TODAY at the Windy City Open 
20-Jan, ROUND TWO:                    Take the Challenge

Last 16 in Cathedral Hall

All sixteen seeds made it through to round two, some more easily than others, and almost uniquely in recent memory it was the top eight who were still standing at the end of the night.

[8] John White (Sco) bt [14] Ong Beng Hee (Mas)
       5/11, 11/6, 11/8, 11/9 (56m)
[1] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [12] Olli Tuominen (Fin)
       11/5, 11/7, 11/9 (39m)
[7] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [13] Mohamed Abbas (Egy)
       9/11, 11/3, 11/7, 9/11, 11/3 (72m)
[6] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [10] Adrian Grant (Eng)
       11/8, 11/5, 11/3 (42m)
[4] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt [9] Stewart Boswell (Aus)
       14/12, 11/9, 11/7 (60m)
[3] Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt [11] Wael El Hindi (Egy)
       11/7, 11/7, 9/11, 11/4 (61m)
[5] Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt [16] Cameron Pilley (Aus)
      11/5, 11/5, 11/7 (37m)
[2] David Palmer (Aus) bt [15] Graham Ryding (Can)    
      11/9, 11/9, 11/8 (39m)

[8] John White (Sco) bt [14] Ong Beng Hee (Mas)
       5/11, 11/6, 11/8, 11/9 (56m)

BENG HEE, RIGHT TACTIC…

It’s such a pleasure to be around Beng Hee. You don’t think much the first time you see him. Not too tall, too too slim, discreet… And then he starts to talk, and you kill yourself laughing at his deadpan one-liners. And then he starts to play, and it’s “sir, Respect sir”!

Today he had the perfect game plan: attack John White. And blast did it work at first. Our Tin Master Whitey very quickly got frustrated, and the Malaysian basically walked off with the game - still 12 minutes though…

He also started the second game at 1/0, as the Scot had decided to teach his racquet to fly on the last point of the previous game and got awarded a conduct point. And it went all very well until 6/6, when Beng Hee just had a good drop of energy. More or less the same story in the third, good racquet to racquet rallies until 8/6, and zoom, no gas...

John took full advantage of the situation, made fewer and fewer unforced errors, allowing him to take a good lead in the 4th 7/3. But it was his turn then to have a little loss of drive, and the Malaysian came back 8/8… But a bit of nerves for Bengy, and a good 3/1 victory in less than an hour for John thanks to a last push from the Tall Man…

A start of the day all in fireworks…

"He played very well indeed today, especially as the match went on. I didn’t play bad at all, he was just better!

"My game plan was I didn’t want to defend, and I mixed up the pace more, in particular at the start… But after that, the pace became a bit too fast…"

"I got off to a bad start… I had a good warm up, I was hitting the ball well, but I was not moving well…

"At the start, he was controlling the T and making me move around, but later I turned things round and took control…

"Maybe what made the difference today is age and experience, although after 10 years playing on the tour, I still don’t know what a lob looks like, but if I was happy to attack, I was also happy to slow the rallies down…"

[1] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt
[12] Olli Tuominen (Fin)    11/5, 11/7, 11/9 (39m)

OLLI: OVERWHELMED BUT STILL KICKING…

This was definitely a yoyo match, with Amr Shabana totally dominating Olli Tuominen, in particular in the second game when he sped up 9/2 then 10/4, and in the third, 9/6 then 10/7, then had to spend the rest of those games struggling like mad to weather Olli’s firing at will.

It was an intense match, where at the start of each game Olli seemed very slow to move, always a bit late on the ball. But the Finn doesn’t let those mere details stop him. He just fought and fought and fought, put Shabana under pressure by speeding up the pace – yes, it is possible – and forced him to make the error a few times.

We all know that with the Prince of Egypt one or two tins can degenerate into a fast loss of the game. But today, none of that. Head firmly planted on his shoulders, Shabana was able to contain the Flying Finn and close it out, and will be delighted with a 39 minute second round win…

"I thought I played well in the first, but then I had such awful starts both in the second and the third, and it’s NOT what you want to do against Shabana…

"I’m not sure why, maybe I was not alert enough, maybe I need to focus more and to try and put pressure on him from the beginning… I was coming back pretty well in each game, and if we’d been playing to 15, I would have been just fine!

"I didn’t think I played too badly, but it was just not enough today…"

"Olli and I have been playing against each other since we’re like 11, so I cannot surprise him. I can only play my shots. And today, it happened for me…

"You don’t realise it, but when you play against Olli, you find yourself running out of ideas. You think you are controlling the game, but you slowly get sucked into his game, and suddenly, you realised that you’ve played all your shots! And then he starts playing his funny shots across the front…

"At the moment, I’m very focused, I’m trying to get back in “the zone”, as Parkie called it, so far so good…. I take one day at a time, try and go for my shots, and see what happens…"

[7] James Willstrop (Eng) bt
[13] Mohamed Abbas (Egy)
       9/11, 11/3, 11/7, 9/11, 11/3 (72m)

It's James ... in the end
Stacey Ross reports

There was a huge display of skill on the glass court today. The level of accuracy this match was played with was truly incredible. Both players possess incredible touch which they put on show for the large crowd to appreciate.

