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DAY ONE at Canary Wharf
• TODAY • FINAL • SEMIS • QUARTERS • Day TWO • Day ONE • MALCOLM • GRAPEVINE •
Day ONE: Mon 13th Feb
The first day of action at the East Wintergarden ended with a real shock
as Welshman Alex Gough sensationally beat new British champion Nick
Matthew in straight games ...
[7] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt Olli Tuominen (Fin)
11/8, 11/10(2-0), 11/7 (58m)
[4] Peter Nicol (Eng) bt [Q] Borja Golan (Esp)
11/8, 11/4, 11/4 (34m)
[1] Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt [Q] Simon Parke (Eng)
11/6, 8/11, 8/11, 11/7, 11/4 (75m)
Alex Gough (Wal) bt [6] Nick Matthew (Eng)
11/3, 11/10(3-1), 11/10(3-1) (49m)
WHAT A STUNNING START
 Normally the
first round of a tournament can be a little dull, with some one-sided
matches, and are often played out in front of a sparse crowd. But
yesterday, not only was the show worthy of the semi-finals or finals, but
it was played out in front of a full house.
Young Borja Golan really made an impression, he was relaxed but up
for it and concentrated, confident but not showing off, showing enough
respect for Peter and earning respect from The Boss.
It was amazing how they both adapted their game several times during the
match according to how their opponent was playing, and quite astonishing
that they could do that in their first-ever meeting.
Sir Simon Parke was out of this world, pure magic. He played some
rallies that any normal being can only play once or twice in a match, but
he played a dozen of them.
Poor Anthony Ricketts was like a chicken who found a pair of
trousers, he just didn't know what to do. Champion that he is though, he
found a way in the fifth, but it was a close call.
And Nick Matthew, so depressed after losing his first match as the
new British Champion, talking about 'going back to the drawing board', it
was heartbreaking. No, Nick, you were just exhausted, that's all ...
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PLACE YOUR BETS
Willstrop @ the Wharf
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[7] Karim Darwish (Egy)
bt Olli Tuominen (Fin)
11/8, 11/10(2-0), 11/7 (58m) |
DARWISH DESPATCHES TUOMINEN
The opening match of the 2006 ISS Canary Wharf Classic featured two
players separated by a single place in the world rankings. Egypt's Karim
Darwish, the seventh seed slipped to 12 in the February rankings while
Finland's Olli Tuominen rose to 13.
The match was as close as the rankings suggested, but it was Darwish who
managed to take all three games.
The first was level all the way to 8-all, Tuominen would have been
closer but for a number of errors from the back of the court, and after
Darwish reached game ball another tin from the Finn handed the lead to
the Egyptian.
Tuominen made a good start to the second, leading 3/0, and maintained
the gap all the way to 10/7, but couldn't finish it off as Darwish
reeled off five points, hitting the game-winning shot as he was sprawled
on the court floor.
Darwish carried on the momentum in the third, racing to 5/0, and
although Tuominen rallied to 4/5 he couldn't quite close the gap as
Darwish finished off the match to reach the quarter-finals.
 "I
didn’t play well enough today, I didn’t play the ball to the back
enough, and anything that was even remotely in the middle would
create a let situation, especially when you get a bit tired…
"After I lost the second, I’m not sure if it was mental or physical,
but I had a hard time getting back into the game whereas I was
leading quite comfortably in the beginning of the match…
"In the third, we played so few shots in each rallies, it was 2/3
shots, and let, or no let… Very frustrating really…"
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 "I
was lucky to get the second game…
"I’ve just been through a very bad patch healthwise, first a food
allergy in Canada that took me down for a few days, then the flu… So I
haven’t been able to concentrate on my training as I would have liked…
"I’m really happy to win in three against Olli, he is such a fast
player, he volleys everything, so I had to try and slow the pace down…
And as he played a few loose shots, I had problems getting to the
ball…"
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[4] Peter Nicol (Eng)
bt [Q] Borja Golan (Esp)
11/8, 11/4, 11/4 (34m) |
NICOL BEATS BORJA
Co-promoter Peter Nicol made up for his Nationals semi-final exit with a
convincing opening against Spanish qualifier Borja Golan.
The young Spaniard stayed with Nicol for the early part of the first game,
but Nicol eased away from the mid-point.
An early lead for Golan was soon pegged back in the second, and the third
was one-way traffic as Nicol moved smoothly into the last eight.
 "I
like to play on the glass court, we have one in Spain, and I played a
few times, and also during tournaments, like in Brazil sometimes…
"I don’t feel I played the right game against Peter, I didn’t attack
the ball enough, but when I did, I was under such pressure, I didn’t
feel comfortable. Also, I missed precision and accuracy…
"Peter retrieves everything. And we were quite close score wise, and I
made a few tiny errors, and I found myself down 10/4 in no time…
Incredible…
"I’ve got a lot to learn, and it was such a pleasure to play against
Peter…"
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 "Borja
is incredibly fit and strong, he has improved a lot since he got on
the circuit, and he will get better.
"In the beginning, he was hanging a bit in the back, but from the
start, he played a very relaxed game, and he is very passionate, you
could feel how well he wanted to do. And he plays a lot of shots well…
"There were 2 or 3 changes of tactics during the game. And that’s
quite impressive… especially for a young player. Normally, they play
well, or they don’t. But after I changed my game in the second (in the
first, I was playing too much in the back), by playing shorter (after
my length had improved), I got a good lead, but then he adapted as
well! "
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[1]
Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt [Q] Simon Parke (Eng)
11/6, 8/11, 8/11, 11/7,
11/4 (75m) |
RICKETTS SURVIVES ...
