Round TWO

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Willstrop in HK

En Bref Issue #2

GALLERIES

Nicol Quickie
Alex reports

World champion Nicol David has to be the player who has spent least time on court in this tournament.

Yesterday’s 20-minute match was bettered today with an 18-minute win over training partner Anneliza Naude, a duration which is less than a quarter of the longest women’s match of the day (102 mins).

The Malaysian was fast and sharp, and Naude was getting more and more frustrated that there was nothing she could do.

The South African born Naude did not play well, but David was just too good. She definitely looks unstoppable at this stage.

"I had a good match, played well, moved well!"

Five points
Alex reports

That's exactly the number of points Dominic Lloyd Walter won against Madeline Perry, but it surely doesn’t reflect how close the match was.

It wasn’t a neck-to-neck one, but Lloyd Walter did a whole lot better than the score suggests.

Up in the hot and bouncy side courts, the standard of players are bridged quite a bit. There was hard hitting and both players had to move all over, but Perry was the more precise and experienced. She played the right shots at the right time.

There was a patch the second game when Lloyd Walter had problems with her boasts and drops, all of which were so high it was inviting Perry to end the rallies.

But it certainly wasn’t as bad as the score suggests and the duration should give a clearer indication of this match.

"I'm happy with that. I felt good right from the start, I was moving well and hitting the ball well. I'll have to be hitting and moving even better tomorrow when I play Nicol ..."

Vicky does the HK double
Alex reports

Vicky Botwright faced her second consecutive home player today, and she had to break local hearts once again.

However, this time she had a much tougher opponent in Rebecca Chiu, the world number 15 and reigning Asian Games champion.

As usual a packed gallery, led by HK Squash’s chairman David Mui cheered her on. Even photographers and journalists at the back of the front wall were excited!

Botwright started off with a bang and raced to a 7-1 lead with a quick succession of points before Chiu was able to come back. However, this was halted after just two points.

The second game was an intense one with players trading point after point. At 4-3 to Botwright, serve changed hands eight times, which in the men’s game would have taken them both close to game ball!

Botwright eventually broke away to 8-5, the local lass fought back hard to 8-all, but couldn’t close out.

The last game also started off closely, but the English lass booked her quarter final berth by winning the last five rallies.

It was a good showing from Chiu and it’s a shame she couldn’t get a game.

Atkinson Escapes
Steve reports

Talk about leaving it late. Two-nil down, 8-4 down, world number two Vanessa Atkinson was in deep trouble.

Laura Lengthorn had assumed control of the match from the start, playing tight, controlled squash and making Atkinson stretch to the front, a tactic that paid handsome dividends as she took the first two games.

The pattern continued into the third, and when the English girl reached 8/4 it was no surprise, and a fairly comfortable upset was imminent.

But Atkinson, former world number one and former world champion, had other ideas. The match ball came and went and Atkinson pegged the lead back point by point, and from eight-all hit a winning volley drop and a dying drive to pull a game back.

The fourth was tight all the way up to six-all, but two volley kills from the Dutch champion took her within sight of levelling. Tremendous retrieving from Lengthorn saved the first game ball, and she was convinced that Atkinson's final shot on the next rally clipped the top of the tin. The referee disagreed, the match was level and that was pretty much that.

Atkinson raced away with the fifth to complete a remarkable escape. She now faces a third consecutive English opponent in Tania Bailey in the quarters, and knows she will have to raise her game, glass court or no glass court.
  

Kawy cruises past Duncalf
Malcolm reports

Neither of these girls lack with the racket, but El Kawy has a decided edge and from the beginning a distracted and unconcentrated Duncalf didn't do much about inhibiting the Egyptian girls' options. There was little base to her game and the rallies were short and sharp.

El Kawy went into a comfortable 2/0 lead without being asked many questions and even a brief flurry of resistence from Duncalf in the third didn't look convincing.

El Kawy wasn't called upon to do much and will be fresh enough to challenge Rachael Grinham, who was taken the full distance by the improving Engy Kheirallah.

The other Grinham, Natalie, also reached the quarter-finals, but not before the talented Alison Waters had threatened to beat her.

Waters just seems to lack concentration at times when she most needs it, but there is much to like about her game and she certainlt has a presence on court.

Grinham Marathons
 
Two see-saw matches, and two Grinhams still in contention, but what frights they were given tonight ...

If football has tackling, we have pushing ...
Alex reports

Having just played each other a week ago at the Village Open quarter-final (Palmer winning in four), Palmer and El Hindi faced each other again, this time in the last 16. The pair also met back in the 2004 Hong Kong Open, where Palmer won in five in the round of 32.

The Aussie started off real slow and was caught off guard on many occasions by the Egyptian. As the scoreline suggests, Palmer was totally outplayed in the first.

In the second, the match became more and more aggressive, but Palmer was slowly taking control.

Some disagreements over some calls got El Hindi all worked up and it was evident it affected him. Palmer kept his cool despite being run into so often. Once, the contact sent Palmer into the ground, an act which was reversed soon after by El Hindi when Palmer returned the favour.

If there’s a kind of match that will help get squash on television, it would be this kind – great rallies, killer shot making, amazing retrievals, marvellous athleticism – all topped up with a lot of drama and humour that surely dazzled the crowd. After the match, someone from the stands said, “I’m actually feeling very tired”.
 

