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| TODAY
in Al Khobar: Sun 13th, Round One |
Shabana
joins injured list
as Kemp ousts LJ ...
Day one of the final Super Series event of 2009 seemed to be
progressing pretty much according to plan at Sunset Beach, as 13
matches on the outside courts yielded just one upset result as
England's Jonathan Kemp beat 11th seed Laurens Jan Anjema
in four games. Other than that the main incident was the
effective 'sending off' of fiery Italian Davide Bianchetti
at one game all and 10-all against Wael El Hindi.
Dusk saw the glass court come into play as Ramy Ashour,
fresh from his victory in the PSA Masters in Mumbai, beat his
elder brother Hisham, just as he had done in India, and local
wildcard Naif Aburegah gave Peter Barker a decent
runout before predictably falling in three games.
The main drama was left to the last match of the day as Amr
Shabana, champion here in 2006 and 2007, called it a day at
a game and 4-2 down to Joey Barrington, having failed to
recover from the hamstring injury he picked up in Mumbai.
So Shabana joins Karim Darwish and Gregory Gaultier - world
number one and two and last year's finalists here - on the
injured list, leaving the door ajar for the highest remaining
seeds Ramy or Nick Matthew to claim the title and with it
the coveted world number one position in a few days' time ...
but given what's happened so far, don't put any money on
anything ...
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Round One:
[15] Aamir Atlas Khan (Pak) bt [Q]
Saurav Ghosal (Ind)
11/5, 11/9, 11/4 (30m)
[8] Adrian Grant (Eng) bt Amr Swelim (Ita)
11/8, 11/5, 11/2 (31m)
[14] Farhan Mehboob (Pak) bt [Q]
Stéphane Galifi (Fra)
11/5, 11/0, 11/5 (18m)
[3] Nick Matthew (Eng) bt [Q] Omar
Mosaad (Egy)
11/6, 11/2, 8/11, 11/2 (45m)
[9] James Willstrop (Eng) bt Olli
Tuominen (Fin)
11/7, 11/5, 11/3 (26m)
Jonathan Kemp (Eng) bt [11] Laurens Jan
Anjema (Ned)
11/6, 5/11, 11/7, 11/3 (40m)
[7] Wael El Hindi (Egy) bt [Q] Davide
Bianchetti (Ita)
11/4, 10/12, 10/10 CG CM (58m)
[10] Ong Beng Hee (Mas) bt [Q] Aaron
Frankcomb (Aus)
11/4, 11/7, 11/6 (31m)
[6] Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt [Q] Ali
Anwar Reda (Egy)
9/11, 11/3, 11/6, 5/2 rtd (42m)
[16] Stewart Boswell (Aus) br Tom
Richards (Eng)
11/4, 11/9, 11/5 (45m)
[4] David Palmer (Aus) bt Cameron
Pilley (Aus)
11/5, 10/12, 3/11, 11/1, 11/3 (54m)
[12] Alister Walker (Eng) bt Daryl
Selby (Eng)
11/4, 11/3, 11/7 (31m)
[13] Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy) bt
Steve Coppinger (Rsa)
11/4, 11/2, 11/3 (20m)
[1] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt Hisham Ashour
(Egy)
11/8, 11/5, 11/5 (27m)
[5] Peter Barker (Eng) bt Naif
Abureqah (Ksa)
11/6, 11/7, 11/9 (28m)
[Q] Joey Barrington (Eng) bt [2]
Amr Shabana (Egy)
11/8, 4/2 rtd (16m) |
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[8] Adrian
Grant (Eng) bt Amr Swelim (Ita)
11/8, 11/5, 11/2 (31m)
AMR NOT ALL THERE…
This won’t stay as the best performance from the Italian. He
never seemed in the match, although he tried and rally, his
shots lacked purpose, he was slow to move, and in front of a
powerful Adrian, he never looked like the winner, I’m afraid to
say…
"My only tactic for this match, and for all the rallies and all
the points during this tournament is focus, focus, focus, focus,
and again, focus…
"I’ve lost so many matches because I let my mind wonder in and
out of the game, I’ve decided that I’m going to keep my focus
from now on. If I can achieve that, I think I’ll be alright…"
 "Well,
I didn’t think I was going to be playing in this tournament,
after Edmonton, as far I was concerned, my season was finished
and wouldn’t start before another 6 weeks, so I relaxed, didn’t
do anything, when I heard that I was coming to Saudi (I was a
lucky loser).
