|
|
|
 |
TODAY at the ToC -
Sun 25th
Day FOUR, Round Two, the Last 16
Framboise
reports from New York, Steve in Whitley Bay ... |
|
[3]
Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [16] Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) 11/9, 3/11, 12/10,
11/13, 11/9 (83m)
[10] Nick Matthew (Eng) bt [1] Amr Shabana (Egy)
11/3, 5/1 rtd (15m)
[7] Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt [9] Peter Barker (Eng)
2/11, 7/11, 11/7, 11/2, 11/8 (82m)
[5] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [Q] Yasser El Halaby (Egy)
11/7, 11/9, 11/7 (29m)
[4] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt Alister Walker (Eng)
11/6, 11/4, 11/7 (53m)
[13] Azlan Iskandar (Mas) bt
[8] Wael El Hindi (Egy)
6/11, 10/12, 11/8, 11/7, 11/4 (76m)
[2] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt [11] Adrian Grant (Eng)
11/8, 11/7, 11/7 (42m)
[6] David Palmer (Aus) bt [12] Ong Beng Hee (Mas)
11/4, 11/8, 11/1 (32m)
Ramy survives as Shabana and El Hindi
crash out
 Of
five Egyptians left in the field, four started their second round
matches as favourites, but of those only world number one Karim
Darwish entered the quarter-finals in the expected manner, and
two didn't make it at all. Top seed Amr Shabana succumbed to a
hamstring injury, eighth seed Wael El Hindi saw a two-game lead over
Azlan Iskandar disappear and world champion Ramy Ashour
survived by the skin of his teeth against an inspired LJ Anjema.
Five Englishmen also featured in the second round, and the one
seeded to progress, third seed James Willstrop, duly did so,
despatching Yasser El Halaby, the sole qualifier to reach this
stage. He is joined in the quarter-finals by Nick Matthew,
who benefited from a second successive injured opponent, and their
meeting on Monday ensures an English semi-finalist.
The quarter-finals will also feature two Frenchmen, who again
advanced in contrasting styles. Gregory Gaultier was having
no repeat of his loss to Alister Walker last year as he eased
through in three, but Thierry Lincou had to stage another of
his renowned comebacks to see off Peter Barker.
Completing the quarter-final lineup is Australia's David Palmer
who will face Gaultier on Tuesday. Perhaps more in need of a rest
day are Ashour and Lincou, but they meet on Monday while Tuesday's
lineup is completed with Darwish v Iskandar.
|
|
 |
SHAABZ OUT…
 Again,
sorry to have hidden things from you, but we were a few to be aware
that the Prince of Egypt was badly hampered with a patella tendon injury, and knew he probable
wouldn't be able to
defend his chances for long in this tournament.
 They
always hope it’s going to be better, that they are going to manage
somehow, but they can fool sometimes one opponent, but rarely two…
Well, only thing we can say here is that Nick is getting a bit of
luck at last. After Bozza who dropped out, it’s now our Shabana.
That seems to remind me of a tournament back in England a few years
back, where he got James in the quarters who just couldn’t play,
opening him a divine way to the final.
It was of course the British
Open…
I can only hope for him that he’ll have the same path here… |
En Bref
"Is it a good thing or a bad thing to get to the quarters without
playing a single match? Well, I don’t know really, I will only find
out when I’m in my next match. I guess I would have like a bit more
time on court, but I’ve been working hard, and anyway, the minute
you step on court with Shabana, you’ve got to be 100%, because he is
always so dangerous, even injured.
"But one thing is sure, I won’t be able to use the old excuse, I’m
tired. Out of matches, maybe, but tired, nope…
 |
|
 DARYL
VERY ILL
Daryl Selby – in London
Daryl has been taken to Hospital in New York, and has been put on a
drip and had morphine administered. We think he has similar to what
James had in Cairo at the worlds in 2006.
Alex Gough has been over to see him, I got hold of him in his room
at 5am NY time this morning and he very kindly went straight over.
He’s been down to the hospital and says Daryl is on a IV drip and
has had morphine to kill the pains he was getting from the stomach
cramps.
They are waiting to do a CAT scan on his stomach. Stafford is going
down or has already gone. Fingers crossed he will be alright in a
couple of days. |
|
 |
|
[3]
Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [16] Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) 11/9, 3/11, 12/10,
11/13, 11/9 (83m)
RAMY SPACEY, LJ GUTSY ...
I’ve always believed that the Dutchman had all the qualities to make
it to the top ten. But today, LJ actually played top three. As
simple as that.
He has improved his game in all departments, he is more accurate at
the back, he attacks 20 times more, finds stunning drop shots from
all positions in the court, and still volleys as well as ever.
Ramy on the other hand, was all over the place, bless him. Like he
says, his head was all over the court, and the more LJ was
aggressive and accurate, the more the Egyptian was finding it hard
to get in the match, to settle down, and in my view, it’s only at
4/0 in the third, when he left a simple boast pass him, that I could
see in his eyes that he had decided that enough was enough.
From that moment on, his shoes – which are not the same as he
normally wears, a new model – still bothered him, but he couldn’t
feel them anymore, his racquet that he kept misshitting with
suddenly attracted the ball to its centre every time, the refs
sometimes surprising decisions didn’t matter.
