Quarter Finals Roundup
Posted by on 30-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
Last night’s Endurance World Open Squash quarter finals produced one upset, and a dream line-up for tonight’s semi-finals.
We had one upset last night with the defeat of #4th seeded, James Willstrop, by fellow Englishman, 7th seeded Nick Matthew who registered a convincing straight games win against Willstrop.
He’ll be meeting 2nd seed, Gregory Gaultier of France who won against Scotland’s John White by the same score, but the 3 nil scoreline doesn’t begin to reflect how close and exciting this game was. White has always been a great competitor and last night he had the audience gasping as he retrieved some impossible shots before finally going down to the #2 seed.
The match of the night had to be the clash between the world #1 Amr Shabana, and former World Open champion, Thierry Lincou. It was Lincou who struck first, winning the first game, but the Egyptian showed why he’s the world’s top player with a magnificent display of shots and athleticism. He won the match 3-1.
And that means he’ll be playing the current World Open Champion, David Palmer of Australia, who powered his way into the semi-finals with a comprehensive victory over Alex Gough of Wales.
So tonights semi-finals at the Fairmont Southampton venue, which get underway at 7pm not 6 as originally advertised, will be Palmer versus Shabana, a fascinating clash, and Matthew versus Gaultier. It should be a night to remember.
Tickets will be available at the door an hour from 4.30pm.
Roger J. Sherratt, Press Officer, Bermuda Squash Racquets Association
Day 5 – Quarter Finals
Posted by Tom Quinn on 29-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
(Photo courtesy of squashpics.com)
The conclusion of the second round yesterday saw some outstanding displays of squash and two tough games for seeds Willstrop and White – but they eventually prevailed.
The real eye-opener was the last match of the evening, where Gregory Gaultier was supremely clinical in his vistory over Hisham Ashour in 26 minutes. The Frenchman made the Egyptian look ordinary – something that is very difficult to do with a player of that class.
Tonight sees a fantastic line-up for the quarter-finals – and what promises to be some spectacular matches. The matches we have in store:
- [1] Amr Shabana (EGY) vs [5] Thierry Lincou (FRA)
- [3] David Palmer (AUS) vs Alex Gough (WAL)
- [4] James Willstrop (ENG) vs [7] Nick Matthew (ENG)
- [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) vs [6] John White (SCO)
For all the results click here.
Day Four – Continuation of Second Round
Posted by Tom Quinn on 28-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
After the excitement of day three, where we saw an upset with Alex Gough defeating seeded Egyptian Wael El Hindi, Wednesday sees the continuation of the second round. Up first on the ASB glass court is another Egyptian and the only qualifier left in the tournament – Omar Mosaad. He faces in-form Englishman Nick Matthew. Tonight sees three Egyptians playing, alongside two Englishmen, a Frenchman, Malaysian and an Australian playing for Scotland.
Day Three – Second Round Begins
Posted by Tom Quinn on 27-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
(picture courtesy Steve Line of squashpics.com
Tuesday night saw the start of the a great evening – as Robert Edwards put it – we have a “glut of champions”.
The first player tonight had a very bad injury in 2003 – at the time he was ranked 4 in the world. His injury took him out for 2 years, and when he returned he won a number of tournaments in a row and jumped 279 places – he is now at 13 in the world. From Australia – Stewart Boswell. Our second opponent is “on a real mission” – to win this title so he can be ranked among the squash playing greats. In Egypt he is looked at like David Beckham – he is current World Number 1 – and has recently won in Saudi, Qatar and Hong Kong – he is, of course, Amr Shabana.
Edwards talks about squash in Egypt – he says that Shabana is one of the best players he has seen come out of Egypt. At the junior level Egyptians are also dominating. Stewart is also from a country of great squash players – Australia. The first match then begins.
- Click here for point-by-point play from Day Three
- Click here for match results
- More pictures from Day Three
Report for Monday November 26th
Posted by on 27-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
(photo courtesy Steve Line of squashpics.com)
The first round of the Endurance World Open Bermuda 2007 Squash Championship was completed last night, with four matches on the glass court at Fairmont Southampton.
The #2 seed, Gregory Gaultier of France had an impressive 3 nil win, as did Scotsman, John White, who is reputed to be the hardest hitter in the game, with a recorded speed of 172 miles an hour. He took his match 3 nil at a stroll.
It was almost the complete opposite for #4 seed, James Willstrop of England, who was down 2 games to nil, and 5 nil down in the 3rd game before slowly scrambling his way back into contention against a very classy “LJ” Anjema of the Netherlands. Anjema almost pulled off the first major upset of the championship, but not quite! Willstrop took the 3rd game 11-9, and went on to take the next two, moving him into the next round in what was considered to be the best match of the championship – so far.
The other winner last night was Nick Matthews of England who is considered to be a possible contender for the title, along with fellow countryman, Willstrop.
The 2nd round gets underway at 6pm tonight with four matches at the Fairmont Southampton. Tickets are available at www.boxoffice.com and at the door an hour before starting time.
Roger J. Sherratt, Press Officer, Bermuda Squash Racquets Association
