The
Zenit Black Sea Open is to be
broadcast LIVE all
the matches at
http://squashonline.net
to promote squash among Ukrainians and players
all over the world.
Final
Stephane Galifi In Odessa Shock Result
Qualifier Stephane Galifi produced another shock result to defeat
Ahmed Hussein in the final of the Zenit Black Sea Open, PSA M5
tournament to lift his first PSA World Tour title for almost five years.
The Italian had stunned top seed Sebastiaan Weenink in the opening round
before eliminating another seeded player, Manuel Wanner, in the
semi-final. Hussein had also shown a penchant for causing big upsets as
he saw off the second and third seeds Jan Koukal and Christo Potgieter,
respectively en-route to the final.
Galifi started on the front foot and the Italian, who once boasted a
career-high World No.40 ranking, rose to a one game lead.
He kept up his assault in the second game, with Hussein’s five-game
semi-final against Koukal perhaps having an effect on the Egyptian, and
the 37-year-old doubled his advantage with an 11-9 triumph.
The third game was the closest of the lot as both players remained
composed and played a measured game of squash with consistently accurate
rallies. Galifi managed to outlast his opponent to secure an 11-8, 11-7,
12-10 and lift his 10th career PSA World Tour title.
Semi Finals
Qualifier Stephane Galifi Into Final
Experienced Stephane Galifi demonstrated great control and
beat Manuel Wanner 3-1 (11-5 11-5 9-11 11-4)
Stephane
Galifi:
3-1“It’s a pleasure for me at my age to play some more match with young
guys, I like it.
And I’m very happy and very grateful that I’m playing one more match
tomorrow and I’ll try to do my best. I think I started to slow down too
much in the third, I put pressure down and he was trying to play very
slowly and I had a problem a little bit to go through to the ball. I was
too excited and started to be a little nervous in the third but I tried
to relax in the forth. For me it’s like one of my first tournaments
after 3 years of PSA at this level but I need time to feel again the
competition, manage how to see the match, to be consistent for three or
even five games. It’s very hard for me, I lose sometimes concentration
sometime but it’s ok, but I still have experience. And I completed the
match. So it’s a happy end.”
Real fight and a five-game thriller with frequent stoppages around the
mid-court area, which led to even more frequent discussions with the
referee. Close till the end, keeping the crowd on the edge of their
seats Ahmed Hussein bt Jan Koukal 3-2 (9-11 9-11 13-11 11-9
13-11)
Ahmed Hussein: “I’m
very very happy to be in the final. I haven’t been in a final since I
was 11 years old so it’s about 12 years ago. I’m happy with my
performance today. It was a tough match, I was 10-8 up in the fifth, I
had 3 match balls and Jan came back. But after all I won. I can’t
believe in that and I’m looking forward for tomorrow’s match.”
Semi-final:
Stephane Galifi bt Manuel Wanner 3-1 (11-5 11-5 9-11 11-4)
Ahmed Hussein bt Jan Koukal 3-2 (9-11 9-11 13-11 11-9 13-11)
Quarter Finals
Qualifier Stephane Galifi Through To
Black Sea Semis
Stephane
Galifi:
“Denis is a good opponent, but before me he played Rybalchenko for five
games and was really tired. I’ve played with Denis before and I know he
can play better. So I saved all my power for tomorrow. I saw my opponent
today, he played a lot of volley and have a good technique. What do I
expect? I expect to play one more match on Sunday.”
Good technique and quality volleys from young Swiss Manuel Wanner and he
booked a place in the tomorrow semis with Galifi.
Manuel Wanner bt Jean-Pierre Brits 3-0 (11-5 12-10 11-8)
Manuel
Wanner:
newz-1-4“Happy to got through obviously. I’ve never play Britis before
either. I saw the chance to win this match, but I had to win it first
that’s why I was nervous in the beginning. I started well, relaxed
because I didn’t feel any pressure on me. I’m number 6 seed and he’s
number 4. I want to win match easy and relaxed. I think it was a good
match with some quality rallies, some scrappy ones as well. I was kind
of on and off. In second we have a patch, it was kind of up and down but
i’m happy to be through.
My next opponent is Galifi and I’ve heard a lot about him, he’s
definitely one of the quality player on the tour. I can not know what to
expect, let’s see but I’ll give my everything.”
It was unbelievable squash: ferocious pace and brilliant shots
entertained a packed crowd behind the glass-backed court in Odessa.