"So on there, I felt heavy, I didn’t feel my shots that well, I
was far too relaxed, and he played so well, putting me under a
lot of pressure too…
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[15] Aamir
Atlas Khan (Pak) bt [Q] Saurav Ghosal (Ind)
11/5,
11/9, 11/4 (30m)
SAURAV OUTPLAYED
It was actually painful to see our Saurav struggle so much on
there today. I don’t think he played the right tactic, trying to
match Aamir at the front, where he is so skilled. Saurav’s
points were won at the back, and I truly believe he should have
put Aamir under much more pressure with his accurate length
rather than counterattacking systematically at the front.
Still, easier said than done, as Aamir was so explosive today,
and felt very comfortable on that court. Saurav never felt
relaxed on there it seemed, and his annoyance at the refs,
especially at the end of the second game, were probably a
reflection of his uneasiness….
 "I
was very sharp today. I was trying to cover the T, and to make
him run because he is so fast. I did my best to keep him under
pressure.
"Last time we played, it was in Chennai two years ago for the
World Juniors in Chennai, and it was a very tough game that I
won 3/2. But today, I think I played better…
"It was a good match today, hopefully I can keep the same level
of performance tomorrow…"
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[14] Farhan
Mehboob (Pak) bt [Q] Stéphane Galifi
(Fra)
11/5, 11/0, 11/5 (18m)
NO SHOW FOR GALIF…
“I was just unable to play today, just couldn't! I was trying my
best, but I just couldn’t play… I’m really disgusted, but end of
the year, body’s had enough…”
Yes, that’s what it felt like, Stéphane, watching you today. You
were not on the court, were you… But Farhan was, and 100% of
him! The Pakistani was on fire today, and as Galif was not able
to push a ball in the back, the confidence was on Farhan's side,
from beginning to end…
 "I
started so good, attacking well, taking the pressure to him and
playing my shots to the front well.
"I took a big lead in the second, that was quite easy for me as
he stopped trying, then I got another lead in the third and it
was the same in the end.
"I played well today but I'll have to play my best tomorrow
against Adrian. It's good to have a relaxed 3/0 today, I'll need
all my energy tomorrow ..."
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[3] Nick
Matthew (Eng) bt [Q] Omar Mosaad (Egy)
11/6, 11/2, 8/11, 11/2 (45m)
OMAR SHARP IN THE 3rd…
Nick took Omar by the throat for the first two games, but the
legs seemed a bit heavier in the 3rd, and as it coincided with
the Egyptian getting used to Nick’s fast pace, the English was
more or less on the back foot for the whole of that game.
Omar played superbly in that game, he was sharp, positive,
retrieved well, and attacked beautifully, but both mentally and
physically, I felt that game took a lot out of him. In the 5th,
Nick, all focused and roaring again, had no real trouble keeping
him at the back, and forced errors out of him to let him win the
game as comfortably as he won the second…
"I was perfectly aware that this match had all the elements of a
potential banana slip. I played the final only three days ago,
so a big high, sometimes, it’s difficult to get back into the
following tournament, I didn’t play on a traditional court for
quite a while, and of course, Omar is a young hungry player, who
had a good win last week over Wael, and played well against
David…
"Peter gave me good advice between the game, it was all about my
movement today, I could have felt a bit flat, like when I
arrived in Cairo a few weeks ago after the British Open, my legs
were just too heavy… But when I dropped my game a bit, he was
able to capitalise on his height. The minute I got back into my
game, created space with the ball, I was able to come back on
top again in the 4th…
"I’m really delighted with this win, even 3/1, I really am…"
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Jonathan
Kemp (Eng) bt [11] Laurens Jan Anjema
(Ned)
11/6, 5/11, 11/7, 11/3
(40m)
LJ A BIT SLOW
I didn’t concentrate on the whole match, so I can give you only
an impression of it. It was like LJ was outplayed, but mentally
more than anything else. Kempy was firing at will as he does,
with a sprinkle of length and height, but didn’t play out of
this world, just patient and disciplined.
LJ found some exquisite short shows that he doesn’t play
normally, but seemed to lose a bit of his natural game, tight
and lengthy accurate drives. I know he is working on changing
his squash at the moment, maybe he is in the phase where he
doesn’t have his new game in place yet, and lost a bit of the
old one?
