|
Semis
Duncalf Delivers Double David Defeat In Doha
England's
Jenny Duncalf celebrated her second upset over Nicol David in two
weeks when she beat the world number one from Malaysia in five games in the
women's semi-finals of the Qatar Classic, the $74,000 WISPA World
Tour squash event at Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex
in the Qatar capital Doha.
The 27-year-old
fourth seed from Harrogate in Yorkshire - who becomes the first player to
beat the formidable David twice in succession since February 2006 - will now
meet Australia's No2 seed Rachael Grinham in the final.
There will also
be English interest in the final of the men's $147,500 PSA World Tour
Super Series event where fourth seed Nick Matthew, also from
Yorkshire, will face Egypt's defending champion Karim Darwish, the
top seed.
Jenny Duncalf
is enjoying the most consistent phase of her career - her berth in the last
eight in Doha marking her 16th successive quarter-final appearance on the
WISPA Tour since last year's Qatar Classic. And, after beating David for
the first time in 19 attempts en-route to winning the US Open title
for the first time earlier this month in New York, all eyes were on the
pair's return match in Doha.
After dropping
the first game, David took the next two and seemed to be back in control -
on course to win the prestigious title for the fourth year in a row.
But Duncalf, no
longer overawed by the 26-year-old from Penang who celebrated her 40th
consecutive month at the top of the world rankings this month, regrouped and
ultimately closed out the match 11-6, 2-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-6 after 54
minutes.
"She had a
pretty hard match against Laura yesterday - and I saw the heavy strap on her
leg - so I don’t think she was at her best there," Duncalf said later.
"Still, she picks up more shots than everybody else on the tour!
"I was lucky in
New York. I had such a gap that, when I started having the
'oh-my-God-I’m-going-to-win-against-Nicol-for-the-first-time-ever' thoughts,
I was way ahead.
"But today, I
didn’t have that gap, and I think it was an extremely good thing I already
had a win - because I was able to keep it together at the end," added
Duncalf, now in the 12th Tour final of her career and one match away from
her third title success of the month!
Former world
number one Rachael Grinham took just 29 minutes to ease into the 53rd
WISPA final of her career, ending the brave run of Ireland's Madeline
Perry.
The fifth seed
from Belfast ousted England's No3 seed Alison Waters in the previous
round. But Grinham was too strong in the semi, winning 11-6, 11-8, 11-7.
There was a
more successful outcome for the title-holder in the men's event where
favourite Karim Darwish prevailed 11-5, 4-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-7 in 64
minutes over fellow Egyptian Ramy Ashour, the third seed.
"We always have
big matches, Ramy and I - we know each other’s game pretty inside out," said
Darwish, winner of the Qatar title for the first time last year and now in
the 27th Tour final of his career. "And when you are playing against such a
great player as Ramy, if you are not 100% body wise, you’ve got to be
smart!"
Darwish, who
lost his world number one ranking this month to Frenchman Gregory
Gaultier, will face Nick Matthew in the Englishman's first
appearance in the final.
The 29-year-old
from Sheffield took the opening game against England team-mate Peter
Barker and was ahead in the second when the eighth-seeded Londoner was
forced to concede the match - with the score standing at 11-5, 8-2 - due to
a leg injury sustained at the Santiago Open earlier in the month.
Matthew is now
celebrating his sixth appearance in a PSA final this year - and, with 2009
Tour successes already in the Swedish Open and British Open
(and non-Tour triumphs in the World Games and British National
Championships), the England number one's confidence will be at an
all-time high.
Quarters
Anglo/Egyptian Men's Final Guaranteed In Doha
Classic
The surprise appearance of Londoner Peter
Barker in the men's semi-finals of the Qatar Classic ensures an
Anglo/Egyptian line-up in the final of the $147,500 PSA World Tour Super
Series squash event at Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex
in the Qatar capital Doha.
There will be unexpected Irish interest in
the last four of the $74,000 WISPA World Tour event after fifth seed
Madeline Perry upset England's third seed Alison Waters in the
earlier women's quarter-finals.
Eighth seed Peter Barker claimed his
semi-final place after ending giant-killer Aamir Atlas Khan's run.
It was the 16th seed from Peshawar who grabbed the headlines 24 hours
earlier by ousting new world number one Gregory Gaultier in a
stunning four-game upset.
But the 19-year-old was unable to repeat the
form against experienced 26-year-old Barker as the left-hander, ranked nine
in the world, cruised to an 11-5, 11-6, 12-10 victory in 40 minutes.
Barker will now take on England team-mate
Nick Matthew, the No4 seed who was stretched for 87 minutes by
Australian David Palmer, four times a runner-up in the Doha event,
before finally beating the fifth seed 11-8, 10-12, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8.
But the most dramatic men's quarter-final
match saw favourite and defending champion Karim Darwish edge out
French rival Thierry Lincou, the No7 seed, in an 83-minute marathon.
It was the pair's 12th Tour meeting since April 2002 - but it was not until
August 2007 that Darwish, now 28, claimed his first win over the Frenchman,
now 33, and maintained the upper hand over the next four matches before this
meeting.
