CASE Swedish Open - Semi-Finals:
info & H2H
[3] Nick Matthew
(Eng) 3-0 [2] Grégory Gaultier (Fra)
12/10, 11/8, 11/1 (61m)
[1] Ramy Ashour (Egy) 3-2
[6] Amr Shabana (Egy)
9/11, 11/2, 11/8, 6/11, 11/7 (73m)
Matthew and Ashour to contest final
First up was
THE match we all wanted to see, between the two joint world
number ones.
 Commentators / specialists
were speculating about the length of the match, over 90m was
the general consensus.
It wasn't to be.
The first game was GIGANTIC. Thirty minutes of immaculate,
brutal, stunning, breathtaking, gruelling squash between two immense champions.
Nick Matthew was up for most of it, Greg Gaultier
caught back and managed
to get himself a game ball at 10/9, but it's the Englishman
who drew first blood, 12/10, somehow breaking Greg's heart
and/or
his legs.
It took a few rallies for Greg to mentally recover in the
second, found himself down 3/7, found some mental strength
back, came back to 6/8, then 8/9. But an unforced error gave
Nick a game ball - match ball really as it turned out -
and Nick seized it gladly, 11/8.
The third, Nick just walked all the way through, having
broken the Frenchman's spirit, as very very VERY few people
can do.
Superb display from the triple world Champion. A masterclass really.
 "Played really well today against Greg.
The first two could have gone either way.
"I think the rally we had, if that was at the 7-8 in the
first game, might have been the hardest run I ever had in my
life!
"My lungs felt like they were going to explode, I looked at
him and he looked like he felt the same and that made me
feel a bit better."
"I had the momentum in third, but it was always a big mental & physical
battle."
As for the Battle of the
Egyptians, we thought it was going to be a short affair, and
73m it was! Proving once again we don't know much about
squash do we...
Amr Shabana was the one who dominated the first
game, 5/3, 6/4, 9/6. Ramy Ashour, cutting down on the
"getting used to the sound of the tin" errors, managed to
find some pretty decent winners, equalising 9/9. But two video reviews on the same point on Shabana's game ball
gave the game to Shabana in 17m, 11/9. We had a match on...
 Excellent
response from Ramy in the second, shooting to 5/1, 10/2 in
minutes, game 11/2 in 6m, 1/1, ball in the centre.
Third is about the same caliber for Ramy, 4/1, 6/3, but a
little patch of thinking about something else, while Shabana
is playing some out of this world squash, 6/6. Some
stunning rallies, 8/8. Ramy being Ramy, finds three nice winners,
and Shabana doesn't have answers at that point, 11/8 in 15m.
Answers, my Lord, Shabana will find them in the fourth! From a
balanced start, 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, Shabana flies to 8/3. A few
tins allow Ramy to get back in, but too little too late,
11/6 Shabs.
 But in the
fifth Ramy is just dominant, 6/1, 6/2, 6/3. A
little discussion with the ref, Ramy (and the video) says
his ball was good, Shabana not too happy about it, we are
playing a let, and the ref kindly gives Ramy a point,
announcing loudly 7/3. Nobody says anything, neither players
nor the other officials. Oh well.
Shabana will claw back though, some lovely squash, keeping
the suspense on, 7/9. A ball that he can't reach, he throws
his racquet to the wall in frustration, match ball, 10/7.
And a tin to make Ramy's life easy, 11/7, 73m, 3/2 Ramy.
 "It's
a great honour to play Shabana - he is a quadruple world
champion, the man is 54 years old, he is playing as good as like
he was 11 years old. But it’s amazing everything he does; he is
flexible, fast and explosive, he has good skills and he is
smart.
"Atmosphere on court was very fair. thought I played well in
patches.
"It´s good to be in Sweden and play in front of this amazing
crowd."
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