Or more simply, Kempy played an excellent game, in front of a
player probably a bit flat from his excellent performance last
week…
"What made the win
today? I really don’t know!!! I knew it was going to be tough,
last time we played was a hard 3/2, but I had beaten him before,
and I knew that I could do it, and also how to do it.
"I just stuck to my game plan, apart from in the second. Simple,
really, just stay patient – everybody knows I’ve got a tendency
to go for too much sometimes – and play a sensible good squash…
"I’m really happy with this win, especially as LJ has been
playing extremely well recently, and got his best ever result
last week in Mumbai, reaching his first quarters of a platinum
event…"
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[7] Wael El
Hindi (Egy) bt [Q] Davide Bianchetti (Ita)
11/4, 10/12, 10/10 CG CM
(58m)
WHAT TO SAY ON THAT ONE…
I’m really speechless.
This was a typical match where I’m afraid the 3 refs system –
which I’m in favour of – showed its weakness.
 A
World ref, surrounded by two local refs, one actually doing an
acceptable job, and the other one with it seemed very little
experience of squash at that level. With Wael and Davide, famous
worldwide to be not the easiest players to ref – and there
again, I absolutely adore both of them.
The result, very little consistency in the decisions, players
losing confidence, and the plot at time too. I’m afraid I’m too
close to the players to be able to blame them on that one.
Yes, there was abuse of language, yes, both players were
discussing decisions, with Davide out of order vocally probably,
and at the end of the third, 10/10, a conduct game against
Davide – he already had conduct warning in the first, conduct
stroke in the second - followed by conduct match.
I guess it was the right course of action from the Central Ref,
as Davide went too far in arguing against the conduct game
decision resulting in a conduct match, but I truly believe that
with a better level of side refs, this all mess and disaster
could have been avoided. |
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[16] Stewart
Boswell (Aus) br Tom Richards (Eng)
11/4, 11/9, 11/5 (45m)
STEWART ON TOP…
Again a match I didn’t have the opportunity to concentrate fully
on, sorry boys, but I could see there were some furious rallies
on there, in particular in the second, where Tom went and let
9/7, but a few unforced errors here and there, along with some
great shots from the Englishman, and a strong and consistent
Australian that never gave his opponent a chance to really get
comfortable…
 "It
was maybe not the ideal preparation, as I went home after India,
and heard very late I was playing after the withdraw of Karim,
but still, I was playing well in India, but Stewart was just too
good today…
"Except in the second game, I couldn’t settle in the match, and
he was able to put the ball away and control the rallies…"
"I just wanted to be steady, I knew that things going to be
pretty tough for Tom, as he was told he was playing here really
at the last minute. I had a better preparation than he did to
the match, and I did my best to play steadily, and force errors
out of him.
"I’m not happy with my short game today, when I created the
opportunities, I didn’t play the shots too well, and they were a
bit indecisive. That’s something I’ve got to look at before my
next match…"
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[12] Alister
Walker (Eng) bt Daryl Selby (Eng)
11/4, 11/3, 11/7 (31m)
[6] Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt [Q] Ali
Anwar Reda (Egy)
9/11, 11/3, 11/6, 5/2 rtd (42m)
TWO INJURIES ON ADJACENT COURTS…
Alister was up for it, I could tell from the first rallies.
Conscious that Daryl was bound to be slightly squashed out, he
made the rallies as long as possible, and his opponent life’s as
hard as possible. It was a hard battle, but at the end of the
first I’m told, Daryl slipped and seemed to damage his hip
flexors.
Add to that a mental tiredness, and an Ali extremely present
physically, very positive and focused, and you have an upset
(Ali being 13 and Daryl 11), especially in view of Daryl’s
excellent results for a few months…
While next court Reda and Thierry were playing an excellent
match. The Frenchman not being as sharp as he can be, his
attacking game not good enough in front of a young Egyptian, he
prudently played from the back, choosing the line of working his
opponent physically.
And it worked at times really well, with Reda going for a few
too early short shots after particularly long rallies, but at
others, the Egyptian mixed his shots close to perfection today.
Relaxed – apparently, he didn’t train much recently, due to an
injury, “that’s when I play my best” told me a smiling Reda –
combining accurate crosscourt lobs with feathery drop shots and
volley drop shots, twisting and turning Thierry with grace and
flair, he was displaying great skills today.
