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Reports
Historic British Open Double For Willstrop &
Duncalf
Yorkshireman
James Willstrop
ensured that there will be English interest in both finals of the
Dunlop British Open - Liverpool 2008 squash championships
for only the second time in 44 years when he overwhelmed
Frenchman Thierry Lincou in straight games in Sunday's
men's semi-finals at the ECHO Arena in Liverpool.
The 24-year-old world No3 from Leeds avenged his recent defeat by
the former world number one in
Kuwait, winning 11-7, 11-3, 11-7 in 50 minutes to reach the final
for the second time.
Earlier Jenny Duncalf - also from
Yorkshire - beat French qualifier Isabelle Stoehr to claim
a maiden place in the women's final.
Willstrop, now in his sixth PSA Tour final in seven events, was in
stunning form against Lincou. The British national champion had
answers for everything that the experienced Frenchman could throw
at him.
After winning the first two games, Willstrop returned to the court
knowing that only two weeks earlier he had been in a similar
position in the Kuwait Open - yet lost in a five-game
thriller!
"Kuwait was a good lesson for me - tonight I kept it simple and
had to be as positive and tough as I could," said the Englishman.
"For a squash player to be in the British Open final is a bit
special."
When asked to comment on the comparison with his 2005 British Open
final appearance, the now 24-year-old said: "My little muscles
have become a bit stronger since then. Hopefully I've got a
bigger engine now - and I hope I'll be able to use it!"
A forlorn Lincou admitted that his opponent never showed any signs
of fatigue nor gave him any easy points. "He was just too good -
he played amazing squash," said the 32-year-old from Marseille.
"I think he's in good shape to win it if he wants it."
Willstrop will face
Australia's three times champion David Palmer in Monday's
final. The fifth seed, appearing in his seventh semi-final in
nine years, led throughout the opening game against Karim
Darwish, the No7 seed from Egypt who knocked out France's
defending champion Gregory Gaultier in the previous round.
But it was all-change in the second as the 26-year-old from
Cairo claimed the upper hand and took the game for the loss of
just three points.
And Darwish continued to press home his advantage in the third
until referee Wendy Danzey stopped the game, instructing
the Egyptian to leave the court to have a 'blood injury to the
knee' attended to.
Amazingly, it was only seconds after walking back on court that
the former world junior champion turned back - signalling that he
could no longer continue. It later transpired that he had also
strained his Achilles tendon earlier in the match.
"It feels great to be in the final - but a little strange," said
the 31-year-old Australian who was also taken aback by the abrupt
curtailment of the match.
"I thought he'd caught his knee - I didn't realise it was anything
to do with his ankle. But I was in trouble at that point in the
match - I'd played pretty well in the first game but he totally
turned it round in the next."
Jenny Duncalf, the world number eight who had never before lost to
Stoehr, admitted that she was "a little bit edgy" in the early
part of the match against her lower-ranked opponent - and dropped
the first game.
The 25-year-old fifth seed from
Harrogate fought back and finally converted her fourth match ball
to record a 4-9, 9-3, 9-6, 9-6 triumph after 73 minutes.
"I'm ecstatic to be in the final - this has to be the best result
of my life," added Duncalf.
Later
Malaysia's top seed Nicol David put in a powerful
performance to beat Natalie Grainger, the Manchester-born
fourth seed from the USA.
Grainger led 5-2 in the first game - but only scored one further
point in the match as David took control and stormed to a 9-5,
9-1, 9-0 victory in just 27 minutes.
"I got my momentum midway through the first game and started
playing a much more attacking game," said the two times champion
who suffered a shock defeat in the 2007 event.
Willstrop & Duncalf Provide English Interest In British Open Semis
 There will
be English interest in both the men's and
women's semi-finals of
the Dunlop British Open - Liverpool 2008 squash
championships after Yorkshireman James Willstrop
survived a 61-minute battle against England team-mate Peter
Barker in the men's quarter-finals at the ECHO Arena
Liverpool.
Earlier
England's chances of a finalist in the women's event were
massively boosted when Jenny Duncalf, also from Yorkshire,
upset defending champion Rachael Grinham 9-5, 1-9, 9-6,
9-1.
The
25-year-old fifth seed from Harrogate, who had never before beaten
the three times champion from Australia, will now face Isabelle
Stoehr in the semi-finals after the French qualifier earlier
ousted Rachael's sister Natalie Grinham, the second seed.
