"Obviously I'm very happy to be in the semi-finals here for the very first time and it feels amazing to get my first win over James," said Simon Rösner. German World No.9 Simon Rösner prevented the semi-finals of the Canary Wharf Classic from being an all-English affair for the 1st time in the tournament’s history with a straight forward 3-0 victory over former World No.1 James Willstrop at London’s East Wintergarden.
The 6′ 3′ tall German power house from Paderborn, has beaten the 31-year-old Pontefract-based Englishman for the 1st time, as Rösner romped to an 11-7, 11-3, 11-3 triumph in just in 36-minutes. “James just come back from surgery and he’s been playing good squash but I’m very pleased with how I kept my focus today”, said Rösner.
Rösner will take on number two seed Peter Barker, the Essex-based World No.8 who knocked him out of the competition at the quarter-finals stage in 2014, while defending champion Nick Matthew will face Daryl Selby as he aims to add a 5th Canary Wharf Classic trophy to his already impressive trophy collection.
“I’ve had some very tough battles with Pete over the years and hopefully I’ll be able to go out there and get my revenge for our quarter-final match last year,” Rösner said.
34-year-old Matthew came through a testing encounter against dangerous Egyptian Fares Dessouki, 14-years his junior, coming through 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8 in 78-minutes to line-up against Selby, who took 125-minutes to get past Spanish champion Borja Golan.
“Fares is a fearless young guys and it was a very tough match – there was only really a couple of points in it,” said Matthew.
Victory for Matthew would see him reach a fourth consecutive PSA World Tour event final in 2015 and with a chance of completing an impressive hat-trick of titles, having already claimed the Swedish Open and Windy City Open crowns inside the past month.
Semi-finals:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [6] Daryl Selby (ENG)
[2] Peter Barker (ENG) v [4] Simon Rösner (GER)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [8] Fares Dessouki (EGY) 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8 (76m)
[6] Daryl Selby (ENG) bt [3] Borja Golan (ESP) 11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 3-11, 14-12 (125m)
[4] Simon Rösner (GER) bt [5] James Willstrop (ENG) 11-7, 11-3, 11-3 (36m)
[2] Peter Barker (ENG) bt [7] Max Lee (HKG) 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 (43m)
1st round:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [WC] Eddie Charlton (ENG) 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 (36m)
[8] Fares Dessouki (EGY) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 (34m)
[6] Daryl Selby (ENG) bt [Q] Joe Lee (ENG) 11-7, 17-15, 9-11, 11-7 (77m)
[3] Borja Golan (ESP) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 11-7, 11-4, 10-12, 11-7 (64m)
[4] Simon Rösner (GER) bt [Q] Lucas Serme (FRA) 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 (52m)
[5] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 11-0, 11-9, 11-7 (39m)
[7] Max Lee (HKG) bt Mazen Hesham (EGY) 9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9 (76m)
[2] Peter Barker (ENG) bt [Q] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 (49m)
