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Fri 2nd Oct, Day SIX, SEMI-FINALS:
[1] Egypt 3-0 [4] Australia
Ramy Ashour 3-1 Cameron Pilley 13-11,
8-11, 11-6, 11-9 (60m)
Karim Darwish 3-2 David Palmer 11-6,4-11,14-16,11-8,11-5 (86m)
Amr Shabana 2-0 Stewart Boswell
12-10, 11-7 (20m)
Egypt into the final
World Champion Ramy Ashour puts the top seeds ahead, but it
was far from an easy victory over Cameron Pilley ... World
number one Karim Darwish comes from behind to put the top seeds
into the final.
[2] England 1-2 [3] France
Adrian Grant 3-1 Renan
Lavigne 9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 (52m)
James Willstrop 1-3 Gregory Gaultier 10-12, 11-6, 6-11,
10-12 (55m)
Peter Barker 1-3 Thierry Lincou
6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 8-11 (60m)
France dethrone England
They've met so many times, and so many times England have
emerged the victors, but today in Odense France got the better
of their old enemies, just as they did in the 2003 semis in
Vienna, as they came from behind to deny the holders the chance
of a third successive title. And boy, were they happy about it
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Streaming and Videos
13.00
5/8:
RSA 2-1 ITA
9/12: GER 0-3 MAS
13/16: SCO 2-1 IRL
13/16: NED 2-1 KUW
21/22: WAL 2-1 SWE
16.00
9/12: USA 1-2 NZL
17/18: HKG 2-1 IND
23/24: ESP 2-1 AUT
25/28: SRB 1-2 JPN
19.00
5/8: CAN 0-3 PAK
19/20: FIN 2-1 DEN
25/28: KEN 2-1 VEN
Detailed Results
Photo Galleries |
THIERRY IN A ZONE…
Framboise reports
I’m writing this report late at night. It took me that long to
digest what happened. To realise first, then enjoy, then move
on. And now, I’m ready to write about what happened.
What happened is France getting freaking lucky my friends. One,
Nick getting injured, because although the French camp wants to
believe that it didn’t change much, as the quality of the
English players is such that playing one or the other wouldn’t
have changed history.
Two, LJ made an enormous match against David the day before they
were meant to play France, and just couldn’t move. “I have the
impression I was hit by a truck”, he laughed. “Don’t believe you
haven’t”, I replied. So, that was one less enormous match for
either Greg or Thierry. Everything counts…
And three, the order of play today. Renan playing first. Greg
second, and Thierry, whose mental strength is recognised by all.
Entered Renan.
 Renan
is like those motorbikes Solex we used to have in France a few
years back. You put a bit of diesel in it, and it just runs, and
runs, and dies on the job… And that set the tone for France,
sending the message that the boys were going to give everything
they had, although Adrian did win the last three rather
comfortably, the French Team Spirit was rolling.
As I said already, Greg is often paralysed in Team events, that
fear to disappoint that sticks to him and make him lose his
marks too often. But sandwiched between his team mates, he felt
comfortable…
Tonight, against a stunning James, yet again, who played out of
his skin, like he always ALWAYS does, Greg was a rock. At the
end of the second, he turned to his team mates for the first
time of the match, and in my memory, for the first time ever,
and dedicated to them a tough rally he just clinched.
And that's when I knew he was going to win that match, whatever
James would throw at him, because suddenly, being part of a team
wasn’t an obstacle or a barrier, but it was a support, like a
magic carpet almost, that made him play one of the best matches
he ever played. He would have, I truly believe, beaten anybody
tonight.
And in came Thierry.
If the former World Champion was ever ready for battle, tonight
was the night. Bouncing the ball extremely slowly as he was
about to serve– something he
does only when 200% focus – he played out of his skin for the
first two games. “I had the impression to see the Thierry of 5
years ago”, told be both an Egyptian and a Pakistani later
tonight. And that’s a perfect observation.
“Thierry makes you believe he owns the court”, commented Ramy.
Yes, tonight, for those two games, Thierry couldn’t do anything
wrong. His width was astonishing, Peter could not volley once.
His length was such the English had to attack from so far back
that he had to play a very high percentage game, leading to a
stunning winner, or to an unforced error. And too many unforced
errors started to play on his mind. The Frenchman’s tight drive,
perfect height, didn’t allow Peter to settle his nerves until
the start of the third.
Cleverly, the Englishman started to twist and turn Thierry more
and more, and for the first time of the match, was able to
prevent him to adjust his shots. A few tins, a few tactical
errors from the French, a Peter that starts to play extremely
well, and 2/1 for England.
But Peter made an error in my mind there. He won points in that
fourth, but too quickly, letting the Frenchman recover his
breath, and at the start of the fourth, Thierry had found his
second wind, and pushed, and pushed, and pushed. It was not the
same comfortable game than in the start of the game. It was guts
and years of losing to those stunning English Champions that
made him soar and bulldozer point after point.