Egyptian Ahmed Hussein closed out the match.
Ahmed Hussein bt Christo Potgieter 3-1 (11-4 11-2 6-11 11-8)
Ahmed
Hussein:
“I’m very happy, because it will be my first time in a semis. I’m happy
with my performance on the court, I played very well, I was focused I
think it’s the best match i’ve ever played. I was two-love up and then
lost the third game, but I sad myself «I won’t loose and it’s my chance
to win today here in Ukraine!”
It was an incredible five-setter wich Odessa have witnessed!
Jan Koukal bt Ahmed Effat Ashoush 3-2 (8-11 11-9 9-11 11-4 11-5)
Jan
Koukal:
newz-1-6“It was obviously tough match. 3-2, came back from 2:1 down but
I was down in fourth as well. I knew that all this Egyptian guys are
very dangerous and Ahmed proof that, took me a while to figure out this
game. I started play little smarter. The last game was a quite
comfortable and even in fourth when I was 6-1 down he’s got so much
potential. So if I’d given him a chance he’d have taken it. And I was
trying not to give him any opportunity in the end. And I did it.
Tomorrow I have another Egyptian. I’ll play the similar game like him. I
need to play smart, need to play tight and shot to the angles, also not
to give him an opening space for struggle from the racket and dicing
ball in the front of the court. I need to keep him away and make it
physicaly. Thats gonna be my plan for tomorrow.”
Round One
Black Sea First Round Sensation
Qualifier Stephane Galifi came up with a huge upset in the first
round of the Zenit Black Sea Open, PSA M5 event after he defeated number
one seed Sebastiaan Weenink in straight games.
The Italian, who defeated Tymofiy Zheludkov in the final round of
qualifying, shot out of blocks to pull away from his Dutch opponent and
move on to an 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 victory to secure his passage into the
quarter-final.
“I’m happy about the way I’ve played, everything was so good,” said
Galifi.
“I feel great and I’m going to continue in this way until the end.”
Denys Podvornyi caused the day's other big surprise after coming back
from 2-1 down to defeat Mike Lewis and he will be Galifi's opponent in
the next round.
Jan Koukal has also advanced after a professional victory over Julian
Tomlinson. The Czech No.2 seed claimed a 3-0 victory to ensure that the
33-time PSA World Tour title winner will go up against Ahmed Effat
Ashoush in the next round thanks to the Egyptian's triumph over Valeriy
Fedoruk.
South Africa's Christo Potgieter overcame Wildcard Ruslan Sorochinskiy
in four and will face off with Ahmed Hussein who defeated Nicolas
Talbot.
Jean-Pierre Brits and Manuel Wanner will also do battle for a place in
the semi-final after the pair defeated Joeri Hapers and Viktor Kovalchuk,
respectively with the former's match going all the way to five games.
What
the players said ...
Qualifier Stephane Galifi beat the top seed of the tournament
Sebastiaan Weenink 3-0 (11-6 11-8 11-9)
Stephane Galifi: “I’m happy about the way I’ve played, everything so good. I feel
great! And I’m going to continue in this way till the end.”
Denis Podvorniy after a hard-fought victory in a five-game
match over American Mike Lewis 3-2 (11-4 9-11 9-11 11-8 11-7) passes to
the next round of the prestigious PSA tournament in Odessa
Denis
Podvorniy:
“At first, it was unusual to play with left
hander and in the process I switched to the right side. I played a
good length, had the opportunity to attack and confidently
won the first game. In the second I lose the initiative in a
long rallies, made some mistakes and allowed Lewis to win two
next sets. In the fourth, I started to play drops, forcing the opponent
running longer and made errors. And in such way I took the fifth.”
Manuel Wanner completed a straightforward victory, winning 3-0
(11-4, 11-3, 11-3) over Viktor Kovalchuk.
Manuel
Wanner: “It’s my first time in Ukraine. It’s cute, I’ve never been in such
country and it’s different. I like the championship. I didn’t know my
opponent.. He is a local player,, it was cute and fun, he definitely
pushed me a little bit which was good for the first round. Let’s see who
I’ll be play tomorrow, one between Joeri or Jean Pierre. I’ve got my
girlfriend with so I’m all relaxed and it’s so good.”