And we saw a classic, between two extraordinary gentlemen, who
obviously have much respect for each other, with an LJ playing
probably the best squash of his life, and a Ramy pushing himself to
the limit.
Ramy had three match balls that LJ saved by playing some of the most
gutsy squash I ever saw. He went for it, and it went in. What
panache, what guts… Filled with the confidence that comes with
forcing a decider against a World Champion, LJ kept his head, his
game, and pushed Ramy to 9/9. It was anybody's match.
A low drive that stuck to the wall, fourth match ball for Ramy. Like
the previous game, LJ went for it. And played his only sixth tin of
the match (against 22 for Ramy).
Ramy was over the moon to have beaten himself and his demons. And LJ
was numb. I hope that he’ll realise that this is the level of play
he can now aspire to, and make it his daily routine…
 "I
was expecting a great performance from LJ, and I wasn’t
disappointed. I, on the other hand, was not playing at my best, and
it was a mental battle more than anything else.
"The fact that my dad was here was not putting any pressure on me,
it was like a boost every time it came in my mind…
"At the moment, like I told you yesterday, it’s like I’ve lost my
technique, and I don’t wish that feeling on anybody. I think
it’s because people have been telling me to change my grip. So I
started to think, to try and find out how I play.
"But I really want to thank my fitness coach, Mems, because I’m
really happy with my fitness now…
"But the moment I started thinking, it was like my technique just
went, I just do not know how I did it anymore, and I’ve been looking
at my videos to try and find out how I used to play to try to find
my game again… I’m lost on court…
"I’m so happy that I won today, it’s a great mental victory for me
against a great opponent. I don’t know how I did it, but I did it…"
 |
"I think I played my best squash today, I really raised my game so
much. But coming so close to a victory… It’s such a weird feeling…
At the same time, I’m satisfied with the way I played, and so
disappointed I lost.
"And now, after a match like that, you can’t speak, you can’t walk.
"How I would have liked to beat him today… "
"Before this match, I
had decided that I had enough of squash, that I wanted to stop
playing. But after what I’ve just seen, I want to play again. It’s
all what squash is about in one single match…"
"I just wanted to congratulate you, you are a great player, and a
true champion…"
Ramy’s Dad
(to LJ, after the match)
|
|
 |
|
"I’m not exactly sure why, well actually, yes, I know why I didn’t
start well at all. I had a memory of the match we did in the European
Teams in Amsterdam, the court was awfully hot, we played over
90m, I lost 10/8 in the 4th, finished into hypoglycemia.
So I guess unconsciously, I just didn't want to go through the same
hurt today, and refused the combat to start with, I refused to get into rallies, and as
he started so strongly, so perfectly, I just never got a chance to
get into the match.
But then, Renan
[Lavigne] told me “come on, you can’t lose like that, you can’t lose
3/0!!!!]. And it's only then I realised that I was getting
hammered…
"I really had to push myself, I was like sleeping on there, first
mentally, to get into the rhythm, to get into the match, and that
started by trying to hit the ball properly, to follow the ball
through, to attack and to be more positive.
I started to get my
length back, but would you believe the first time I actually relaxed
on my drop shots and redrops, where I let the arm go, was at 7/2
down in the 5th…"
"I just realised that I’m still fit and in good shape, because
beating Peter Barker in five, that means a heck of a lot. It shows
that I still have that fire to pushes you to fight, and that I have some left in the lungs, and in the heart…"
 |
[7] Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt [9] Peter Barker (Eng)
2/11, 7/11, 11/7, 11/2, 11/8 (82m)
THIERRY COMES BACK,
YET AGAIN…
What can I say…
That Peter had the Frenchman off on the next plane to Paris – 7 tins
in the 7 minute first game for Thierry, and it didn’t get much
better in the second, I had the impression they were playing slow
motion after the furious pace of Ramy/LJ.
… That Peter was leading 2/0 and 3/1, when he suddenly stopped to
question a refs' decision. He opened the door of his concentration
for a split second, and Thierry rushed into it.
 From
that moment on, what happened in his brain? I don’t know.
He started mis-hitting the ball, he asked for the ball to be changed
in the middle of the fourth, because he thought that it could be a
flyer, discussed a few decisions, not much but… You could just see
that he was not there anymore.
But it got even more painful for Peter, as he found himself in the
5th, he
found the game he played for the first two games, and zoomed to 7/2
in the fifth in no time. Surely, that was it.
 But Thierry, once again, clawed back, finding some exquisite shots,
that Peter relentlessly saved, and that the Frenchman relentlessly
placed again, until he won the rally.
At 8/8, everything was still possible, but again the former number
one found the right momentum, and only one match ball sufficed.
As Lincou reached the side court and his camp, we could hear a
guttural and loud “YES”. He had made one of his famous comebacks one more time… |
|
 |
|
[4] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt Alister Walker (Eng)
11/6, 11/4, 11/7 (53m)
CLINICAL GAULTIER
One thing is sure, Ali Walker never really relaxed today, expected
probably too much of himself, as he had in the back of his mind that
he did it once, and why not do it again, although the last time they
met in Macao ended on the same score.
