Karim Darwish (EGY) beat Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 11-5, 11-7, 6-11, 12-10 in the quarter-finals of the Swedish Open 2012 to take his predicted place in the semis (photo: Steve Line) 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)
