French World No.1 Gregory Gaultier claimed his 30th PSA World Tour
tournament title by defeating Egyptian World No.5 Amr Shabana in the
final of the 2014 NetSuite Open, PSA International 70 tournament in
San Francisco on Tuesday September 30.
Gaultier, who was competing in his 60th World Tour event final,
emerged a resounding victor beating four-time World Champion Shabana
3-0 in just 32-minutes, in what was their 29th meeting on tour, to
win his second NetSuite Open title to add to his triumph in 2012.
The victory ensured the man from Aix-En-Provence completed a clean
sweep in the competition, beating Gregoire Marche, Chris Simpson,
Miguel Angel Rodriguez and Shabana without dropping a single game
throughout the tournament.
“I didn’t know we had played that many matches on tour," said
Gaultier.
"We’re both quite old now and he’s still pushing very hard to be at
the top but of course I am very happy to have won.
"We need support like we have here in San Francisco to help our
sport grow and it was nice to see a good crowd tonight. John (Nimick)
and his team put together an amazing event here and I'll certainly
be coming back next year."
“When you play the No.1 player, you know you’re going to have a big
challenge," said 35-year-old Shabana, who fell to Gaultier at the
semi-final hurdle in 2012.
“I would have liked to put on a better show, but sometimes you get
destroyed. You’re never too old to learn.”
Gaultier
To Face Shabana In NetSuite Final
#PSAWorldTour
World No.1 Gregory Gaultier and No.5 Amr Shabana, the NetSuite Open
number one and two seeds, respectively, will meet in the finale of
the PSA International 70 tournament at San Francisco's Justin Herman
Plaza today (Tuesday September 30).
Gaultier, the Frenchman who has topped the PSA World Rankings since
April 2014, booked his place in a third consecutive NetSuite Open
final following a straight-forward 3-0 victory over Colombian
national champion Miguel Angel Rodriguez in the semi-finals.
The man from Aix-En-Provence will be hoping to go one step further
than his runner-up finish in 2013 and regain the title he won in
2012, and his opponent in the final will be four-time World Champion
Amr Shabana, after the Egyptian 'maestro' come through a tight
semi-final encounter against fellow left-hander Peter Barker of
England.
Shabana, who bowed out in the semi-final stage in 2012 against
Gaultier, will be aiming to claim his third PSA title of the year
and repeat his 3-0 victory over the Frenchman in the final of the
J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions World Series event in January
which saw him recapture the form that saw him hold the Word No.1
status for three years.
Top
Seeds Into NetSuite Open Semi-finals
#PSAWorldTour
World No.1 Gregory Gaultier eased into the semi-finals of the
NetSuite Open PSA International 70 tournament in San Francisco after
a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Chris Simpson during the
quarter-final stage in which all top four seeds progressed.
Gaultier, who lost the 2013 final to Egyptian Ramy Ashour, missing
this year through injury, dismantled Simpson in just 31 minutes
while tournament second seed Am Shabana took 54-minutes to see off
England's Adrian Grant, the World No.24, coming through comfortably
in a four-game contest 11-6, 11-3, 6-11, 11-8.
England's Peter Barker, the Commonwealth Games bronze medal winner,
progressed through his quarter-final encounter with Botswanan
Alister Walker, winner of last week's ILEX Construction
Charlottesville Open, taking all three games from the World No.30
while Miguel Angel Rodriguez, the highest ranked South American
player of all-time and tournament number four seed, earned his place
in the semi-final after Laurens Jan Anjema was forced to retire due
to an ankle injury.
NetSuite Nabs Naming Right For Next
Generation Glass Squash Court
There will be a new state-of-the-art all glass squash court used for
the NetSuite Open in San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza Sept.
26-30. The new court – the NetSuite Challenge Court – will be
used at each of the following tournaments for the next five years,
among other events:
Two-time World Squash Champion Ramy Ashour, the
maverick Egyptian superstar, has been forced to withdraw from the
forthcoming NetSuite Open and Delaware Investments US Open squash
tournaments taking place in San Francisco and Philadelphia,
respectively, due to injury.
The 26-year-old Cairo-based player has suffered from
a successive run of problems since a remarkable 49-match winning
streak ended in injury against Nick Matthew during the 2013 World
Squash Championship, and a latest setback sees him out of contention
to win two of the most prestigious squash events played in America.
One of the greatest shot players ever to play the
sport, Ashour has cited ongoing issues with a troublesome hamstring
as the reason behind his latest withdrawal which will deny him the
chance to defend his NetSuite Open title or add a second US Open
crown to his collection.
As a result, Ashour's compatriot and four-time World
Champion Amr Shabana will move up to occupy the number two seed in
the NetSuite Open, an International 70 event, and the number four
seed in the US Open, a PSA World Series tournament.
The full amended draw for both tournaments is as
follows:
NetSuite Open - 1st Round Draw:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Gregoire Marche (FRA)
Chris Simpson (ENG) v [7] Cameron Pilley (AUS)
[5] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [4] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
[3] Peter Barker (ENG) v [WC] Julian Illingworth
(USA)
Alister Walker (BOT) v [6] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
[8] Adrian Grant (ENG) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [2] Amr Shabana (EGY)
US Open - 1st Round Draw:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [Qualifier]
Adrian Grant (ENG) v Laurens Jan Anjema (NED)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) v [Qualifier]
Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v [7] Simon Rösner (GER)
[5] Borja Golan (ESP) v Adrian Waller (ENG)
Mazen Hesham (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [3] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY)
[4] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Max Lee (HKG) v Joe Lee (ENG)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
[WC] Christopher Gordon (USA) v [8] Omar Mosaad (EGY)
[6] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Saurav Ghosal (IND)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Alister Walker (BOT)
Chris Simpson (ENG) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
The NetSuite Open gets underway in San Francisco on September 24,
with main draw action commencing on Friday September 26 while the
2014 US Open takes place at Drexel University, Philadelphia from
October 9 - October 18.