2015 Day THREE - men's round one    open in new window

"He is talented, I know him quite well, we played a lot in the juniors, and after the junior time as well, he is a great player with good hands, and I knew I had to focus for the whole match and play tight to the wall. Happy it worked.

"The whole French team had a very good week, it was such a great victory for us, we all worked hard, we really enjoyed it, but then, we had to refocus for this event, which is so important for all of us.

"Really happy with my game today."

 

Gregoire Marche (Fra) 3-0
[Q] Mohamed Abouelghar (Egy) 11-3, 13-11, 11-5 (47m)

First blood to the French

Fresh from helping France capture the European Team title for the first time, Gregoire March, elevated to the main draw after a couple of withdrawals, became the first player to reach the second round as he beat Egyptian qualifier Mohamed Abouelghar in straight games.



Marche eased through the first as Abouelghar hit the tin on too many occasions, then edged a close second game as the Egyptian improved. From midway through the third Abouelghar made a series of errors and Marche was trough.

He played really well, he was controlling the court, and he made me move around the court a lot today. He is a talented player, and he is getting better. I hope he’ll be going up the rankings, because he deserves it.

I have very good memories from here last year, beating Karim Darwish was huge for me, he was WR5 at the time. And I just hope I’ll play as well this year as I did last year.

Fares Dessouki (Egy) 3-2 [Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (Egy)
            11-2, 10-12, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5 (73m)

A FEW STOPPAGES…

Not the most fluid of matches, but never a word out of order or bad attitude from the players.

It was an Alexandria versus Cairo battle, and today, Alex won….

Meguid, as ever so nervous at the start of a match, let go for the first game in 7m, with Fares having no trouble imposing his powerful game.

Omar came back very strongly in the next two, but just couldn’t close it in the 4th, Fares having found his shots/game plan back.

Meguid took a terrible start in the decider – head/legs gone? – Fares dominated the short rallies, and although the Cairo man tried to come back, too little too late, a very vocal Fares takes the match 11/5 on his second match ball.

 

Borja Golan (Esp) 3-0 Saurav Ghosal (Ind)
          11-9, 11-9, 11-6 (53m)

Golan in three

A very close match up to the third 5/5, where Saurav suddenly looked very flat. He looked very into the match in the first game, only losing 11/9, but in the second, up 9/8, he was given a no let that seemed to hurt his spirit.

Third, he came back, was truly point for point with Borja, with Borja truly imposing his squash from 5/5, taking it in 53m, 3/0.

Saurav has improved so much and I knew it was going to be very tough today. I needed a result like that to get my confidence back, and my squash back…

I think I’m playing like I was, my level is similar, but the level of squash has gone up. So I need to improve and use my experience to achieve this. I’m very motivated, that’s my strength, and also injury free, which is very important too.

I just want to compete with those guys every time I guess on court…

[7] Simon Rosner (Ger) 3-0 [Q] Ben Coleman (Eng)
          11-5, 11-6, 11-7 (40m).

Coleman competes well

A For Effort for Ben on this one, with the score not telling the story really. First two games were 13m each, for 11/4, 11/5!

Long rallies on a very warm court, Simon having to keep focused at all times. Ben will only be happy with his performance today.

"It’s very tough to get on the glasscourt for the first time, such a different environment, he did a great job, and getting a 3/0 victory today against him is a good achievement.

"I’m very pleased with my results of the season, it went very well, but now, I’m happy the season is coming to an end, so I’m going to try and keep it up with the boys, you really have to push very hard, especially mentally. I’m going to give everything I can in the next round, and see how it goes."

Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) 3-0 [6] Peter Barker (Eng)
         12-10, 11-2 rtd (26m)

Barker not there yet

Despite competing  and leading the 17-minute first game, and so nearly winning it, Peter Barker after recent injury troubles still not fit enough.

At the end of the game, we could see he was struggling for lateral movement, and from the start of the second, he couldn’t go forward at all, and shook his opponent’s hand at the end of the game.

This is the last tournament of the season for me, I am just trying to keep going, but I’m feeling strongly for Peter, never the way you want to win it,

Peter has been injured now for three or four weeks, I hope he’ll recover and come back soon.

[3] Nick Matthew (Eng) 3-1 [Q] LJ Anjema (Ned)
          6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-9 (60m)

Matthew's Back

A brutal encounter between the two players, both coming back from injury – well, Nick injury in El Gouna that started in Canary Wharf, and LJ from heavy surgery.

First game, all about LJ, Nick probably having not touched a racquet for a while, 8/1 for the Dutch, Nick coming back strongly but a bit short, 11/6 in 13m. In the second, reverse role, 3/0 start for Nick and LJ not showing up, Nick too good, 11/4 in 8m.

