February 2012

Video interview with Nicol David!

February 4, 2012 • Tags: , , , , • Categories: all posts, players, videos

Backstage with World No1. Nicol David of Malaysia after she beat Irishwomen Madeline Perry to take her the victory at the World Series Finals 2012 …

Top seeds into Swedish Open semis!

February 4, 2012 • Tags: , , , , , , , • Categories: all posts, players, tournaments

The top two seeds moved safely into the semi-finals of the Case Swedish Open following contrasting quarter-finals in Linköping. In what was described as ‘the tournament’s best game so far’ as Egypt’s world No4 Karim Darwish (pic ri) overcome Nicolas Mueller (pic le) in 4 games (11-5, 11-7, 6-11, 12-10) to maintain his unbeaten record over the Swiss No1.

By contrast, French favourite Greg Gaultier took only 26 minutes to earn his place in the last 4 after despatching England’s Tom Richards 11-6, 11-2, 11-5. Gaultier, the world No3, will now take on another Englishman Peter Barker after the No3 seed beat South African Stephen Coppinger 11-5, 11-4, 11-5.

Unseeded Daryl Selby maintained his powerful run in the event after the world No12 from England recovered from a game down to see off Germany’s Simon Rosner 2-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5.

“We have had four very good days here at the Case Swedish Open, including two days of qualification and now two days in the main draw on the ASB GlassCourt,” said tournament promoter Fredrik Johnson.

“Saturday looks very promising with all the semi-finalists being in the top 12 in the world. It will be a very big crowd at the arena and it looks as it will be sold out.

“We also a very good pro am when Greg Gaultier played a game with Stefan Edberg,” added the former top-ranked Swede.

Semi-final line-up:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [3] Peter Barker (ENG)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Daryl Selby (ENG)

Quarter-finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Tom Richards (ENG) 11-6, 11-2, 11-5 (26m)
[3] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 (32m)
Daryl Selby (ENG) bt Simon Rosner (GER) 2-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 (60m)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 11-5, 11-7, 6-11, 12-10 (49m)

Selby scores Swedish Open upset!

February 3, 2012 • Tags: , , , , , , • Categories: all posts, tournaments

England’s Daryl Selby (pic le) scored one of the best wins of his career in the 1st round of the Case Swedish Open – fighting back from 2 games down to beat 4th seed Thierry Lincou (pic ri) 4-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-3 and make the quarter-finals of the long-established PSA World Tour event in Linköping.

Selby will meet now German Simon Rosner who eased through into the quarters with a 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 over Egyptian 2010 World Junior Champion Amr Khaled Khalifa.

Further 1st round results:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 (49m)
Tom Richards (ENG) bt [Q] Chris Simpson (ENG) 6-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 (70m)
Stephen Coppinger (RSA) bt [Q] Campbell Grayson (NZL) 11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 14-12, 11-4 (92m)
[3] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Rasmus Hult (SWE) 11-4, 11-8, 11-7 (31m)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10 (57m)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [Q] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.

Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Tom Richards (ENG)
[3] Peter Barker (ENG) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
Daryl Selby (ENG) v Simon Rosner (GER)
[2] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Nicolas Mueller (SUI)

Nicol David triumphs in Cleveland!

February 3, 2012 • Tags: , , , , • Categories: all posts, players, tournaments

As Nicol David (pic le) lost last year’s Cleveland Classic against Laura Massaro (pic ri), this year’s victory was the revenge as the World No1 beat her English opponent this time 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8.

David’s victory brought down the number of tournaments she was unable to win to just one, the US Open. The English No2 took the 1st game, as David upped the pace to get the game under control and take her 59th WSA Tour title.

Egypt waltz through – England struggle in Chennai!

February 2, 2012 • Tags: , , , , , • Categories: all posts, teams, tournaments

As the top seeds Egypt (pic) secured 2 straightforward wins in the 1st 2 qualifying rounds in Pool A against Australia and host India, 2nd seed England went down 1-2 to France in Pool B. The WSF Under-21 World Cup is the inaugural mixed team event launched by the World Squash Federation in the Indian city of Chennai.