And although the Frenchman got the 3rd to lead 2/1, Reda still
pushed and fought for every ball, till he snapped his gluts, let
himself fall heavily on the court at 3/2. Match was over, his
recurrent injury had flared up.
Between us, I think that Thierry would have probably won it
still, but probably in 5, and leaving on there a lot of energy
this last tournament of the year demands… He’ll be glad with a
shorten version…
 "He
surprised me enormously, as the last time we played, I won
easily, but in completely different conditions, in la Réunion,
very warm court. Here, the court was cold, and his shots went in
really well.
"My attacking game was not as good as his today, and although I
wanted to attack, I was forced to stay at the back, and I could
never go ahead comfortably enough score wise to relax and let go
of the arm. He put me under a lot of pressure, making more
winning shots than errors…
"It was an excellent opening match, but on a personal note, I
hope he’ll have a prompt recovery from what seemed a nasty
injury…."
Il m’a terriblement surpris, la dernière fois qu’on a joué,
c’était à la Réunion, dans des conditions très différentes.
Aujourd’hui, sur un court froid, ses coups sont rentrés, et il
m’a bien mis sous pression, faisant globalement plus de points
que de fautes…
Mon jeu d’attaque n’était pas aussi bon que le sien aujourd’hui,
et je voulais attaquer, mais j’ai été obligé de rester au fond,
et je n’étais jamais à l’abri d’une attaque.
C’était un excellent match d’entrée en matière, mais j’espère
qu’il se remettra vite de sa blessure qui semble grave… |
Paul Selby on Ali v Daryl
This was a match that promised so much with two players playing
some of the best squash of their careers but in the end did not
come up to that as during the first game with Ali leading 9-4
Daryl appeared to pull up after sliding for a ball with an
injury to the top of his leg.
He lost the game and decided to come back for the second and
give it a go and see if he could shake it off, regretfully no as
the injury was worse than he thought. Unable to lunge on his
right leg the next game was a going through the motions but
still able to offer an insight to why he has risen to World No.
11 with two or three outrageous winners.
In the end it was too much and Ali put Daryl out of his misery
with a winner. This has been a hard end to the year for all the
players and maybe we are expecting too much of them to be able
to back up tournament after tournament. This has been shown by
the number of injuries that have affected many of the players.
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"I had Delhi Belly
in India and was out of it for a few days. So I was playing OK
for a couple game, but I guess that being ill for a few days
take a lot of you, and I think I was a bit short physically in
the end, and when came the time to step up my game, I found it
difficult to do it…
"Yes, it’s not easy to play a Aussie, but the English play each
other, the French, the Egyptian, we still go on court with the
attitude to win, and act like we do against any other player."
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[4] David
Palmer (Aus) bt Cameron Pilley (Aus)
11/5, 10/12,
3/11, 11/1, 11/3 (54m)
"I started well in the first game, although I was down 3/5, but
managed to win the game in one hand, 10/5. In the second, I had
a good lead, 6/2 I believe, and I could feel that Cameron was on
the verge of letting go, but he got a string of good shots
together, then it was point for point, 7/7, 8/8, 9/9, and I let
him back on the match. I were not happy, as I missed a good
opportunity to take a 2/0 lead.
 "In
the 3rd, he played really well, his length was excellent, mine
was really poor, and he got in front of me. In the 4th like in
the 5th, the first points went my way, I got a good start…
"I feel sorry for Cameron, because there were a few players that
got easy ish matches, didn’t have to play 100%, and I think that
Cameron deserves a better draw than playing me first round!
"It was really not easy for me, Cameron is a good mate, we help
each other on the tour, we both play for Australia. I didn’t
play an Australian for a while, I used to do that a lot when
Anthony was around, and now, two Aussie in the first quarters!
"This was a tough win, I guess it helped me mentally that I knew
I had a day of rest tomorrow. I really pushed myself hard
against Ramy last week, and it took an awful lot out of me, I’m
finding I’m taking a lot of time to recover.
"I spoke with Shawn today, and he helped me focusing on the fact
that if I was losing today, it was a flight home, of course I
want to go home, but not after a first round lost. If my game is
not good enough, there is no second best….
"It will be a tough match against Stewart, we played in Qatar on
a traditional court, and I got away with it, I hope I can do it
again on the glass court, where I feel more comfortable.."