But Darwish had to throw everything he had at
the former world champion from Marseille before emerging triumphant 11-4,
9-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-8.
"He is stronger than me I think," a relieved
Darwish said afterwards. "Just think - he is five years older than me! He
is a great champion.
"Thierry is so mentally strong, after the
third, I honestly thought he would give up, but instead of that, I was the
one that relaxed! I played three great shots at the start, and that was it."
Darwish will face national rival Ramy
Ashour, the 22-year-old third seed from Cairo who won the title in his
maiden appearance in the event in 2007.
Ashour, runner-up in the World Open in Kuwait
earlier in the month, beat England's sixth seed James Willstrop 11-5,
11-9, 13-11.
Madeline Perry is consistently playing above
her seeding since making a breakthrough at this year's British Open
where she secured a surprise place in the final following a shock defeat of
Nicol David, the world number one from Malaysia.
The 32-year-old from Belfast fought back from
a game down to beat in-form Londoner Alison Waters 8-11, 12-10, 11-7,
7-11, 11-8 in 69 minutes to reach the semis for the first time.
The ten times Irish national champion will
now face Australia's second seed Rachael Grinham for a place in the
final. In their 25th Tour clash since July 1999, the second-seeded
Queenslander beat two-time champion Vanessa Atkinson, the ninth seed
from the Netherlands, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5.
The other women's semi-final is a repeat of
the US Open semi-final earlier this month - when England's Jenny
Duncalf ended an 18-match losing streak to Nicol David by beating the
world's top player in straight games.
David needed exactly an hour to keep alive
her hopes of a fourth successive title success in Qatar. The 26-year-old
from Penang beat England's seventh seed Laura Massaro 11-8, 5-11,
11-13, 11-3, 11-8.
Meanwhile fourth seed Duncalf ended Engy
Kheirallah's impressive run in Doha, beating the unseeded Egyptian 11-4,
11-9, 11-4.
2nd Round
Khan Captures Career-Best Scalp In Qatar Crash
Pakistan
teenager Aamir Atlas Khan celebrated the best win of his career when
he beat second seed Gregory Gaultier in the second round of the
Qatar Classic to deny the new world number one from France a place in
the quarter-finals of the $147,500 PSA World Tour Super Series squash
event at Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in the Qatar
capital Doha for the first time since 2003.
Gaultier, who
has reached eight Tour final in the past 12 months, moved to the top of the
PSA world rankings at the beginning of this month. The 26-year-old from
Aix-en-Provence recovered from losing the first game to draw level - then
dropped the third game in a tie-break.
But Atlas Khan,
the 19-year-old 16th seed from Peshawar, was playing the best squash of his
life and maintained his focus to record his 11-6, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9 victory
after 53 minutes.
"This is the
biggest moment of my career," Khan said afterwards. "I really didn’t expect
it, because Greg has been playing so well recently - he is such a great
champion."
Aamir, the son
of British Amateur Championship finalist Atlas Khan and a nephew of
former world number one Jansher Khan, is Pakistan's top-ranked player
after reaching a career-high world No13 ranking in September.
"Today, I spoke
with my dad on the phone right before the match, and he told me, 'listen,
you can win this - you’ve got the talent, you’ve got the stamina'. I kept
focusing on that during the whole match, and thinking how lucky I was to
belong to such a Squash family. And that really carried me through."
Khan will now
face eighth seed Peter Barker for a place in the semi-finals. The
left-hander from London defeated unseeded Finn Olli Tuominen 11-4,
11-3, 1-11, 11-3.
Egypt's
unseeded Engy Kheirallah maintained her progress in the women's
$74,000 WISPA World Tour event. The 27-year-old from Cairo, who
ousted her country's number one Omneya Abdel Kawy in the first round,
battled for 45 minutes to beat France's 10th seed Isabelle Stoehr
11-6, 11-1, 7-11, 11-9 to reach the Doha quarter-finals for the first time.
Back at the
venue where she won the title in 2004 and 2005, Dutch star Vanessa
Atkinson recorded a notable upset when she beat eight-seeded Australian
Kasey Brown. Now combining her squash career with studies for an
English Literature degree at University in Leeds in the UK, the ninth seed
despatched Brown 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5 to set up a quarter-final meeting
with Australia's No2 seed Rachael Grinham.
1st Round
Seeds Suffer In Qatar Classic Upsets
Tarek Momen,
a 21-year-old qualifier from Egypt, led a trio of men's upsets on the
opening day of main draw action in the Qatar Classic, the $147,500
PSA World Tour Super Series squash event at Khalifa International
Tennis & Squash Complex in the Qatar capital Doha.
An Egyptian
also produced the sole surprise in the women's $74,000 WISPA World Tour
championship when unseeded Engy Kheirallah despatched her
sixth-seeded national team-mate Omneya Abdel Kawy in straight games.
But Cairo-based
University student Tarek Momen stole the headlines with his stunning victory
over England's rising star Alister Walker, the tenth seed. But Momen
was not an unknown quantity - as the Electronic Engineering student at the
American University in Cairo upset leading Australian David Palmer in
the biggest shock in the Kuwait World Open earlier this month.