Third, this time is 3/0 for LJ, but after that, point for point, 6/6, 8/8, 9/9, Nick clinching it 11/9 in 19 long minutes. Fourth again nothing between them, 7/7, 8/8, 9/9, and it’s Nick in 9m. Happy he was.

I’m happy to get off the court in one piece really! And glad I’ve got one day off tomorrow. There was a couple of movement there where LJ and I had to use our brains more than we used to a few years back, where we were bouncing all over the court like headless chickens!

It’s incredible to see how my ankle has improved in 40h, there is a lot of work happening behind the scenes to get me moving, Joe, my physio in Sheffield, has been working round the clock.

So nice to get so much support, thanks to everybody for turning up, I’ll need that support this week, so please keep turning up, James is playing after me, so please keep coming down and support us….

[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egy) 3-1 James Willstrop (Eng)
         11-7, 5-11, 11-4, 11-7 (49m)

Top seed beats (3-time) former finalist

The pace that the Beast set from the start was just too fast for Gentleman James and the style of play just didn’t suit the Englishman at all.

The games were very short, 9m, 8m, 10m, only the last one was a bit longer, 14m.

Basically, Mohamed played the perfect tactic, hitting extremely hard, mixing it with delicate winners and twisting and turning James beautifully.



He had a little lapse in the 2nd, after a superb start from James, 4/0, 5/1, when he went for a drop shot and made an involuntary split that seems to impaired his movement for a little while. James took full advantage of the little wandering mentally that the world Number 1 seemed to have, 11/4, playing the squash we know he can play.

But after probably testing his hamstring sidecourt and realising that he was fine, Mohamed just blasted his way through the next two games, forcing James to keep scrapping around, 11/4, 11/7 for Mohamed.

My preparation for this tournament has been completely different from any other. When I heard that I was playing James in the first round I was in shock for 1 or 2 days. And then, I realised I had to prepare for that first round as I would normally do for a final. It was not easy for me, and I’m sure it was not easy for him either!

It was a high quality match, he is not back yet at his best level, but he is not far off now, and the matches he had during the latest part of the season have helped him for sure, and I think he’ll be back at his best for the next season.

This has been an interesting season for me, I reached the world number 1 spot for the first time, and I had to learn to deal with it as well. Sometimes you have to lose to learn, but I was trying not to lose and still learn, and that’s what I’ve managed, up to now, I was able to protect my status.

I would love to put my name on this trophy, and I am very grateful to Dr Allam for his continuous support, I’m sure all players are, and we are all happy to come back here every year to compete in this prestigious tournament.

"I had never played Alister before, he had some good results, so I was very focused. I thought I played well, even in the first game that I lost, it was very close and it could have gone either way. Now looking forward to my rest day."

Marwan Elshorbagy (Egy) 3-1 Alister Walker (Bot)
      10-12, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 (43m)

Marwan makes it two

A strong start for Alister in the opening game, very little between the players, with Ali taking it on his second game ball.

After that, Marwan seemed to take the measure of his opponent, constantly in front of him, and although Alister never gave him, there was only going to be on winner today.

[14] Sabrina Sobhy (Usa) 3-0 [8] Misaki Kobayashi (Jpn)
             12-10, 11-8, 11-9 (29m)

“I’m thrilled. I’m very surprised, I did not think that was going to happen, Misaki’s a great player, and she just played a tournament right before this a couple days ago, she had a tough one and a great win, so I’m sure she’s exhausted from playing, but I’m really happy.”

“I think it went pretty well, I won in three, and last time I played her I lost in three, so I’m happy.”

[6] Siyoli Waters (Rsa) 3-2 [10] Olivia Blatchford (Usa)
         11-6, 15-17, 4-11, 11-9, 11-9 (62m)

“With matches like that, you're just happy to be the one that hits the ball up above the tin on the last point.

"It was a very close game, Olivia and I know each other well, and the last time she won when we played so I knew that it would be a tough battle until the end. So I’m happy I was able to keep fighting until the last point.

“It was super to have my family watching and supporting, I think it helped, because I was 2/1 down and my husband came and said a few words and I think that really helped, today their support was tremendous and I’m so grateful my whole family could be here.

“I’m very pleased to qualify, last year was the first time I qualified and to be able to do it again, I’m hopefully showing a bit of consistency in my game and it would be nice to be able to go one further this year.”

[3] Tesni Evans (Wal) 3-1 Nele Gilis (Bel)
            11-3, 4-11, 11-2, 11-8 (54m)

“I’m happy to win, Nele is good, she’s young, I played her last week and I won 3-0, but it was tight.

I knew going into today it was going to be hard, and after a slow start, I was happy to win three games after that.

"I'm pleased to have qualified as I failed to qualify last year so I'm really happy as it's always good to qualify in the big events."

Gutted to lose 3-1 but Tesni was too good for me, best of luck in the maindraw!

It's been a great experience to play at the @BJOsquash tho!

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