Match ball 10/6. The French camp is about to explode. Peter
plays out of his skin, gives everything he has, and saves one
point. Two points. But a last volley drive. No let. Match to
France..
While the French are jumping up and down, Thierry is still on
the court, goes to the front wall, and shouts a guttural sound
I’ve never heard him shout. “I know, we said that by respect for
our opponents that were without their number 1, we wouldn’t
celebrate, but I just couldn’t help it”, apologised Thierry
minutes later….
But the most important part of the evening for me is that, as
the French were congratulating each other, I walked to David
Pearson, as I always do, win or lose (ok, lose a lot). And I
apologised to him.
“I’m sorry, DP, but I’m really happy, I’m so sorry”, I said”.
And DP had that lovely smile and said, “Fram, it’s normal that
you are happy, you should be, you are French. We didn’t have our
number 1, but we had great wins over the years, it’s your turn
tonight, there will be other matches, other victories. Go and
celebrate tonight”.
And that my friend, is true sportsmanship. That is dignity. That
is truly and spendidly English.
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ADRIAN DOESN’T DISAPPOINT
He was always ultra favourite in this first encounter, but the
Englishman was too strong today for the Frenchman. He did start
a bit edgy, Renan had nothing to lose, and went for shots
that found the nick to give him a 5/0 lead in the first.
That was an excellent
start for the French camp, and Renan, playing a bit too fast
maybe for his own good, was able to keep a good lead, 7/3, 8/4.
Adrian relaxed a bit, and started to come back mentally, but
couldn’t prevent the Frenchman from taking the first, 11/9. But then
again, Adrian has got us used us to his slow starts …
I can’t help feeling that the Frenchman did lose a lot of energy
in this first game, maybe he didn’t pace himself, not sure.
What is sure, is that he was flat in the second, and started to
find a second wind in the middle of the third. But by then,
Adrian was very confident, he was attacking from way back, findind
superb drop shots, and counter attacked whatever Renan was able
to throw at him…
The fourth was a bit of a formality, and not really a surprise to
me, as Renan plays a superb counter attacking game, and for that
reason, is particularly dangerous to a player with an open
game, which Adrian is far away from being, especially today,
where his length and volleying was stunningly accurate…
GREG FOR THE TEAM
Guys, I have so little time to make a report it’s unreal… So, in
a few words, Greg was on fire tonight, and attacked from the
first point to the last. James did what he does best, he
attacked, he retrieved, and he dug in.
But I guess the desperation that comes from always losing to the
English Team gave the French number one a strength he probably
didn’t realise he had. And looking constantly at his camp, we
could see the Frenchman pulling energy out of them to fill
himself with the belief that this one, he was winning. For
France.
May France win or lose, he’s done his duty.
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[1] Egypt
3-0 [4] Australia
Ramy Ashour 3-1 Cameron Pilley 13-11,
8-11, 11-6, 11-9 (60m)
Karim Darwish 3-2 David Palmer 11-6,4-11,14-16,11-8,11-5 (86m)
Amr Shabana 2-0 Stewart Boswell
12-10, 11-7 (20m)
Ramy puts Egypt ahead ...
World Champion Ramy Ashour duly gave top seeds Egypt the lead
over Australia in the second semi-final, but it was far from
easy for the Egyptian superstar.
Pilley matched him throughout the first, had a game ball, and
would have been aggrieved to go two games down had he not won an
equally well contested second.
But Ramy opened up in the third, and although Cameron clawed a
few points back towards the end, 9-1 was always going to be a
winning lead.
To his credit Cameron dug in to make the fourth tough, led it
7-5, but a volley into the tin at 9-all gave Ramy match ball and
he only needed one chance to put Egypt into the lead.
Darwish clinches final place
Having lost his first ever match for Australia earlier in the
week, David Palmer was never going to lie down against the world
number one - as if he would, anyway.
And, after losing the first, the gritty Australian took the game
to Karim Darwish, easing through the second and taking the third
on extra points.
But Darwish struck back, levelling from 8-all in the fourth,
then moving clear from 5-all in the decider to put the top seeds
into the final.
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South Africa score another dramatic win - Rodney Durbach winning
the decider 3-2 against Marcus Berrett to beat Italy 2-1 |
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Serbia
1-2 Japan
Ivan Djordjevic 0-3
Takanori Shimizu 8-11,
6-11, 7-11 (23m)
Dennis Drenjovski 3-1 Yuta Fukui 13-11,
14-12, 9-11, 11-4 (34m)
Daniel Zilic 0-3 Shinnosuke Tsukue 3-11,
11-13, 10-12 (26m)
End of the road for Serbia
Dan Zilic reports
We Serbians had our last match of the tournament against the
favourites for 25th place Japan. We knew it would be tough to
get anything out of that match but nonetheless we were pretty
committed to doing as well as we could.
Unfortunately things did not get off to a good start. Ivan
played against Shimizu and could not find the fine form he
displayed in other matches. I think the tournament is taking its
toll on many players and Ivan was not the freshest against a
bouncy Japanese, who won 3:0.