Qualifying rounds – Pool A:
[1] EGYPT bt [5] AUSTRALIA 3/0
Marwan El Shorbagy bt Jamie McErvale 11-8, 11-3, 11-3 (26m)
Nour El Tayeb bt Tamika Saxby 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 (28m)
Mohamed Abouelghar bt Walter Koteka 11-8, 11-7, 11-4 (18m)

[4] INDIA bt [8] GERMANY 3/0
Ramit Tandon bt Rudi Rohrmuller 11-2, 11-5, 12-10 (45m)
Dipika Pallikal bt Franziska Hennes 11-2, 11-4, 11-7 (20m)
Karan Malik bt Valentin Rapp 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 (33m)

[5] AUSTRALIA bt [8] GERMANY 2/1
Jamie McErvale lost to Rudi Rohrmuller 10-12, 12-10, 3-11, 8-11 (62m)
Sarah Cardwell bt Annika Wiese 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 (20m)
Walter Koteka bt Sven Lemmermann 13-11, 11-9, 11-0 (30m)

[1] EGYPT bt [4] INDIA 3/0
Marwan El Shorbagy bt Ravi Dixit 11-7, 6-11, 11-4, 12-10 (44m)
Nour El Sherbini bt Anaka Alankamony 11-6, 11-3, 11-7 (25m)
Karim Abdel Gawad bt Karan Malik 3-11, 11-9, 11-0, 11-3 (31m)

[1] EGYPT v [8] GERMANY

[4] INDIA v [5] AUSTRALIA

Pool B:
[2] ENGLAND bt [6] HONG KONG CHINA 3/0
Charles Sharpes bt Cheuk Yan Tang 11-1, 11-2, 11-8 (28m)
Emily Whitlock bt Karman Siu 11-2, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7 (35m)
Declan James bt Wong Chi-Him 11-6, 11-8, 12-10 (35m)

[3] FRANCE bt [7] MALAYSIA 2/1
Lucas Serme bt Affeeq Abedeen Ismail 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 (31m)
Cyrielle Peltier lost to Tan Yan Xin 6-11, 11-13, 13-11, 2-11 (42m)
Geoffrey Demont bt Sanjay Singh 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 (33m)

[6] HONG KONG CHINA bt [7] MALAYSIA 2/1
Yeung Ho Wai bt Affeeq Abedeen Ismail 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-4 (53m)
Tong Tsz-Wing bt Tan Yan Xin 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-4 (39m)
Wong Chi-Him lost to Sanjay Singh 11-5, 6-11, 11-6, 10-12, 6-11 (50m)

[3] FRANCE bt [2] ENGLAND 2/1
Lucas Serme bt Charles Sharpes 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 (36m)
Cyrielle Peltier lost to Emily Whitlock 4-11, 1-11, 9-11 (28m)
Geoffrey Demont bt Ben Coleman 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 (58m)

[2] ENGLAND v [7] MALAYSIA

[3] FRANCE v [6] HONG KONG CHINA

David and Massaro in Cleveland final!

February 2, 2012 • Tags: , , , , , , • Categories: all posts, players, tournaments

Nicol David will face Laura Massaro in the Cleveland Classic final, to try and win one of the few titles that eluded her in 2011. At the semi finals, US home-hope Amanda Sobhy’s title challenge came to an end as Englishwoman and last year’s winner Laura Massaro beat the 18-year-old teenager 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 to reach her 18th WSA tour final.

In the 2nd semi last year’s runner-up Malaysian world champion Nicol David (pic ri) overcame Ireland’s Madeline Perry (pic le) in straight games 11-3, 11-4, 11-6. The final will be a hotly contested affair, with Massaro looking to retain her title and David looking for revenge of last year’s defeat.

Beng Hee battles to major title in Detroit!

February 1, 2012 • Tags: , , , , • Categories: all posts, players, tournaments

Ong Beng Hee’s (pic ri) fairy tale run in the Motor City Open in the USA went the full distance when the unseeded Malaysian despatched 2nd seed Hisham Ashour (pic le) in straight games in the final in Bloomfield Hills, near Detroit, to win the 2nd biggest title of his career.

It was after a difficult 2011 which brought him to the brink of retirement that the rejuvenated 31-year-old completed back-to-back upsets of the No4 and No1 seeds before ousting Ashour to secure his biggest PSA Tour title since winning the Malaysian Open in 2008.

In front of a sold-out crowd, world No34 Beng Hee completed a wild 4 days by beating the world No14 from Egypt 11-8, 11-9, 11-7. The win netted the veteran a Rolex Explorer II watch, a winner’s cheque , and a standing ovation from the packed house.