27/01/2008
EBS DAYTON OPEN
Lincou Upsets Favourite Palmer In Dayton Open Final
EBS Dayton
Open 2008
Dayton, Ohio, 25th-28th
Jan |
Round One
25 Jan |
Quarters
26Jan |
Semis
27 Jan |
Final
28 Jan |
[1]
David Palmer (AUS)
11-4, 11-5, 11-6
[Q] Julien Balbo (FRA) |
David Palmer
10-11 (0-2), 11-5, 11-5, 11-4
Cameron Pilley |
David Palmer
11-7, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8
Karim Darwish |
David Palmer
11-10 (7-5), 7-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7 (109m)
Thierry Lincou |
[7]
Cameron Pilley (AUS)
10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-3, 11-9
[Q] Tarek Momen (EGY) |
[3]
Karim Darwish (EGY)
11-6, 11-2, 11-5
Robert McFadzean (USA) |
Karim Darwish
11-6, 11-10 (6-4), 11-8
Borja Golan |
[8]
Borja Golan (ESP)
11-5, 11-2, 11-10 (2-0)
Jonathan Kemp (ENG) |
[6]
Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY)
11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5
Renan Lavigne (FRA) |
Hisham Mohd Ashour
11-7, 11-10 (2-0), 11-10 (3-1)
Mohammed Abbas |
Hisham Mohd Ashour
11-9, 11-8, 11-5
Thierry Lincou |
[4]
Mohammed Abbas (EGY)
11-6, 11-2, 11-5
[Q] Julian Illingworth (USA) |
[5]
Olli Tuominen (FIN)
10-11 (0-2), 5-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 11-10 (3-1)
[Q] Yasser El Halaby (EGY) |
Olli
Tuominen
11-5, 11-3, 11-8
Thierry Lincou |
[2]
Thierry Lincou (FRA)
11-4, 11-7, 11-4
Eric Galvez (MEX) |
Lincou
Upsets Favourite Palmer In
Dayton
Open Final
France's world No7 Thierry Lincou, the No2 seed in the $50,000
EBS Dayton Open, showed an incredibly tenacious style of play as he
upset Australia's top seed and world No4 David Palmer in a
five-game final of the 5-star PSA Tour squash event in Dayton,
USA, that lasted over an hour and a half!
The Frenchman won the first game in an incredible 31-minute contest ending
in a tiebreaker, 7-5, after facing five game balls! Palmer pounded back
to win the second close game 11-7 in 17 minutes. The third game was a
test for Palmer as he tried to go up 2/1 quickly by attacking but Lincou
quickly showed he wasn't tired, grabbing and returning every ball to force
mistakes from his opponent.
The 31-year-old from Marseille started game four with the same strategy,
but Palmer - facing defeat at 0-5 down - fought hard and ran off eight
straight points to get back into the match. He won 11-6 and set the stage
for a fantastic decider.
"The 25-minute fifth game featured some incredible squash points and an
understandable amount of lets as the contestants began to tire," reports
tournament organiser Charlie Johnson.
Lincou, however, was not to be denied - and, from five-all, won four
straight rallies to go up 9-5 before closing it out 11-7.
The Frenchman credited his 11-10 (7-5), 7-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7 victory to
a strong desire to win in Dayton where he had lost the 2003 Championship
after first achieving his world number one ranking.
The win marks Lincou's first PSA Tour title success for more than a
year - and the 19th of his career. It also consolidates his
position in third place in the list of current players' total title wins -
behind Palmer, with 21, and Amr Shabana, the world No1 from
Egypt, with 20.
Hisham
Upsets Compatriot Abbas In
Dayton
Open
Sixth seed Hisham Mohd Ashour pulled off the only upset in the
quarter-finals of the EBS Dayton Open when he beat fellow Egyptian
Mohammed Abbas, the No4 seed, in straight games in the 5-star
PSA Tour squash event in
Dayton,
USA.
The 25-year-old from
Cairo was continuing the winning ways of his talented younger brother
Ramy Ashour, the world No2 and last year's EBS champion.
Abbas, a crowd favourite in
Ohio, where he was competing in his fifth successive Dayton Open, battled
with Ashour for 50 minutes. But the outsider came from behind in the
second and third games to secure an impressive 11-7, 11-10 (2-0), 11-10
(3-1) upset to reach the last four.
Hisham Ashour's semi-final opponent will be Frenchman Thierry Lincou,
the second seed who despatched
Finland's fifth seed Olli Tuominen 11-5, 11-3, 11-8.
Egypt will also be represented in the other semi-final where former
champion Karim Darwish will face Australian David Palmer.
Third seed Darwish, the 2004 champion, beat eighth seed Borja Golan
11-6, 11-10 (6-4), 11-8, while top seed Palmer, in his maiden appearance
in the event, recovered from a game down to defeat compatriot Cameron
Pilley 10-11 (0-2), 11-5, 11-5, 11-4.
Tuominen
Tested In
Dayton
Opener
Finland's fifth seed Olli Tuominen was
taken the full distance on the opening day of the EBS Dayton Open
Squash Championship before beating Egyptian qualifier Yasser El
Halaby in five games in the 5-star PSA Tour event in
Dayton,
USA.
After losing the first two games, the flying Finn from
Helsinki survived two further tie-break games to win 10-11 (0-2), 5-11,
11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 11-10 (3-1).
Tuominen will now meet second seed Thierry Lincou after the
Frenchman despatched Mexican Eric Galvez 11-4, 11-7, 11-4.
Lincou is expected to meet top seed David Palmer in the final. The
former world number one from
Australia earned his place in the quarter-finals by beating French
qualifier Julien Balbo 11-4, 11-5, 11-6.
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