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Borja's bid begins
It was first round proper today, with two courts in action. Local interest concentrated on top seed
Borja Golan, bidding to become the first ever Spaniard to win
the Spanish Open title, and wildcard Eduardo Gonzales de Chaves.
Golan started his campaign safely enough with a 3/1 against qualifier Shaun Le Roux
while Chaves met world junior champion Mohamed El Shorbagy,
and with the backing of a partisan and noisy crowd took a highly
entertaining third game to extra points before finally succumbing in
three - everyone enjoyed it though.
In the first matches of the evening Renan Lavigne and
Bradley Hindle went through with straight-game wins over
Englishmen Jon Harford and Joe Lee.
Scott Arnold put paid to English hopes when he came from two
games down to beat Robbie Temple, and the next two quarter-final
spots were taken by Egyptians as Ali Anwar Reda and Omar
Mosaad beat qualifiers Johan Bouquet and Clinton Leeuw.
 The
last match of the evening was -as ever - the longest one, as Amr
Swelim and Mathieu Castagnet went point for point for
four games. Well past the hour mark they moved into the decider, and
finally it was the Egyptian who opened up some daylight, easing away
in the second half of the game against a tiring Frenchman.
So, it's all eight seeds into tomorrow's quarter-finals and with
four Egyptians in the mix at least one is sure to be in the semis
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[3] Renan Lavigne
(Fra) bt Jon Harford (Eng)
11/6,11/5, 11/6 (36m)
[7] Bradley Hindle (Aus) bt [Q] Joe Lee (Eng)
11/7, 11/4, 11/6 (54m)
[4] Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy) bt Eduardo Gonzales de Chaves (Esp)
11/2, 11/5, 13/11 (30m)
[6] Ali Anwar Reda (Egy) bt [Q] Johan Bouquet (Fra)
11/5, 11/7, 12/10 (34m)
[1] Borja Golan (Esp) bt [Q] Shaun Le Roux (Eng)
11/5, 11/8, 8/11, 11/6 (50m)
[8] Scott Arnold (Aus) bt Robbie Temple (Eng)
8/11, 7/11, 11/5, 11/3, 11/6 (63m)
[5] Amr Swelim (Egy) bt Mathieu Castagnet (Fra)
11/13, 11/8, 13/11, 8/11, 11/5 (78m)
[2] Omar Mosaad (Egy) bt [Q] Clinton Leeuw (Rsa)
11/5, 11/8, 10/12, 11/9 (47m) |
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[3] Renan Lavigne
(Fra) bt Jon Harford (Eng)
11/6,11/5, 11/6 (36m)
"I tried to make it
hard at the start of each game and it worked out ok. It took me a
little while to get used to the court, but its a good court, the
floor is good and the ball sticks to the wall well.
"Overall, a good start."
Renan Lavigne
"Not a lot to say about that really
"Too good, Im just looking forward to Christmas now!"
Jonny Harford |
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[7] Bradley Hindle
(Aus) bt [Q] Joe Lee (Eng)
11/7, 11/4, 11/6 (54m)
"I though I played
pretty well there. I was well up in the first and he came back, but
in 11 scoring you never seems to get much of a breather. He controls
the ball very well, he's a very good player
I tried to put a few
short shots in and he probably started feeling that after such a
hard match yesterday.
"I was playing good squash then had a terrible two months with a
lung infection, so I'm glad to be back in proper training now and
I'm playing pretty well. It's a tough draw, but I don't really care
who I play next, I spent four years training every day with David
Palmer so I lost my fear of worrying about who I was playing
"
Bradley Hindle
"My body felt better than I thought it would, but I was suffering
mentally - I just couldn't focus for more than one or two points
without doing something silly, and I just didn't make him work hard
enough.
"I was always behind in the score, which is always tough, but when
you're not confident it just becomes so hard to get the lead back."