In a
hard-fought and relentless encounter, 24-year-old Willstrop
recovered from a swift second game loss to defeat left-handed
Londoner Barker 11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 11-8.
"It was an
absolute scrap," said the England number one, who now reached the
last four for the second time in four years. "I didn't feel
either of us controlled the game well - but it was a good game and
an honest one against a good guy whose game has really come on.
"You get
more motivated as the rounds go on," added the world number three
from Leeds.
Barker, who
came up against Willstrop countless times as a junior and senior,
said: "I'm very, very disappointed. But it was no disgrace. I'd
be happy for James to go through to the final - and I know he'd
have felt the same about me."
The men's
event produced two successive shocks in the afternoon session when
the defeat of defending champion Gregory Gaultier was
followed by the surprise exit of top seed and world number one
Amr Shabana.
Third seed
Gaultier, the world number two who last year became the first ever
French winner of the men's trophy, crashed out 11-9, 11-7, 11-3 to
Egypt's Karim Darwish, the No8 seed.
"That was
the best win of my career," said the 26-year-old from Cairo who
was also a semi-finalist two years ago. "I knew I could do it -
but I had to stay focussed as Greg is one of the best players
around.
"I kept
thinking about the last time we played - in Kuwait, where I was
ahead in all of the games but he won 3/0," explained Darwish,
ranked eight in the world.
"I wasn't
focussed then, but I was today - I had to believe in myself."
It was a bad
day at the office for Shabana, one of the game's most gifted and
mercurial talents. After dropping the first game, the favourite
came back to level the match.
But Palmer,
making his 12th appearance in the event since 1997 and
champion three times, maintained the pressure to come through an
11-6, 3-11, 11-5, 11-8 winner after 49 minutes.
"I'm just
happy to play at this level still - I've nothing to prove
anymore," said the 31-year-old from New South Wales who recently
settled in Boston, USA.
"I don't
think either of us played particularly well - but maybe I wanted
it a bit more," added Palmer, now in his seventh semi in nine
years.
The lower
half of the women's draw was thrown into disarray when Jenny
Duncalf defeated Rachael Grinham, the reigning world champion and
former world number one.
The
25-year-old fifth seed from Harrogate had never before beaten the
three times champion from Australia: "I don't know what
happened," said a seemingly startled Duncalf later. "I had to
keep reminding myself to stay focused - you can't afford to relax
for a moment with Rachael, she's so good with the racquet."
In the first
British Open semi-final of her career, Duncalf will face
Isabelle Stoehr after the French qualifier earlier ousted
Rachael's sister Natalie Grinham, the second seed.
Grinham
junior, a record three times Commonwealth Games gold
medallist, won the opening game - but, at 4-0 in the second, took
a lunge which caused pain in her left thigh.
"I called
for the physio at 6-4. In the break, he said I could go back on
but it might make sit worse," explained the 30-year-old from
Queensland who now flies the Dutch flag.
"Sometimes
pain just goes away, but when I tried a similar lunge at the
beginning of the third game, the pain was so sharp I just had to
stop. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before."
Stoehr had
mixed feelings about claiming her maiden appearance in the
semi-finals: "50% I'm happy and 50% I'm not," said the
28-year-old from Montpellier, who survived three qualifying
matches before the first round.
"People say
'Isabelle is not fit'! This is a good reply to those who say
that.
"Everything
is now a bonus to me."
Later in the
day, Malaysia's world number Nicol David recovered from a
game and 5-2 down to beat difficult opponent Shelley Kitchen
7-9, 9-7, 9-5, 9-2. The win avenged a shock second round loss to
the New Zealander in last year's World Open in Madrid.
Shock
British Open Exit For Ashour
Malaysia's Mohd Azlan Iskandar
pulled off a sensational upset in the Dunlop British Open -
Liverpool 2008 when he beat second-seeded Egyptian Ramy
Ashour in four games to take an unexpected place in the
quarter-finals of the PSA Super Series Silver event
at the ECHO Arena in
Liverpool.
It was clear from the outset that the 20-year-old world number
four from
Cairo - wearing full length white surgical stockings - was
suffering in some way when the Malaysian outsider romped to a
first game win in just five minutes.
Despite severely restricted movement, the sport's rising star was
able to use his sensational racquet skills to win the second game
- but it always looked unlikely that Ashour could win the match.