Top seed Anthony Ricketts survived a first round scare as English veteran
Simon Parke extended the Australian world number three to the full five
games.
Ricketts started well enough, winning the first game handsomely, but
Parke, as tenacious as ever, stayed with Ricketts throughout the second
and to the delight of the packed Canary Wharf crowd levelled, helped in
part by errors by Ricketts at the end of the game.
The crowd were rapturous when the Yorkshireman pulled away from the middle
of the third to take the lead.
Ricketts knew that a first round loss would seriously damage his prospects
of reaching the world number one spot, and in any case he is a fighter. He
came out fighting in the fourth, racing to 6/0. But Parke wasn't finished,
and he battled back to 6/7 before Ricketts surged again to level the
scores.
A weary Parke couldn't hold Ricketts in the fifth, but was nevertheless
pleased with his performance - "the closest I've got to one of the top
guys in a while".
The crowd loved it too ...
 "I
was pretty sore today after my five setter against Alex Stait last
night. I trained with Peter Nicol this morning, it was awful, well, I
was awful, he was brilliant !
"That was so close. I’m slowly getting there, another five years, and
I’ll get one of those guys… Seriously, I’m paying a lot at the moment,
I played my way into fitness, it was not a conscious decision, it just
happened, the leagues, the BSPA, the Nationals, etc… Actually, that’s
the way the great Pakistani players in the 70’s used to do it…
"I want to play a lot of squash to be fit, and to play well. It’s
great to play the top guys, I’m playing well at the moment, it’s a
shame I can’t get a win though…Maybe if I didn’t have that five setter
with Alex yesterday… but that’s only ifs and buts…"
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 "I
keep on repeating that there are quite a number of players that can
win a tournament, and I know Simon very well, I know what he has
achieved in his career, and no way I’m going to arrive on court
against him and expect an easy match. I know what he is capable of,
and what he can do on his day.
"I have made so many errors… In the beginning, I tried and used my
short game, and get a bit of confidence in my shots. When that failed,
OBVIOUSLY, I didn’t know what to do, I was all over the place, I felt
that I was playing into his hands, and my short game completely fell
apart.
"In the 4th, he played so well, he was moving well, his movement was
nice and smooth… It was so close… I’m happy to get through, as I never
really felt comfortable out there tonight….
"Tomorrow, I’m going to enjoy my day of rest, have a good session on
court to address the points that let me down today, have a good
massage, and get prepared for my next round."
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Willstrop
@ the Wharf |
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Alex Gough (Wal)
bt [6] Nick Matthew (Eng)
11/3, 11/10(3-1), 11/10(3-1) (49m)
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GOUGH BEATS BRITISH CHAMPION
MATTHEW
Alan Thatcher reports ...
New British champion Nick Matthew was knocked out of the ISS Canary Wharf
Squash Classic first round by Welsh warhorse Alex Gough 24 hours after
lifting his first national title.
 Matthew, who performed heroics to fight back from 10-6 down to beat Lee
Beachill in the fifth game of the national final in Manchester, admitted
he was running on empty in Docklands tonight.
Gough, 35, took advantage of his opponent's fatigue to race to a winning
lead in the first game, then held on to a slender lead throughout the
second to raise the prospect of an upset.
After a good start to the third which saw the Welshman lead 7/3, Matthew
appeared to be getting back into the contest as he raised his game to lead
9/8. But Gough profited from a couple of errors from Matthew's racket and
went on to seal the upset victory.
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 "I
tried to enjoy the fact I was National Champion, but coming here today was
a bit too fast… I think it’s more a mental fatigue than a physical one
really. There is a huge difference between getting to the semis, and
performing well, then getting to the semis, then to the final. What I feel
at the moment, I’ve never experienced it before…
"I can’t feel really disappointed because I played well all week, but I
wanted to do well here, I thought if I could just win this match, then
I’ll have a day to recover. But Alex could see from the first rally that I
was tired, he capitalised on it, he was just too good today.
"I was mentally getting frustrated, I didn’t have any patience, and kept
on going for shots in the third… It nearly worked, I nearly took a game!
"Now I’m going to stop and regroup, back to the drawing board. It’s a
responsibility to be National Champion, and I’ve got to make sure that I’m
worthy of it…
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 "I
feel a bit guilty…
"I know that there are 10 years between Nick and I, but he is a true
gentleman, he just played 5 rounds in the Nationals,,, that’s a stirring
effort, it’s fantastic really…
"But still, I got my revenge from last Friday…
"We played a lot of wining shots today, especially in the third, that’s
not my normal kind of game, normally I move the ball around, but he was
picking up the pace, so so did I.
"Even if I knew he was tired, I didn’t want to think about it too much, I
tried to be as accurate and as precise as I could…
"The first game went really well, he had problems getting into it I think.
But he got much better in the second, but I still manage to sneak it …
"In the third, he really struggled, but then he went for all his shots, I
got a bit behind, but in the end, played quite a few good rallies I think.
"On a personal note, I was pleased to have the kids with me today,
especially as there were really good, it was a great feeling to have them
around… "
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