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06-Feb, Quarter-Finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 3-0 [Q] Tom Richards
(Eng)
11/7, 11/7, 11/4 (41m)
[8] Steve Coppinger
(Rsa) 3-1
[3] James Willstrop (Eng)
11/7, 11/9, 11/13, 11/7 (63m)
[4] Simon Rösner (Ger) 3-0 [5] Marwan Elshorbagy (Egy)
11/6, 11/6, 11/4 (39m)
[2] Nick Matthew (Eng) 3-0 [7] Cameron Pilley
(Aus)
12/10, 11/8, 12/10 (60m)
Coppinger ends Willstrop comeback
While three of tonoght's quarter-finals ended with wins for
the top seeds, Souh Africa's Steve Coppinger produced
an upset result as he beat James Willstrop, ending the
tournament third seeded Englishman's first tournament on his
return from injury.
First through to the semi-finals was top seed Gregory
Gaultier, the Frenchman always having the edge over
English qualifier Tom Richards, who competed well but never
managed to get ahead on the scoreboard.
 Then
it was Willstrop against Coppinger, a match which according
to the odd provided by sponsoring bookmakers Unibet, was too
close to call, and so it proved.
Willstrop didn't appear to be moving too well in the early
stages as Coppinger, coming from 3-7 down in the second,
took a two game lead. Willstrop really pushed to take the
third, needing four game balls before taking the game, but
coulkdn't repeat the effort in the fourth as Coppinger
capitalised oin a few English errors to reach the semis.
"James had a quite slow start today," said Coppinger,
"but found his rhythm after a while and then we all know
that he is an outstanding player. He has just come back from
an injury and will certainly be back even stronger next
tournament.
Coppinger meets Gaultier in tomorrow's semifinals and was
excited about that meeting: "We have’nt played each other so
much but it is obviously a match that I really look forward
to."
 Simon
Rosner dominated his match against Marwan Elshorbagy,
the big German just too strong with the young Egtyptian not
able to put his opponent under serious pressure often
enough.
"I managed to win today and it was great to get revenge
after losing against Marwan in Mexico in our last match,"
said Rosner. "My goal now is to continue to climb in the
world rankings by playing my best squash and by being
injury-free."
Defgending champion Nick Matthew was heavily odd-on
with Unibet to beat Cameron Pilley, which he duly did but
the hard-hitting Aussie will feel aggrieved not to have
taken any of three closely contested games.
"All credit to Cameron, he really contributed to a good
match today," said Matthew. "He puts incredible speed on the
ball which makes it very hard for me . At the end of the
game he plays in desperation and he is very hard to shake
off in the long rallies."
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