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 âLJâ 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 â 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
First Round – Day Two
Posted by Tom Quinn on 26-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
(photo courtesy Steve Line of squashpics.com)
Tonight saw the completion of the first round matches at the main event venue at the Fairmont Southampton.
Robert Edwards talks about the first player to come on stage – his father is someone everyone knows by his first name – Jonah. His son, Joey Barrington, did not take up squash until he was 19. He has one of the most famous surnames in squash. The second player is an immense talent – US Open champion and number seven in the world – Nick Matthew.
As the two players warm up Edwards talks about the remarkable fitness these guys have. He tells the crowd that their fitness comes from hours of practice.
Edwards talks about the fact that we have three referees – this system implemented by the PSA reduces the number of disputed calls. He also talks about how the tin on the professional tour is 17″ rather than 19″, and that players have 2 minutes between games rather rather than the traditional 90 seconds. The first game then gets underway.
Day One Summary and Day Two Preview
Posted by Tom Quinn on 26-Nov-2007Categories: News Comments: [add a comment]
(photo courtesy Steve Line of squashpics.com)
Day One of the Endurance World Open 2007 saw the fruition of three years of hard work, and the audience were treated to a spectacular opening ceremony, provided fantastic support for a local Bermudian, and saw a the second major upset of the day.
The first day of the tournament had actually started at midday at the BSRA club in Devonshire. First up was Frenchman Thierry Lincou, who defeated qualifier Julian Illingworth despite a minor hiccup in the third game. The next match saw the first upset of the day – qualifier Jonathan Kemp defeated 15th seeded Malaysian Ong Beng Hee 3-1. Englishman Peter Barker then dispatched his compatriot Bradley Ball 3-1. The final match at the Devonshire club was a marathon affair – Egyptian Wael El Hindi pipped Mexican Eric Galvez 3-2 in 99 minutes.
Then the matches moved to the main venue at the Fairmont Southampton. World number one Amr Shabana was on court first, playing Frenchman Renan Lavigne. Lavigne, originally slated to be a qualifier, kept the pressure on throughout but went down 3-1 despite a gritty performance. Then it was the big one – Bermudian James Stout playing number 12 seed Stewart Boswell. Stout acquitted himself well but just wasn’t up to the task of defeating his Australian opponent, despite fanstastic support from the locals in the arena. Then defending World Champion David Palmer then stepped on court and made short work of qualifier Shawn Delierre. The final match of the night saw an out of form Lee Beachill lose to Welshman Alex Gough in five games. Beachill, with the higher ranking, would have expected to win this, and he came out strong in the first game, but his older opponent played the waiting game – waiting for Beachill to make mistakes, which he began to do more often as the match wore on. The final match score was 4-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-4, 11-5.
Today we see another 8 matches – 4 at the BSRA and 4 at the Fairmont Southampton venue. There are several ties which promise to be very close. We will also see Frenchman and number two seed Gregory Gaultier make his debut in the event tonight at 9pm on the glass court. For more details see Today at the Open. For Royal Gazette coverage see Defeated Stout has plenty to shout about.