Abbas kept a two point lead all the way through the first to 7-5 until James managed to pull it back to 7-7. From here there was nothing between the two of them, every rally impressively contested point for point. Abbas pulled out two backhand winners to take the first 11-9.

James came on at the start of the second with what looked like a clear plan to up the tempo and take Abbas out of his comfort zone. He hit harder, held the middle more and cut Abbas’s time down. Abbas scored his first point after five rallies and James took the next four in a row to take a 9-1 lead, and the game 11-3.

James looked to tire ever so slightly in the third and was occasionally holding his side in discomfort. From 4-all an error from Abbas followed by a no let allowed James a two point buffer which he didn’t relinquish and went on to take the game 11-7.

At 4-1 down in the fourth James was on the end of a tough rally and again looked to be feeling the pace. Abbas was taking James to the front more and more often and was gaining success in doing so. James'  forward movement looked to slow a little and this earned Abbas a 7-2 lead. Abbas looked overly keen to close out the game and seemed to try to take shortcuts, upping his error rate. His previously relaxed shots to the front were now looking more tense and he could sense James closing the gap. Abbas eventually won the fourth 11-9.

Abbas didn’t look to be doing too much wrong at the start of the final game, but it was slipping away from him. Rallies that could have gone either way didn’t and James was 5-1 up. Abbas then went on to make five errors in the last part of the game and surrendered 11-3 in what was essentially a collapse in comparison to the rest of the match.
  

"I knew winning the third was a big advantage psychologically so gave it a real push though I was feeling a bit tired."

"I wasn't sure about the three referee system, but after playing a five setter match, I'm all for it to be honest ... it stops us from totally hammering the ref!"

[6] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [10] Adrian Grant (Eng)
       11/8, 11/5, 11/3 (42m)

BULLDOZER RAMY HITS AGAIN…

If the truth be told, Adrian Grant looked pretty good at the start of the match and during the whole of the first game. He was aggressive, was moving well, found some stunning attacking shots, and played the ball very early, surprising his opponent times and times again.

But Ramy, among others, has an enormous quality, he adapts very quickly to the new elements thrown at him, integrates them, and changes his game accordingly. And that my friend is the Bulldozer Effect.

Lethal.

Slowly, he put Adrian under more and more pressure, getting him out of his comfort zone, preventing him from getting into any attacking position, forcing him to return the ball only…

The Englishman has nothing to be ashamed of, he kept his error rate low (6 for the whole match) and never lost his calm. Him too will adapt and will probably get a better result next time…

"I just go on court, and don't plan anything, it just depends on the day…

"Adrian is very fit, so that was one of the elements I had to take into consideration, but also I want to please the crowd and give them a good show, so I try to vary my game and my shots as much as possible…

"Today, my preparation played a big role. Before I came on court, everybody was chatting to me, and I was blah blah blah to everybody. So I had to isolate myself completely for 10 minutes. Because there is no easy or difficult match. There is only a match you’ve got to be prepared for….

"I thought Adrian played very well today, and that we put on a good show…"

"I’m happy with the way I played today, although I lost my way a little in the end…

"I had a game plan, but it’s hard to stick to it once it gets tight… With Ramy, you never know what to expect, he seems to change his pace all the time…

"I found my rhythm in the first, but then I lost my focus, and in the second, my length went completely, and with that gone, one of my game plans was consistency in points, not letting him running away with the score, so that was impossible to keep…

"But I’m glad I’ve played him, it was the first time ever, so now I can go home and do my homework, and hopefully next time, I’ll do a little better…"

[4] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt
[9] Stewart Boswell (Aus)     14/12, 11/9, 11/7 (60m)

GREG DIGS IN…

All on the PSA circuit know that Greg Gaultier, after a fantastic run in 2006, is feeling really tired at the moment, and as ever in these cases, suddenly had a few doubts creeping in…

And quite logically, Stewart Boswell tried to capitalise on both counts, making the rallies last as long as possible. Just to give you an example, it took three minutes to get to 1/1, no lets, 10 minutes to get to 5/5, for a total of 24 long minutes for the first game, not to mention five game balls for the Frenchman.

Piece of cake.

And to tell you the truth, I thought that Greg would collapse both mentally and physically after that one, that Stewart was so sharp, so determined, so precise that he would walk away with the rest of the match. But nope. The Frenchman not only hung in there, but accelerated the pace again and again, making some pretty good gets that surprised us all, and probably him too!

