Gaultier Subdues Home Hero Rosner To Win Inaugural KPMG Grand Slam Cup in Frankfurt
RESULTS: KPMG Grand
Slam Cup, Frankfurt, Germany
Gaultier Subdues Home Hero Rosner To Win Inaugural KPMG Grand Slam Cup in
Frankfurt
France's world number
three-ranked squash player Gregory Gaultier denied the capacity crowd at
The Squaire in Frankfurt a German winner of the inaugural KPMG
Grand Slam Cup when he beat home hero Simon Rosner in tonight's final
on a state-of-the-art all-glass ASB ShowCourt sited in Europe's latest
architectural wonder.
World No12 Rosner, the
seven-time German national champion from Paderborn, had earlier sprung the
event's biggest surprise by beating top seed Ramy Ashour, the world No1
and world champion from Egypt, 11-9, 6-11, 1-0.
The 25-year-old
delighted the crowd by winning the event's unique best-of-one third game decider
with a dead nick in the court's side wall - thereby earning his career-first
victory over Ashour.
The other semi-final
also went the full distance, with third seed Gaultier winning the all-important
third game rally against world No2 Nick Matthew when the Englishman's
shot was called 'not up' by the officials.
"I chose the wrong side
to serve," said Matthew who had earned the service to start the decider after
winning the second game.
Rosner took the first
three points in the final, but Gaultier then won seven in a row to build up an
insurmountable lead.
The German led 7-2 and
9-6 in the second game - then had game-ball at 10-9. But the wily Frenchman
blocked out the sound of the jubilant German crowd - who clearly sensed another
dramatic decider - by holding his nerve to close out the match 11-7, 11-10 in 30
minutes.
"It's amazing to play
in front of such a great crowd," said 30-year-old Gaultier as he clutched his
latest trophy. "I am very happy to have done well here."
Ashour, who won the
best-of-one-game third-place-play-off against Matthew, said: "It's good to be
back in Germany, where I first played Simon as a junior.
"This has been a
fantastic event - from the second I stepped onto the court. It's an amazing
venue, an amazing set-up and an amazing crowd."
On his role as an
Olympic ambassador for the sport, Ashour admitted that he felt proud to be part
of the World Squash Federation team which will present the sport's bid to join
the Olympic Games programme in 2020 to the IOC in St Petersburg later this month
"It's a great thing to
do. I think squash belongs in the Olympics and I hope we will be able persuade
the IOC at the meeting in a few weeks."
KPMG regional board
member Holger Kneisel also endorsed Ashour's statement: "After seeing
these players give us such an impressive high-class event tonight, I also really
hope that squash will be in the Olympics in 2020."
John Nimick,
co-founder of the championship with the Welldone Agency in Frankfurt,
summed up the success of the maiden event: "The KPMG Grand Slam Cup represents
so many great elements of our sport. It highlights an iconic location, it brings
together the world's very best players, and it celebrates squash in a festival
setting.
"The audience has been
outstanding - and have provided a great atmosphere and the perfect start to an
annual championship featuring four of the best players in the world battling
against each other in a single evening."
Presentation picture
below shows champion Gregory Gaultier (second left) and runner-up
Simon Rosner flanked by KPMG regional board member Holger Kneisel
(left) and KPMG Head of Marketing Jeanette Reilly. Picture by
Jordan
Mansfield
Semi-finals:
[4] Simon Rosner (GER) bt [1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) 11-9, 6-11, 1-0
(39m)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [2] Nick Matthew (ENG) 11-5, 9-11,
1-0 (22m)
Third place play-off:
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [2] Nick Matthew (ENG) 11-7