In a high-quality match between Jean-Pierre Brits and Joeri
Hapers, full of intelligent rallies with an unpredictable end won
Brits 3-2 (8-11 11-7 4-11 11-4 14-12)
Jean-Pierre
Brits: “Very happy to pull the back after being down. I struggled to keep
concentration on the match. I’ve made a few errors but I kept fighting
and won the match. And now I should focus for tomorrow.”
Сompetition in the creative and risky shots between Christo
Potgieter and Ruslan Sorochinskiy was exciting! Potgieter won
3-1 (9-11 11-6 11-8 11-6)
Christo
Potgieter: “I didn’t know what expect in a first game. It’s always difficult to
play with a guy the first time so after that I figured it out and
started to play wider and my game plan worked till the end. It was a
good experience and a good game.”
Ahmed Effat Ashoush produced squash in Egyptian style and took
victory over Valery Fedoruk in 3 straight games 3-0 (11-7 11-3
11-5)
Ahmed
Effat Ashoush: “It was a good match. And now I’m looking forward for tomorrow match.
It will be a big fight with the number two seed Jan Koukal. I hope I can
play well and it could be difficult with lot of pressure but I’m happy
that I get trough it.”
Two victories from Egyptian in a row! Ahmed Hussein bt
Nicolas Talbott 3-0 (11-6 11-4 11-4)
Confident victory from Jan Koukal over Julian Tomlinson 3-0
(11-2 11-5 11-6)
Jan
Koukal: “Last time I played with Julian in Ukraine at Business Open. It
wasn’t easy match at all, it was 3-1. I didn’t play well at that
tournament and I wanted to make sure that I started well today. I said
to myself you should play excellent for the rest of the tournament or
it’s gonna be a disappointment. My next opponent is Egyptian guy and I
only saw him for a few minutes and he’s good and played so tricky so
I’ll do my best.”
Preview
Zenit Black Sea Open
Zenit Black Sea Open tournaments have always been and still are
without any doubt the best in Eastern Europe. Such conclusion can be
reached based on great level of their organization, extraordinary
skilfulness of players and what is the most important – these
tournaments are well known and highly recommended to friends and
acquaintances all around the world. The words Odessa and Zenit
have already become a well recognized squash brand in Ukraine.
These tournaments have been visited by such world famous squash players
as Peter Nicol, Olli Tuominen, Davide Bianchetti, Laurens Jan Anjema,
Mark Krajcsak, Jan Koukal, Amr Swelim, Omar Abdel Meguid, Simon Rosner,
Henrik Mustonen, Stephane Galifi, Chris Ryder and many other well known
masters of racket and ball.
This year the tournament will be once again held under the auspices of
the PSA in categories of both men and women. The Europeans Jan Koukal (CZE)
and Sebastiaan Weenink (NED) are favourites of the competition among men
however the list of players contains representatives of American and
Egyptian squash schools such as Mike Lewis (USA) and Ahmed Effat Ashoush
(EGY). Thus, all the players and spectators will experience various
styles of squash. In the category of women one may expect repeat of last
year’s competition between Ukrainian junior Nadezhda Usenko who will be
defending her championship of this year against her major opponent
Yekaterina Marusan from Russia.
Dmitriy Shcherbakov, director of the tournament: “Ever since the first
Zenit tournament that was held 11 years ago, we have been trying
to make each one of our championships a holiday, make an atmosphere in
which everyone would feel comfortable. And finally today in 2015, the
whole month before beginning of the tournament all the registration
lists in all categories are closed. 190 players from 24 countries.
Absolute record among squash championships that have been ever held in
Ukraine. This shows that Zenit Black Sea Open is fully alive and
awaits its visitors. Here you can once again experience not only
hospitality and friendliness of hosts but also enjoy endless pleasures
of the resort city in general. Every single time Zenit Black Sea Open
tournament will be more and more interesting and presentable.”
Stephane
Galifi:
“I’m
very very happy to be in the final. I haven’t been in a final since I
was 11 years old so it’s about 12 years ago. I’m happy with my
performance today. It was a tough match, I was 10-8 up in the fifth, I
had 3 match balls and Jan came back. But after all I won. I can’t
believe in that and I’m looking forward for tomorrow’s match.”
Stephane
Galifi:
Manuel
Wanner:
Ahmed
Hussein:
Jan
Koukal:
Denis
Podvorniy:
Manuel
Wanner:
Jean-Pierre
Brits:
Christo
Potgieter:
Ahmed
Effat Ashoush:
Jan
Koukal:%20-%20Matias%20Tuomi%20(FIN)-2.jpg)
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