Dennis Drenjovski promised one major upset in the tournament and
to the surprise of everyone he delivered it today against the
Japanese number one Yuta Fukui. Dennis knew his opponent was 10
years younger almost and very fit, but he combined some patient
play with incredible shot-making and pulled off the best win of
the tournament for Serbia. Fukui may have been a bit tired but
nothing should be taken away from Dennis, who really played some
fantastic squash and won 3:1.
I was last on court against the cool-looking Tsukue. I was the
under-dog but thought I might be able to do something by slowing
it down and using my chances like Dennis. In game one it
definitely did not pay off and I lost 11:3, but then things
started to work out and I went 8:2 up.
Unfortunately I don't seem able to win a tie-break these days
and I wasted my lead and lost in the tie-break 13:11. I
contested game three well and defended two match-balls but lost
another tie-break 12:10 and therewith the match. I really put in
my best effort but the young Japanese pro deserved to win in the
end.
Serbia's tournament is therewith over - it has been a great
experience for us and we are reasonably happy with our
performance. We have made a lot of friends and will take these
memories with us for years to come and hope to become regular
attendees for the World Champs!
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Day Six Morning Report
from Dan Zilic
So this morning, or better said, this midday was probably one of
the most intense so far. And that is without even have visited
the main centre court.
I really enjoy these matches played on traditional courts (with
lower tins though). The teams are really close together, you get
to see the action from really close and regular players can
probably relate more to these matches than to the ones being
played on glass.
Apart from Germany v Malaysia all other three ties being
played over here are currently poised at 1:1.
Stuart Crawford is fighting it out with Arthur Gaskin to
determine the winner between Ireland and Scotland.
Wales, who are the favourite vs. Sweden, are
having a hard time convincing the Nordics about this. Nic Birt
claimed the first scalp for Wales winning 3:1 with a performance
he will be happy with. Rob Sutherland played against Rasmus
Holt, who so far has been one of the surprise packages of the
tournament.
The young Swede with the double-handed backhand surprised many
with a win over Steve Coppinger in the early rounds, and now
followed up his impressive win with an equally superb five-set
victory over Rob Sutherland of Wales. I just about watched the
fifth game, which was great.
Rasmus is a hell of a fighter and his disguised double-handed
backhand is causing trouble for many players. He went 10:8
matchball ahead, at which point Rob played an incredible
cork-screw winner to defend the first. He managed another point
and forced a tie-break, which he lost though to the jubilations
of a fairly large Swedish contingent which has found its way
over the sea.
Court three saw the Netherlands face the Kuwaitis.
On paper the Dutch may bet he favourites, but try telling the
Kuwaitis. Bader Alhusaini, who has impressed me no end in the
tournament so far, outfought Rene Mijs 3:1. Bader, who has
played every single match and only lost two (against El-Hindi
and a tough 1:3 against Martin Knight) put in a gutsy
performance to put he Kuwaitis 1:0 up.
Then LJ went on court with Almezayen, another star of the
tournament so far. LJ is a hell of a player but found himself
2:1 down and was in danger of losing the match. One may think
that this was due to LJ playing badly or having an off day, but
on the contrary it was all down to Almezayen.
The speedy Kuwaiti was playing virtually 60% of his balls to the
front court – if he wasn’t hitting irretrievable nicks he was
playing shots so tight that gave LJ little to work with. If LJ
did find an opening Almezayen was using his absolutely
phenomenal speed to dig out those shots and even play a
wonderful counter-drop from where ever. It made for a
fascinating match, that several pros stopped by to watch only to
utter their amazement at Almezayen’s display.
In the end LJ won 3:2. It was 5:5 in the fifth when Almezayen’s
risky shot-making begun to fade and LJ consistency to pay off. I
think LJ will be relieved to get this match over and done with.
A good win for him, since no matter how big the differenge in
raking (Almezayen should be at least top 50 I would think
though), it is never easy to play the deciding match and being
2:1 down against an opponent who is playing the match of his
life and has nothing to lose.
"I am very tired, I have played
every single match of the tournament so far. We have played in
our best formation every day because we had so many decisive
matches.
"This was the first time I played against Rene. I was able to go
2:0 up and then he took the third game 11:3. The fourth was very
close and he made a few more mistakes so I was able to close the
match.
"Currently, I am just playing a few PSA tournaments. I have been
playing professional since 2004 and my best ranking was 84 back
in 2006. At the moment I have a job and I am also playing Squash
at the same time.
"I play once a day – with the other national team players and we
have a lot of Pakistani coaches for training. I don’t usually
play in the same club as the others, the only two that are from
the same club are Al-Mezayen and Mohammad.
"Next up for us is either Ireland or Scotland. Unfortunately we
have not had a single day of rest and we have not been able to
see anything of Denmark, but it seems like a very nice country.
"My best match of the tournament so far: definitely my match
against Adrian Grant!"
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