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Say it with a French Accent from Broadgate Framboise Gommendy reports |
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Day THREE stories from Framboise:
NOW WE KNOW THE |
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SHABANA: MY GOD! Amr Shabana bt Thierry Lincou 11/9, 9/11, 11/10 (4-2), 11/5 (45m) Jill Wood (national referee from Hertfordshire) quite rightly gave a conduct warning to Shabana today in his delightful match against French number 1 Thierry Lincou - at 8/6 for saying “My God”. The adorable Egyptian looked at her in complete astonishment and said “I said My God”, to which Jill replied “That is blasphemy”. Shabana looked at her and with a gorgeous smile concluded: “Not in my religion….” The crowd burst in laughter, while Jill smiled the line away. The first game was extremely close and Thierry was up 5/0 before Amr awoke and closed up the score. They were both hitting hard and going for length, with Lincou volley dropping beautifully. 6/6, 8/8, but the Frenchman made a few mistakes, and Shabana takes it away 11/9 in 11 minutes. In the second, it’s Shabana who is up, and Thierry who was chasing. Lincou succeeded to surprise his opponent by changing the direction of his attacks and wrong footed him a few times (especially on Shabana’s right side drop shots). Thierry takes the second, 11/9 in 8 minutes. The third could have gone either way. By that time, both players were playing at their best, Shabana attacking every ball under the sun, Thierry retrieving magically. 10/10. Scoring thing cleared, blablabla time (sorry, can’t get used to it, why can’t we have what the CWC had, deuce and advantage, it’s SO SIMPLE!), and Thierry gives it away with a tin, 11/10 (4/2). At that point, Mr Lincou remembered that he was probably playing one of the fastest rising stars of the circuit in the semi-final of the event tomorrow (if you know the answer, you are NOT winning a can of Kingfisher), and decided with good reason that a little stretch, a run and a shower was more appropriate than a five game battle, and stopped running. No, it was a good display (at last!) of the World Champion’s talents. Lincou already qualified took the edge away, the 2 players are pals, Shabana wanted to make a point, Thierry was happy to let his mate shine, and the crowd (and me) enjoyed every minute of it. |
Today's PORTRAITS:
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JONATHON POWER: THE DOOMED PLAYER Peter Nicol bt Jonathon Power 11/8, 7/11, 11/5 rtd (24m)
I can’t believe it. Power injured himself so
badly again today, that when he went passed me, carried out of the arena
by two people, I saw the size of his foot, and it was frightening. |
Nicol v Power |
KNEIPP: I’M GLAD TO STAY BEACHILL: I’M GLAD TO GO! Joe Kneipp bt Lee Beachill 11/2, 11/7, 11/8 (36m) Joe is delighted to stay for the final stages, and Lee is not that distraught to miss out on the semi-finals for the second year in a row. It took only 36 minutes and a clear score of 11/2, 11/7, 11/8 for the Australian to push the Pontefract star aside. “Go and take care of your son, mate,” the 30 year old seemed to say, happy at last with his squash and shots. The first game was all Kneipp, in 9 minutes, even if both players enjoyed long and powerful crosscourt rallies. The second was more balanced, Beachill still serving his fantastic lob serve that puts a lot of pressure on his opponents and returning Joe’s serve with some great return of serve drop shots. At 6/6, Kneipp put more pressure, more weight on the ball, adjusted the drives, sharpen the drop shots, and soared to 11/7. In the 3rd, the rallies were very quick until 5/5, and Kneipp gave us a good display of his talents, in particular acrobatic volley drop shots and some magical retrieving of Lee’s hard hitting and great length. After Joe tinned his first match ball, Lee smiled a “don’t worry mate”, as it was obvious that the Australian was walking away with this one. It took 4 match balls, but Kneipp was in, Beachill was out. “Thanks for that,” said Beachill to Alan Thatcher who was reminding the audience that Lee was actually 2 love in the lead up before he finally lost his match against Lincou the night before. “Yes, I did play very well to start with, and then, I cracked up physically. Thierry was number 1 a few weeks ago, he is obviously one of the best players in the world, so it’s never easy to play against him.” Asked if it had been hard to be away from home, Lee said “I didn’t realise how hard it was going to be, as Ben (his son) is only a few days old. And I think that tonight, it all caught up with me.” Asked his thoughts on the semi-final, Kneipp concluded: “I saw Johnny play for the past 2 days, and I don’t want to play him, and I saw Nick play for the past 2 days, and I don’t want to play him either!” |
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JOHN
WHITE: WHO’S THE MAN NOW ??? John White bt Nick Matthew 9/11, 11/3, 11/5, 11/5 (35m)
OK, OK, I admit it now. I voted for Thierry
Lincou for the player of the day
yesterday (although I don’t see what the Frenchman and his family would
have done with a huge box of beer (would have been nice on Eurostar…). But
White is the man. |
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