It was one of those matches that could have gone either way. Stewart played much better than he did last time the English Open, as he only scored 9 points I think, he got the perfect tactic, and it all came down to a few points here and there…

As for Greg, well done for giving it a good push when a bit under the weather…

"In the first and the second games there were only a couple of points between us, but those are the most important… It was a long and tough attritional match…

"I thought I definitely played better than I did the last times I played him, the last one was a complete disaster. Still, disappointed to lose…

"It was a tough battle… I was ready to have a good run, but I didn’t know how my body was going to hold, as I’m so tired.

"We had so many tournaments in a row, I couldn’t train properly at Christmas, so, I’m really happy to win in three …

"It was very tough on that court, the ball goes so fast, and he hits it so well… Not like last week against Anthony, I tried to not hit the tin this time…!"

[3] Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt [11] Wael El Hindi (Egy)
       11/7, 11/7, 9/11, 11/4 (61m)

Thierry sets up Ramy Quarter

Having missed the Canadian Classic last week, Thierry Lincou would have every excuse for being a little rusty, but tonight he avoided his customary slow start as he took a two-game lead over Wael El Hindi. The Egyptian fought back to take the third, but Lincou regrouped and took the fourth fairly comfortably to move into a quarter-final meeting with the Egyptian of the moment, Ramy Ashour ...

"I was ready for this today, last time we played was last month, I won 3/0 but each game was very close, and I thought that today, I got away pretty well.

"He gave me a very hard time in the third, where he got more precise, sharper, both at the front and at the back, and he prevented me from exerting any pressure, whereas in the first two games I had more time to control the rallies…

"For me, it’s always easy to slow down the pace, but it’s much harder to speed it up and keep the accuracy, and that’s what I succeeded to do tonight, so I’m happy with that…

"For my next match tomorrow, we all know that Ramy is one of the players at the top of the game at the moment, he’s proved it, so I’m ready to give my best, knowing it will be hard work…"

"It’s a shame I had such a late start, and that I only started slowing down the pace, getting the ball in the backhand corners in the third… I should have started sooner…

"My work with Jonah Barrington has been very productive, I worked very hard last summer, at Christmas, and last week it really paid off, I got into my first semi final of a Super Series event, and today, well, I thought I played well against Thierry, so I’ll keep working at it…"

[5] Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt
[16] Cameron Pilley (Aus)      11/5, 11/5, 11/7 (37m)

Ricketts takes no prisoners
Stacey Ross reports

Anthony was focused from the start whilst Cameron seemed unsure of exactly what it was he should be doing. A 5-2 lead by Anthony was closed up to 5-6 but this was as close as Cameron was going to get as Anthony didn’t allow Cameron another point. first to Anthony 11-5.

The second saw Cameron still having trouble finding his game. His shots to the front either too high and not allowing him to take advantage of any of the few opportunities that came his way, or finding the tin. At 5-2 to Anthony Cameron’s body language suggested that he was far from content with his performance so far.

Anthony seemed to sense this and in an effort to further stamp his authority on the match made a couple of errors that gave Cameron a glimmer of hope. Cameron levelled the game at 5-all but as in the first this was to be his last point as Anthony raced away with the second 11-5.

The third took a similar course. Cameron was opening up the court far too much giving Anthony too much space to work with and making himself do a lot of work. Anthony was moving more fluidly now than he was in the first and chased everything down in a real effort to close the match out in three. Cameron looked to be breathing hard and was hanging in by guessing well at the front after taking the ball in short. Anthony kept up his steady rhythm and sealed the match 11-7.
 

"I tried to force him to the back but he was too good today. I wanted to stay I front but he simply put too much pressure on me."

"I wanted a good start to stamp out any confidence he had. He seemed to be guessing well at the front which wasn’t easy to deal with."

[2] David Palmer (Aus) bt [15] Graham Ryding (Can)    
      11/9, 11/9, 11/8 (39m)

Palmer wins the big points
Stacey Ross reports

David made a quick start and took an early 4-1 lead which Graham managed to pull back and level. The remainder of the first was a point for point battle and at 9-9 could have gone either way but was finally clinched by David 11-9.

David again took the lead in the second 6-3 but a similar pattern to the first was emerging with Graham making his game tighter and working his way back into the match. The score reached 9-9 and Graham looked to have found some momentum having recovered from 9-7 down.

The outcome of many matches often hinge on the way the most important rallies are played and this is where the difference appeared. Davis was solid and was getting onto the ball early after hitting a firm length creating pressure and securing the second 11-9.

Graham’s first lead of the match came in the third and from 1-0 he extended his lead to 6-3. David drew level at 6 all and whilst all the rallies were very tight pushed ahead to 8-6. David was stretching Graham well. From a deep ball on the backhand, which Graham was forced to lift up, then allowed David to come forward and take the straight volley drop into the front corner making a successful combination. Graham scored one more point in the third and David booked his place in the quarters winning the third 11-8.
  

"I was better tonight but not as good as I want to be. You can’t afford to have tough matches early on otherwise you suffer for it in the later rounds."

"Today was better than yesterday but I didn’t get him behind me enough. I took too long to take the ball in short, had I done it earlier it could have made a difference."