In Doha, Momen
recovered from two games down to beat the world No12 from Leeds 6-11, 10-12,
11-6, 11-5, 11-8 in exactly one hour.
"I’m happy and
surprised," Momen said afterwards. "Alister is such a good player - the
last time I saw him play, he beat Shabana in Cairo and played amazing
squash! Overall, I’m very happy."
Walker was
measured in his response: "I am disappointed, yes, but not devastated. My
preparation was good - and it will be for my next event too."
There was
further disappointment for England - and more unexpected success for Egypt -
when unseeded Hisham Mohd Ashour ousted ninth-seeded Londoner
Adrian Grant 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7. The result was Ashour's second
victory over the world No11 this month after also beating Grant in Kuwait.
But it wasn't
all smiles for Egypt in the men's event in Doha where teenager Mohamed El
Shorbagy failed to make the last 16. The 18-year-old from Alexandria,
the youngest player in the draw, squandered a 2/1 lead against Olli
Tuominen and went down 11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-3 to the unseeded
Finn.
The shock in
the women's event was perhaps not a surprise to the players themselves. On
paper, sixth seed Omneya Abdel Kawy should have brushed aside her
unseeded Alexandria opponent Engy Kheirallah - but the world No7 from
Cairo has yet to beat her Egyptian team-mate on the WISPA Tour in four
meetings in the last four years.
And history was
repeated as Kheirallah cruised to an 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 win over her country's
top player to earn a surprise place in the second round.
All eyes were
on favourite Nicol David, the world number one from Malaysia who
suffered a rare defeat in the US Open in New York earlier this
month. But the top seed was in sparkling form as she dismissed fellow
Penangite Low Wee Wern, a 19-year-old qualifier, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6.
And Jenny
Duncalf, David's conqueror in New York, also moved comfortably into the
last 16. The fourth seed from Harrogate defeated Dutch qualifier
Annelize Naude 11-3, 11-8, 11-8 to get one place closer to a predicted
semi-final clash with her Malaysian rival.
Aziz & Pallikal Lead Upsets In Qatar Classic
Qualifiers
Both the second seeds in the qualifying finals of the Qatar Classic crashed out as Egyptian
Omar Abdel Aziz and Indian teenager Dipika Pallikal earned
surprise places in the main draws of one of the year's biggest men's and
women's international squash circuit events at Khalifa International
Tennis & Squash Complex in the Qatar capital Doha.
Abdel Aziz, ranked 42 in the world, dashed
Tom Richards' hopes on the last day of qualifying in the men's $147,500
PSA World Tour Super Series event – beating the world No31 from
England 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 in 42 minutes.
The 26-year-old from Cairo will now face
England's No8 seed Peter Barker in the first round.
But England's Chris Ryder became the
lowest-ranked player to make it into the men's main draw: The 29-year-old
from Leamington Spa, the world No 43, defeated Malaysian Mohd Nafiizwan
Adnan 15-13, 11-8, 12-10 in 68 minutes – and will now line up against
Australia's 15th seed Cameron Pilley, ranked 28 places higher.
Dipika Pallikal, the world No48 from Chennai,
became the youngest player to line up in the main draw of the women's
$74,000 WISPA World Tour championship. The 18-year-old despatched
Malaysian Sharon Wee, ranked 31 in the world, 11-5, 9-11, 11-1, 11-2
in 27 minutes.
Pallikal, a successful qualifier for the
first time after an unsuccessful attempt early in 2007, will now do battle
with England's Laura Massaro, the seventh seed.
Czech outsider Lucie Fialova survived
a 57-minute marathon against Orla Noom to beat her higher-ranked
Dutch opponent 11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-4.
The 21-year-old from Prague, ranked 59 in the
world, becomes the lowest-ranked player in the women's draw, where she faces
12th seed Annie Au, a Qatar Classic debutante from Hong Kong.
David and Darwish Eye To Retain Doha Title
 World
no1 Nicol David eyes to defend the Qatar Classic title which begins here at
the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex from November 19-23,
2009.
The defending champion is lined-up with No2 Natalie Grinham of Netherlands
for the USD 74,000 prize money.
The 26-year-old superstar, David, beat the Dutch with a flawless straight
games 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 in last year’s Qatar Classic final.
The top-seed Malaysian ace, who last month (September) became world champion
for the fourth time, extends her lead at the top of the October Women's
World Rankings, the latest list published by the Women's International
Squash Players' Association (WISPA).
In men’s entry list, defending champion and world no1 Karim Darwish of Egypt
will look forward to retain the title and strengthen his lead for the world
ranking.
The Cairo-based, Darwish, defeated compatriot and current world no3 Amr
Shabana in the final last year.
Darwish meets Englishman Daryl Selby in the first round match on November
19.
The other star attraction, world no2 Frenchman Gregory Gaultier takes on
Aamir Atlas Khan of Pakistan in the first round, while third seed Shabana
faces Englishman Jonathan Kemp in the opening match. |
