By Beth Rasin
The fiery spirit, agile athleticism and silken squash shotmaking of Egypt’s Amr Shabana were on full display as he eked out a tiebreak fifth game victory against England’s Alistair Walker in the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions at Grand Central Terminal.
“I was almost on a plane home tonight,” the relieved two time titleholder said after the match. The ninth seeded Walker, who had beaten Shabana for the first time in September at the Sky Open in Egypt, roared into the match winning the first game 11-6. “My head was all over the place,” the third seeded Egyptian said, “and I had to tighten up my game to get back on track. He has amazing reach, and can volley any ball that isn’t really tight on the rail.” In a match marked by huge momentum swings, Shabana won the second game 11-5, lost the third 11-2, and won the fourth 11-2.
“When you get to the fifth, it is anybody’s game,” Shabana continued. He looked to have the match in hand at 7-3, but the Englishman staged a five point rally to take the lead 8-7 after moving Shabana from side to side and hitting a winning backhand rail. A Walker tin and a stroke to the Egyptian gave Shabana match ball at 10-8. His leaping volley on the next point went into the tin and an out ball brought the game to a 10 all tie. Shabana showed that he was not about to be denied as he made two diving saves to keep the ball in play on the next point which ended in a let. The eventual victor then buried the ball deep in the backhand corner to force an error from Walker, which was followed by a tin, securing the former world champion a place in the ToC quarterfinals.
Shabana’s opponent will be sixth seed James Willstrop, who defeated Mohammed Ali Reda in three straightforward games. Having survived a tough five-game first round match, the Egyptian wasn’t sharp or strong enough to challenge Willstrop. There was a heart stopping moment in the second game, however, when Willstrop asked for a three minute injury timeout. “It was scary, because I’m just now feeling fully comfortable after recovering from surgery in April for a bone spur, and my worst nightmare is to have another injury” said Willstrop. ”Fortunately it wasn’t anything more than a slip on court.”
Top seed Karim Darwish also made it into the quarterfinals with a win over countryman Hisham Ashour, who made Darwish work hard for the win, even though it was a straight game victory. “With Hisham, you never know how he’s going to play – he always brings something new to the court,” Darwish remarked. “Every time I play him I feel like I am playing him for the first time.” Ashour, although frustrated that he did not win a game, was encouraged by the standard of play. “I was finding some good pace,” he said. ”Now I just need to get all the good squash in my head out on the court.”
Darwish’s next opponent will be seventh seed David Palmer who schooled qualifier Adrian Waller with relentless attacking pace and stuck-to-the wall rails. “He was just too strong,” said Waller after losing, 11-4, 11-4,11-4. “I have gotten a pretty favorable draw,” said Palmer, “and I am trying to take advantage of it so I can be in a position to challenge the top four guys. I definitely wanted to have short matches so I didn’t waste any gas in the early rounds.”
World #1 Ramy Ashour opened the evening session of play with a blistering victory over qualifier Nicolas Mueller. The 22-year-old had some extra fire in the belly after reading that some of his fellow competitors thought they had figured out his game. “Some people think that they know my game – that they can beat me at my game. But for someone to learn my game is very hard. I play by instinct –no one can know me but me,” the passionate world champion explained. Ashour’s prodigious shotmaking skills were on full display during the match along with a variety of pace. “It was crazy out there, playing the world #1 in front of a full crowd.” said Mueller. ”It took me one game to realize just how fast the pace is at which he plays.”
Ramy next meets defending champion Gregory Gaultier who eliminated Colombia’s Miguel Angel Rodriguez, 11-8,11-5,11-8. “He is the fastest player in the game, like Speedy Gonzales,” Gaultier said of Rodriguez. “I wasn’t moving the best I could, but I did what I had to do to win the match.” Looking ahead to upcoming encounter with Ashour, the Frenchman said, “I think it is going to be painful for both of us. He beat me at the World Championships, but I beat him in Cairo,” referring to the competitors’ last two match results.
The final match up in the quarterfinals pits world #2 Nick Matthew against eighth seed Wael Hindi. Matthew spent only 23 minutes on court in his match – he was leading Stewart Boswell 11-5,11-5 when the Australian shook hands with Matthew indicating that he was retiring from the match due to a sore knee which he had injured in his match warm up. “I would have liked a little more time on court,” said Matthew, ‘But I did OK last year without a lot of court time,” ruefully noting that Boswell had defaulted to him in last year’s tournament in which he received two walkovers en route to the 2009 final against Gaultier.
El Hindi, on the other hand, needed 81 minutes to defeat Germany’s Simon Rosner to advance to the quarterfinals. After losing the first two games in a 10-12 tiebreak and falling behind 2-4 in the third, El Hindi looked like he might be making an early departure from Grand Central. But he regrouped, and using all his wiles, including slowing the tempo of the game between points, El Hindi muscled his way back into the match. Taking advantage of every let opportunity, El Hindi disrupted Rosner’s rhythm, blunting the German’s power and pace, to win the final three games, 11-9,11-7,11-6. “I think I felt some extra pressure because I had a lot of friend and family here tonight,” El Hindi said. ”When I was down two games, I had to push my mind to be positive.” The power of positive thinking worked – and the eighth seeded Egyptian will have a day of rest before taking on last year’s finalist.
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) def. Mod Ali A Reda (EGY)
3 – 0 11-5,11-6,11-6 39 mins
[3] Amr Shabana (EGY) def [9] Alister Walker (ENG)
3 – 2 6-11,11-5,2-11,11-2,12-10 64mins
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) def. [12] Hisham M. Ashour (EGY)
3 – 0 11-8,11-9,11-8 37mins
[7] David Palmer (AUS) def. [Q] Adrian Waller (ENG)
3 – 0 11-4,11-4,11-4 30 mins
[5] Ramy Ashour (EGY) def. [Q]Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
3 – 0 11-5,11-7,11-7 25 mins
[4] Nick Matthew (ENG) def. [10] Stewart Boswell (AUS)
3 – 0 11-5,11-5, ret 23 mins
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) def.[14] Miguel Rodriguez (COL)
3 – 0 11-8,11-5,11-8 37 mins
[8] Wael El Hindi (EGY) def. Simon Rosner (GER)
3 – 2 10-12, 10-12,11-9,11-7,11-6 81 mins
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