"It was hard dealing with that situation - but I must admit that I
found it a bit intimidating when he came onto court wearing
tights!" said the delighted 11th seed Iskandar after
his 11-1, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8 victory. "You think he's injured, then
he gets the ball back with interest!
"But when you win the first game 11-1, what do you do? I got a
bit excited, I admit, but I had to remind myself to go back to
fundamentals: the player who makes the most errors loses the
match!
"Six months ago, I would have bottled it - so I'm glad I was able
to concentrate on the job in hand."
It was a deeply downhearted Ashour that was finally able to
explain what had happened. "My injuries include both my ham
strings, as well as my ankle and my lower back.
"I feel that I'm abusing myself - abusing my body. I think I
should rethink what I do - if I keep on like this, I won't keep
going for another two years."
World No3
James Willstrop
will meet career-long rival and
England team-mate Peter Barker in Saturday's quarter-finals
to ensure home interest in the semi-finals of the
longest-established and most prestigious event in world squash.
In the second round match at the
Liverpool Cricket Club,
England number one Willstrop despatched Malaysian Ong Beng Hee,
the tenth seed, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7 in 47 minutes to reach the last
eight for the fifth time in the past six years.
The adjacent second round match which produced the fourth seed's
next opponent featured the two team-mates who fought alongside him
in
England's victory over France in last week's European Team
Championships final. It was close and seesaw encounter
between the two closest seeds in the last sixteen, in which
left-handed Londoner Peter Barker, the eighth seed, ultimately
prevailed 11-9, 4-11, 11-10 (2-0), 9-11, 11-8 over ninth-seeded
Yorkshireman Lee Beachill in 83 minutes.
"Lee's probably moving better than he has done for a long time -
and as his ball-striking is the best in the world, I feel
delighted to have won," said Barker after the longest match of the
day.
"But I have mixed emotions about beating him, as we have become
close friends over the past year and he has become a massive
influence to me. He was a major factor in helping me win the
deciding match in last year's World Team Championship final.
"But at the end of the day, it's just a game of squash," concluded
the 24-year-old Londoner.
Top seed Amr Shabana survived a tough - but entertaining -
match against US-based Scot John White, beating the game's
hardest-hitter 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 11-10 (2-0) in 52 minutes. In
fact, 13th seed White came off court midway through the
fourth game thinking he'd won it to force a decider. However, the
referee ruled a let and asked the players to return to the court.
The favourite went on to save two game balls before converting his
first match ball to secure a place in the quarter-finals for the
second successive year.
"John and I always have fun matches - in fact, it was tough to
concentrate, I was enjoying it so much. I had to keep reminding
myself that the point of the match was to win - not just have
fun," explained the 28-year-old from
Cairo who has topped the men's world rankings for the past two
years.
"I had to raise my game in the fourth to win the match - and I'll
now have to get myself prepared for my quarter-final against David
Palmer, "added Shabana, who has won major PSA Tour titles all over
the globe, including three World Open crowns, but never the
British Open.
"It's the one I haven't won. When I was a junior, I used to dream
about winning the British Open. It would be great to win it now -
then I would have the complete set!"
White, a veteran of the Tour for more than 17 years, revealed
later that this would be his last British Open. A
quarter-finalist in his debut in 1996, the Australian-born
34-year-old has taken up the role as Director of Squash at
Franklin & Marshall College in the USA.
"I've had great memories of the British Open, including my best
win over Canadian Jonathon Power in the 2002 semi-finals which
took me to the final for the first time," said the 13th
seed, a former world number one.
"But I couldn't have planned a better way to go out than with a
match against Amr Shabana. Since going through qualifiers
together some 15 years ago, we've become great friends and always
have really enjoyable matches.
"He's really picked up his game over the past few years and become
an unbelievable player. I hope he goes on to win the title here -
I'd be delighted for him," concluded White.
The event's first upset took place in the women's event when
Isabelle Stoehr, a qualifier from
France, beat eighth-seeded Egyptian Omneya Abdel Kawy
9-2, 2-9, 9-6, 9-6 in 66 minutes.
Abdel Kawy - fresh from victory in last month's Hurghada
International in her home country, where she beat world
champion Rachael Grinham in the final - was playing her
opening match of the tournament, whereas Stoehr had already
battled through three qualifying rounds.
"It was her first match, so I knew I had capitalise on the fact
that I'd played three times on the courts - and get a strong
start," said the 28-year-old from Montpellier. "I tried to play
it really tight - she's got such good racquet skills. But I also
knew she could give me a few easy points.
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