Alan picked up where
he left off…
Two factors tonight. 1. Alan found the perfect balance
between attacking and deep squash, playing 2 unforced errors
the whole match (1 in second game, 1 in the 3rd) and 2. Tom
missed that little match fitness – not in the legs, but in
the head – that allows you to keep focusing the whole
match….
Alan picked off where he left off against Wan, attacking
from the word go, never letting the Englishman settle, took
him by the throat, forcing 3 errors out of him, but more
important, never gave him a sniff in the opener.
Tom comes back in the second hitting very impressed length
and width, putting a lot of weight in the ball, good and
structured squash, 3/0, 4/1, 5/2, only to see Alan attacking
beautifully and retrieving some superb shots that shouldn’t
have come back. 5/5, 6/6, 7/7. Some extremely long rallies
at that point, 4 tins in 5 points for Tom, 10/7 game ball.
Finding some exquisite squash, the Englishman comes back,
but cannot force a tie-break and it’s a 11/9 finish for the
Scot.
Third is again extremely close, 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, a big
push from Tom that throws everything at Alan but the kitchen
sink, but Alan is everywhere, balanced, retrieving
incredibly, and putting too much pressure at the front for
the English, and it’s 8/4, 10/5. A sublime nick return of
serve, but it’s delaying the obvious, and it’s 11/6 in 36m.
Not sure Alan ever won a match that quickly in his whole
career!!!!
I am delighted. I played
well, I had to play my best, and I think I was sharp
tonight. I’m chuffed really, I managed to impose my game,
although the second game was nip and tuck. I had a good run,
he came back at me, but I was lucky to get that straight
drive on the forehand that died in the nick at the end.
We are all of similar rank, anyone in the main draw can win
the tournament, the depth on the Tour is such…
I didn’t make too many unforced errors, that’s fine as long
as you don’t just go up and down the wall and keep a
positive game, and take the initiative.
A big thank you to Stacey and everybody at TWC, they put on
a great event, they managed to pack up the place, creating a
great atmosphere – which is what we all want – and it was
great tonight, even if the support was not exactly for me as
I am from Scotland, but I enjoyed still all the same!. Great
event.
I’m delighted with the way I moved tonight.
I did a few movement that lately would have caused me a lot
of troubles, and I was really moving well, pain free, which
is amazing for me.
Now, I was tired, I cannot think of any other way of putting
it really! Alan played so well, he didn’t give me an inkling
of a chance, and he got some ridiculous retrieving! I
thought I was playing not too badly at some point, but I
just couldn’t quite put him under enough pressure.
He played extremely well, and I didn’t play as well. I tried
everything though, I tried hitting harder, making the
rallies longer, playing deep, attacking more, he just
dominated me from the start to the end of the match.
