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CASE Swedish Open - Quarter-Finals:
info & H2H
[2]
Grégory Gaultier (Fra) 3-0 [5] Peter Barker (Eng)
11/5, 11/3, 11/4 (30m)
[3] Nick Matthew (Eng) 3-0 [7] Daryl Selby (Eng)
11/3, 11/3, 11/6 (43m)
[6] Amr Shabana (Egy) 3-0 [4] Borja Golan (Esp)
11/8, 11/8, 12/10 (48m)
[1] Ramy Ashour (Egy) 3-0 [8] Omar Mosaad (Egy)
7/11, 11/5, 11/3, 11/5 (45m)
Quarters
quickies...
 First on today were
Grégory Gaultier facing Peter Barker
in their 15th PSA battle. The first game was brutal from
Brutal City, and Greg really put his opponent under enormous
pressure, finding some outrageous nicks at the back.
Hitting was relentless, and after a pretty intense first
game, Pete shown more and more evident signs of physical
distress.
Since his return in the ToC, he has had a lot of
squash, and maybe today was just the match too far...
"I'm satisfied with my performance," said Gaultier.
"Maybe it helped that he had a tough match yesterday."
 A
lot of work was put in by Nick Matthew and Daryl
Selby, even if the score doesn't show (10m and 13m for the
first two games). The third was closer, 5/5, 6/6.
It started to be a bit scrappy in the end, with Daryl
probably getting extremely frustrated with himself, not
being able to get points at the end of long rallies.
A few discussions with the ref (Nick had to remind him that
Daryl didn't have a video review anymore, Daryl liked that,
bless him).
But at the end of the day, typically one of those matches
where you go "too good".
"I looked at Greg's match before, so I really didn't want
a long game myself," admitted Matthew. "I'm looking forward
to tomorrow when the World's two top ranked players meet in
the semi-finals!"
 Amr Shabana and Borja Golan had met five times
previously, with the Egyptian winning on four of those
occasions. This was the first time that the Spaniard had
been the higher seed though, and he started well, taking a
5/1 lead.
Shabana soon pegged that back though as he took the lead
11/8, and always had the lead on the scoreboard as he took
the second by the same score.
Another good start for Golan in the third, 4/1, but again
Shabana pegged him back to take a 9/6 lead. A few
discussions with the ref from the Spanish who managed to force extra points, but on his second match ball
Shabana's drop was too tight and he was through to the
semis.
"I'm still trying to find the right feeling after having
been injured for a long time," said Shabana. "I don't really
like the idea of meeting another Egyptian tomorrow - Ramy is
higher ranked but Omar is a tough opponent so we'll see."
 Yesterday,
Ramy Ashour looked troubled and tense against German
star Simon Rosner. He managed to get a win, but at no point
did he look relaxed. Today, it was a complete different story.
Having tested his leg yesterday, and feeling good today,
Ramy knew he would be able to push against Omar Mosaad,
a player against he has an excellent record (12/0), but
that he doesn't like playing - his hard/flat/fast hitting
really puts him under pressure.
And we saw a "normal" Ramy on court. Making his normal ratio
of unforced errors in the first game (about 6), but just
taking his marks really. And for the rest of the game, he
just astonished us with deception, pick ups and fluidity.
Mosaad did his best, but was squeezed into making so many
mistakes.
 In 45m, Ramy was in the semis against Shabana..
If yesterday, the Jury was still out, today, we can say it. The Artist is back.
"Same as yesterday," said Ashour, "lost the first game, won
the rest, but it's hard to decide when you're playing such
high quality players."
"Before top 10 was good, but the next 20 was not quite
there, but now, anyone in top 30 can beat anyone if you're
not on your game."
"I try to smile when I play, because this game is a gift,
sometimes you have to force yourself to enjoy the game."
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