James stops Ali's advance
Malcolm reports

Court 9 is not designed to reward the shotmaker and there is no easy route: work hard, keep tight and win rallies three or four times to score the point. Impatience won't do, nor will a negative approach.

Alister Walker, who beat Azlan Iskandar in a mammoth first round cannothave been thrilled about the work he would have to do, but he played a good first game against James Willstrop, who was moving and playing efficiently.

Willstrop won the game on a tiebreak and was always in control in the other two although it was never easy, as Walker persisted right to the end. It is not easy to please on such a court, but Willstrop, enjoying being free from injury and illness, will benefit from every match after his troubled start to the season, and Walker continues on an upward curve.

It was anyway a match full of endeavour and not short on quality.
 

"I hit a few winners today, I hit a few tins as well but it added up to the best win of my career, the best win of my life, I'm over the moon and all the other cliches you can think of.

"At 8/4 down in the first I went for a couple of shots which came off, he clipped a couple of tins and that was pretty crucial.

"I played really well to get 8/1 up in the second then nearly threw it away with some bad squash but fortunately it came good again.

"In the third I just managed to stayin front after I got a few points start ... I'm so delighted."

"I've been playing a bit better for the last month or so, so I came into this tournament in a bit of form. You know it's always going to be hard against Nick, he's one of the toughest competitors, but I knew if I played like I can then I stood a chance.

"I tried to stay in front and stop him volleying, he's so good at cutting everything off, and that worked well in patches but you just can't do it all the time.

"The fifth was a bit of a grind, not too much great squash, but as long as you come out in front who cares ..."

The Egyptian Battle
Alex reports

The world number one won the battle of the Egyptians against his long time training partner, as many had expected him to. The Egyptian prince was looking sharper today as compared to playing local wildcard Wong Wai Hang yesterday, but then again, playing someone you’ve played most of your life does give you a lot more comfort in knowing what to expect.

Shabana was in total control in the first, leading 7-2 in no time before Abbas got into the game. But it was too late, as Shabana only allowed a further three points before wrapping up.

It looked to be a quick match when Shabana once again shot into an early 5-1 lead, and despite a challenge, he still had game ball at 10-7. What came in the next few rallies from Abbas were just amazing, hitting winners like he never did before all evening. He forced the tie-break and won it.

Good rallies followed in the next two games, but it was the double world champion who was the sharper and had the last laugh ...
  

TWO FRENCHMEN,
ONE SURVIVOR - JUST
Steve reports

You couldn't have written a script like this. The 'upstairs' courts at the Hong Kong Squash Centre were packed for round two, with upset after potential upset coming thick and fast as the evening progressed.

Starting at 5.15pm it was wildly optimistic to allow 45 minutes per match based on the evidence we'd seen so far, so a long night was in prospect and so it proved.

At the height of the drama we had Gregory Gaultier, having saved a match-ball, at 11-11 in the fifth with Adrian Grant, at the precice instant that Thierry Lincou was hanging on by a thread, 2-1 down and 11-all with Ramy Ashour.

Since they weren't on adjacent courts it was impossible to follow both matches - impossible to get near the Lincou-Ashour match on the ground level - so up on the top tier, where the referees adjudicate from, we had Anthony Ricketts being the 'runner' between the two courts as James Willstrop and I watched the climax of the Gaultier/Grant match.

They shouldn't have been on at the same time, but in the middle of the fourth, leading 2/1, Greg tripped over Adrian's foot and fell heavily onto his thigh. He spent a full 50 minutes trying to run the injury off - I guess it must have been almost a 'dead leg' - on one of the courts opposite, and the grimaces and (presumably) expletives emanating from there suggested it was very painful, and very annoying for the French Champion.

He resumed, after a few points fell again, and the loud scream caused the ref to ask if he could continue. Of course he could, but he was still suffering and lost the fourth. He was moving more easily in the fifth, and he opened up a marginal lead of 6-4. These were tough rallies now, with any amount of lets, and a few discussions with the ref from both players. Tense.

It reached 9-all, a careless tin from Greg gave Adrian match-ball. Saved. Another careless tin and it was a second matchball for the Englishman. Saved. Then it was Grant's turn to find the tin when a winner beckoned, and the match finished rather tamely given what had gone before as the ball came out of the corner back towards Grant and Gaultier claimed the stroke and the match.

145 minutes. Less 50 for the injury break, but still a marathon by anyone's standards.

And during all this remember, Thierry was fighting for survival against an inspired Ramy. Can't say I saw much of it, but from odd rally I did catch and the sounds from on and off court it must have been an absolute cracker.

Just one minute after Greg had survived, Thierry didn't, and the poor girls who had been waiting for the courts for a very long time now, would finally get their chance.
 

Karim edges past Anthony
Steve reports

Anthony Ricketts had survived a scare in the first round, saving matchball before beating Cameron Pilley 15/13 in the fifth, but another miracle recovery proved beyond him tonight as Karim Darwish got the better of fourclosegames to reach the quarter-finals.

They shared the first two games,with never more than a couple of points in it, and it was the Egyptian who pulled through at the end of the next two games, with Ricketts, who suffered "4 strokes and three no lets" in the third,  left to curse his luck and the apparent injustice of it all.
 

Hong Kong Open 2006  by SquashSite

 www.squashsite.org.uk/hk