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[13] Mohamed El
Shorbagy (Egy) bt Steve Coppinger (Rsa)
11/4, 11/2, 11/3 (20m)
"It was not only
the first time I played Stephen, but also the first time I saw
him play ever! So I just chose to play a good solid basic game,
mixed with a few attacking shots.
"It was a quick game, which is good to save my energy, and also
a good day of rest tomorrow. Overall, happy with my game today…"
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[10]
Ong Beng Hee (Mas) bt [Q] Aaron Frankcomb
(Aus)
11/4, 11/7, 11/6 (31m)
This was a match up between two
players who have had mixed fortunes of late, reports Paul
Selby.
Aaron who is struggling a bit with his confidence with some
results that have not been going his way and Beng Hee who
finished in Mumbai on a relative high playing an epic match
against Thierry and only narrowly losing having had one match
ball.
The match started with the rallies dominated pretty much by Beng
Hee with Aaron struggling to find a length and Beng Hee
punishing any loose shots. First game to Ong. The second started
more promising for Aaron showing the kind of squash that got him
into this event in the first place, good length punctuated by
good variation and attacking at the right moment.
Beng Hee managed to contain and mid way through the game turn
the screw and wear Aaron down like the first game, second game
to Ong. Really the third was a repeat of the first with too many
mistakes eminating from Aaron's racket and Beng Hee controlling
from the Tee with a mountain to climb which would have appeared
to hard for Aaron, Beng Hee ran out the winner in three straight
games.
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[1] Ramy
Ashour (Egy) bt Hisham Ashour (Egy)
11/8, 11/5, 11/5 (27m)
Ramy does his duty again
When the draw was revised to pitch Ramy Ashour against his elder
brother Hisham, you could hear the groans all the way from
Mumbai where the pair had just played each other in the PSA
Masters.
It's not a match either enjoys playing, and you could tell in
the first two games that it was pretty much a case of "let's get
it done with and off."
Not that they weren't trying, far from it. But the rallies were
always destined to be short, the attacks frequent and the
mistakes that come with that sort of game.
Ramy was in charge for the first two, Hisham came more into it
in the third, but much to his own annoyance kept hitting the top
of the tin.
"I didn't care so much about the result," he said afterwards,
"but I wanted to stay on there longer."
The crowd would have wanted some more too, but for the Ashour
brothers this was a chore that had to be done ...
"What was that? I
could have played a lot better, but I made a slow start and when
I started to get into it in the third I just kept hitting the
top of the tin - not the tin, the very top of it!
"He was fast, focused and there every time, he was just better
than me today but I should have played better and at least made
it last longer.
"But he's my brother, I'll support him through the rest of the
tournament now. If he wins this one he'll be world number one
which is something we've dreamed of and worked towards for a
long time now ..."
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 "We
never did enjoy playing each other in tournaments and this was
the same. When in the last game he just hit tins I was grateful
for it because he could have come back.
"We started off fast, just like last time, everything happened
so fast we didn't feel it and this time was the same, we just
wanted the whole thing to be over."
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[Q] Joey
Barrington (Eng) bt [2] Amr
Shabana (Egy)
11/8, 4/2 rtd
(16m)
HAMSTRING AGAIN…
You may remember that I told you that Shabana got injured at the
end of the second game of his semi against Ramy. At the time,
people told me, no, he is fine, just the court slippery caused
him the problem.
Yeah right.
Heavily strapped, Shabana tried, but we could see that he was
struggling movement wise, and just had to work very hard to push
the ball in the back.
At the start of the second, he just stopped, and shook Joey’s
hand. Another injured player.
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[5] Peter
Barker (Eng) bt Naif Abureqah (Ksa)
11/6, 11/7, 11/9 (28m)
A workout for Barker
It's never an easy task for the wildcard, or for the player who
meets the wildcard in this type of tournament. In this case it
was world number 7 versus world number 417, so the outcome was
never really in much doubt.
Still, it was a great experience for Naif to come onto the court
at the end of the opening ceremony, being greeted by the
assembled dignitaries and with a strong local media presence to
record proceedings.
In the event he gave Peter a good workout, even led 7/4 in the
second, but the Englishman was in no mood to extend himself more
than necessary, and quickly closed that lead down on his way to
a straight-games win.
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