Joe Lee |
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[4] Mohamed El
Shorbagy (Egy) bt Eduardo Gonzales de Chaves (Esp) 11/2, 11/5,
13/11 (30m)
"The first two games
were quite short, which wasn't too good for me because you need a
hard match to get into a tournament. I wanted to make the third as
hard as possible for myself, but I didn't want it to go to a
tiebreak! He played some really good points at the end and played
really well, I was glad when I finished it.
"I've had a good month's training before this event so I'm hoping
for a good result here. I really enjoyed the crowd tonight, they
were great, I hope we see them all back every night, and maybe
supporting me next time"
Mohamed El Shorbagy
"I was a little nervous during the knockup about playing the world
junior champion, but once we got started I was fine, not nervous at
all. I knew I wasn't going to win so I was just trying to enjoy
myself, taking energy from the crowd who I wanted to do well for.
"I think they enjoyed it, I certainly did, but it would have nice to
be able to get a couple of extra points and to say I'd taken a game
off the world junior champion!"
Eduardo de Chaves |
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[6] Ali Anwar Reda
(Egy) bt [Q] Johan Bouquet (Fra)
11/5, 11/7, 12/10 (34m)
"It's all about
getting into the habit of playing this standard of match more, and
getting more confident when playing people who are supposed to be
better than you. I didn't know what to expect of his game, he's much
higher-ranked and he's an Egyptian, you expect tricky shots, so I
wasn't confident at the start but I got more into it.
"I would have enjoyed it more if I'd taken a game, I always enjoy
playing and have fun on there, but it's always nice to stay in
tournaments longer
"
Johan Bouquet
"I started really well in the first, my short game was working well
and he wasn't expecting it. He started getting the ball longer in
the second and he was 10/8 up in the third but I managed to win it.
It was a good tough match though, it's what you always need to start
with, and I hope to move better tomorrow
"
Ali Anwar Reda |
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[1] Borja Golan
(Esp) bt [Q] Shaun Le Roux (Eng)
11/5, 11/8, 8/11, 11/6 (50m)
 "I'm
not thinking about it being the Spanish Open, I'm just taking it one
match at a time. That was a hard one to start with, Shaun played
well, there was no pressure on him, he played good length and was
solid all match.
 "I
played in patches, I have to be more consistent tomorrow, like I
normally am, I need to have more confidence in my shots than today,
I didn't have a very good feel for the ball. I haven't played on
these courts much, they're good and true but you have to get used to
them
"
Borja Golan |
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[8] Scott Arnold
(Aus) bt Robbie Temple (Eng)
8/11, 7/11, 11/5, 11/3, 11/6 (63m)
"I got to 6/1 in the
first, he was hitting tins, and I just got carried away with going
too short way too soon, and that's exactly his game. The first two
just got away from me, I got caught up in what he was doing.
"I changed my game and came out in the next three trying to be more
patient, waiting for him to try and force it and not giving him the
loose balls I did in the first two. He started going for shots that
worked well in the first two and hit a few tins."
Scott Arnold
"I lost it in the head, like always.
"I didn't actually feel I was playing that well in the first two, I
was a bit surprised to be 2/0 up. But after that I just lost my
concentration, changed my game and started hitting the tin. He dug
in and played tidy squash and I had no answer to it, I just couldn't
respond."
Robbie Temple |
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[5] Amr Swelim
(Egy) bt Mathieu Castagnet (Fra)
11/13, 11/8, 13/11, 8/11, 11/5 (78m)
 "That
was very tough. But I knew it would be, I know he's a fighter, he
just never gives up. He's very fast, and I had to win every point,
he doesn't give you anything easy, so I'm really happy with the win.
 "I
thought he was tired in the fourth, he played well to win that, but
I could tell after a few points of the fifth that he really was
tired.
"I've only played Omar once in PSA, I lost 3/2, but we play a lot in
training and it's always close
"
Amr Swelim |
The players
assemble, with Jaime Hernandez Abad, Director of Sport for Santa
Cruz City Council |
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