It’s a learning curve, now, isn’t it. I just need to keep
playing those guys as often as I can to learn and keep my
concentration longer.
This tournament has been a great experience, great crowd, and I would
like to say a big thank you to Stacey and his team for what
they’ve accomplished, and hopefully, come back next year.
I know a
lot about Declan, he is part of the coming up players group we
train with for the England Squad, you’ve seen a few of them this
week, and they are all really tough to play.
I hadn’t
played in that club atmosphere for a long time, and I must say
it was quite an experience which I have enjoyed thoroughly.
Not to take anything away from this event, we have the
British Open just round the corner, the most important
tournament of the year after the World Open, so it’s good to get
a bit of match sharpness, I’m a bit light on match play
generally, so it’s good I was able to play an event such as this
one.
Tomorrow, I don’t know about being a “classic”,
classic is very hard to achieve, but I know that Omar and myself
will try our best to play a good match, he is a very talented
player, very hard to beat. And I will try and take that
inaugural title…
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