Greg, who’s been working hard on his behaviour and mental
preparation these past months, had a small relapse, and slightly
lost concentration during the match, started to chat a bit with the
ref(s).
Nothing bad, but as Ali joined the fun, it was not a match as
entertaining as it could have been in my books. But no harm done
really, and the result perfectly logical, as, if Ali retrieved an
awful lot, and ran his heart off, he was today, as he stated
himself, just a bit less incisive than his opponent…
 "I
didn’t produce my best squash, I just tried and concentrate on my
basic game, and sometimes, it’s enough.
"I’ve been training very hard, very well, and I’m concentrating on
each tournament, not once in particular, of course, winning this one
would be nice, I never won it as well…
"Now, I’m going to relax, and make myself ready for the quarters…."
 |
"He is a much better squash player than I am…
... at the moment."
 |
|
 |
 |
[13] Azlan Iskandar (Mas) bt
[8] Wael El Hindi (Egy)
6/11, 10/12, 11/8, 11/7, 11/4 (76m)
WAEL NOT ALL THERE…
I’m not sure what happened there, to tell you the truth, a bit like
the Barker/Lincou situation. Wael was well in control, playing
accurate and clever squash, while Azlan was trying to match Wael at
the front, probably not such a great game plan.
But as the Malaysian relaxed, he found a great variation of shots,
allowing him to keep Wael way at the back, to bring him to the front
and counter attacking shots played in a less comfortable position
than in the first two games.
Slowly, Wael lost his way, to say it kindly, and made far too many
unforced errors for his focus to come back in the match. 76m later,
an ecstatic Azlan was raising his fists in the air, while getting to
the quarters of a major for the first time since the Petrosport last
August.
"Yesterday, I was so tense, 100% from the first rally to the last,
and I thought I was going to clobber the ball to death… So today, I
just told myself to relax, try and find my length. Also, I’ve got a
good record against Wael, that might have helped too.
"I got excited a few times, but actually yesterday, you reminded me
that I have the tendency to get sucked into somebody else’s game.
And when I called Peter Genever, he just said, by the way, what is
your game. And I replied, mixing it, finding the right pace, and
snapping it…
"I don’t think I won the match, it’s Wael that lost it, when you
make six errors per game, it’s hard to win, man…
 |
|
 |
|
[2] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt [11] Adrian Grant (Eng)
11/8, 11/7, 11/7 (42m)
KARIM STILL TOP DOG
In his first tournament as World Number one – must be
nerve-wracking, all the eyes turning to see if/when you are going to
fail – Karim is looking bleeping good so far…
 Tonight,
I don’t think that he was expected an Adrian that fiery to start
with, after the long match he had last night against Omar A Aziz, an
encounter draining both physically (93m) and mentally (coming back
from 2/0 to win 11/9 in the 5th).
But slowing the pace, he ground the Englishman down, calmly, nothing
really flashy, a good solid low percentage game that allowed him to
win the match in three while saving a maximum of his energy.
So far so good for the Egyptian…
 "I
feel really fresh, I’m so glad I didn’t drop a game during the
tournament, because in this kind of top tournament, it often comes
down to the one who is the fresher.
"I was a bit slow at the start of the match, I was a bit tired, as I
expected to play at 8pm, and ended up playing at 9.30, but I
eventually woke up, felt good on there, and confident…
"Tomorrow I’m playing Azlan, who’s having a great tournament so far,
I saw him play today, and he’s looking good."
 |
"I didn’t play to
badly to start with, but he just played awesome length and width, he
kept me moving, and because he got into a sort of rhythm, and then
was hitting great shots, he sort of caught me off guard.
"And when I was up in the first I got a bit over excited, trying to
force it, whereas he stayed perfectly calm and composed. I guess
that’s what’s the difference between the top four and the rest, it’s
not so much a question of skills really, but more a question of how
they react to a stress situation…
"I guess I should have sped it up a bit more, I created myself
opportunities, but I actually didn’t use them. He was just more
consistent, and especially, countered me very well.
"I realised something tonight, I’m really lucky I guess, because
it’s something I lack, and will be able to work on it and train to
improve it. Can’t tell you what, but I’m really happy I realised
that."
 |
|
 |
 |
[6] David Palmer (Aus) bt [12] Ong Beng Hee (Mas)
11/4, 11/8, 11/1 (32m)
BENG HEE ILL AS WELL…
Jeeez, and you can’t even blame it on exotic food this time, but
after Daryl Selby, who’s been violently ill early hours this
morning, it was Beng Hee’s turn to fall to the mysterious bug.
David played extremely well to start with, it has to be said, he
really didn’t let the Malaysian breathe for a second, hammering the
ball way back there, to finish the rallies with his famous volley
drop shot trademark.
But as soon as the second started, we could see that Beng Hee was
getting slower and slower, and moving less and less, to finally not
move at all in the third.
When I talked to him afterwards, he said that he really didn’t feel
right from the second, and that he was feeling sick. The medics are
looking at him as I’m writing this report. Will update you asa,
people…
|
|
