A dramatic day of action at the 2018
J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions saw men's World No.1 Gregory
Gaultier come through a titanic 90-minute, four-game thriller with long
term rival Nick Matthew to secure
his place in the semi-finals of the PSA World Series event, while
defending women's champion Camille Serme narrowly avoided a shock second
round defeat at the hands of Australian Donna Urquhart.
Inside New York's iconic Grand Central
Terminal, Gaultier, who was up against Matthew for the 36th time on the
PSA World Tour, recovered from losing a 30-minute opening game to
prevail 12-14, 11-6, 12-10,
11-7 in what will go down as one of the finest matches in the history
of the event.
Probing back and forth from the off,
the pair engaged in rally after rally of physically and mentally testing
squash that saw them move the ball, and each other, into all four
corners of the court. Gaultier
struck a crucial blow when he came from behind to take the third-game
from under the nose of Matthew and go ahead on the scoreboard for the
first time.
From then on the Frenchman tried to
inject pace into the play to tire Matthew. The tactic worked as he
eventually prevailed to inflicting defeat upon the 37-year-old in what
was his last ever appearance
under the chandeliers inside Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall.
"We've been playing each other for 20
years, since we were kids, and he definitely made it tough today," said
35-year-old Gaultier.
"He was dominating the centre of the
court with his accuracy and made it very hard for me, he was hurting me
on there. I just tried to dig in and retrieve as much as I could to keep
the rallies going and
make him work as hard as possible.
"We both gave everything. Of course we
are rivals but we are friends as well and have a huge respect for each
other. Playing here in this atmosphere is amazing and we both emptied
the tank - hopefully I
can recover well for my next round match now."
After the match Matthew said: "Today
he just came out on top even though I think it was the best I have
played all season, which shows there's more to come from me over the
next few months."
Gaultier will now go up against Simon
Rösner of Germany for a place in the title-decider after the 30-year-old
from Paderborn beat Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller - his friend and
training partner - 3-1 to
reach only the second PSA World Series tournament semi-final of his
career.
The win comes just three months after Rösner secured his maiden appearance in a major semi-final during October's Qatar Classic.
"It's hard to play someone who you know so well so I'm just relieved to get through the match today," said Rösner.
"I am a little disappointed I couldn't close it out in three, but I'm happy that I got it back in the fourth.
"I had been waiting for a big
quarter-final win for a long time and finally managed to get one in
Qatar to reach my first World Series semi-finals. To be in a second semi
this season here in New York - for
the first time in this great venue - is very special."
In the women's draw, defending
champion Camille Serme had to call on all her fighting spirit to recover
from a 2-1 deficit and come through a difficult clash with Urquhart in
what was one of four women’s
second round matches to go the distance.
Serme became the first Frenchwoman
ever to win the Tournament of Champions last year when she beat
England’s Laura Massaro in the final, but the number three seed was on
the brink of an early elimination
after conceding a one-game advantage following some superb squash from
Urquhart.
The World No.16 outplayed Serme for
large parts but the 28-year-old from Creteil showed her resilience as
she came from 4-1 down in the fourth game to keep the match alive and, after
taking the match into a crucial fifth, she maintained her composure to complete the victory.
"When you are losing, you start
thinking about not playing again and being out of the tournament, so
that’s when you fight even more," said Serme.
"You think that you have nothing left
to loose and that’s when you relax a bit. At the end I got a lucky
bounce and I just fought as hard as I could.
"I knew today would be tricky. Donna
is in really good form and she put on a great match. She made me
struggle a lot so I’m happy to be through."
Serme will go up against Malaysian
squash icon Nicol David in the quarter-finals after the eight-time World
Champion impressed in a 3-1 victory over New Zealand's Joelle King,
while current World Champion
Raneem El Welily will take on compatriot Nour El Tayeb after scraping
through a difficult five-game battle with Welsh number one Tesni Evans.
El Welily suffered a nasty looking
ankle injury during her first round win over Jenny Duncalf and was still
feeling the effects of that injury during the early exchanges. But the
Egyptian managed to find
her footing in the second and raced through the gears to produce some
spell-binding play that was equally matched by Evans.
The duo traded points through a series
of thrilling exchanges, going all the way to a decisive tie-break
finish in the fifth game, which El Welily converted to a standing
ovation from the crowd.
"Tesni played fantastic today and I think I was a little flat at the beginning," said El Welily.
"It was mentally hard for me today. It
felt like I was playing a final, which it isn't, but at least I get to
live for another day in this tournament. It definitely wasn't easy at
the beginning with my ankle
- I just tried to adjust to it.
"The physios put in a lot of work and
really helped me to recover for today and I'll need to do a lot of work
again to be ready for the match tomorrow."
Elsewhere World No.1 Nour El Sherbini
set up a last eight clash with England's Sarah-Jane Perry with Laura
Massaro and Nouran Gohar both prevailing in their second round battles
to set up a last eight meeting.
Results - Quarter-finals: Men's J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions 2018
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [6] Nick Matthew (ENG) 3-1: 12-14, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7 (92m)
Simon Rösner (GER) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-1: 11-7, 11-7, 13-15, 11-6 (59m)
Draw - Quarter-finals (Bottom Half - Played Jan 23): Men's J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions 2018
[3] Ali Farag (EGY) v Ramy Ashour (EGY)
[7] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
Results - Second Round: Women's J.P. Morgan Tournament of Campions 2018
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [Q] Mariam Metwally (EGY) 3-1: 11-5, 7-11, 12-10, 13-11 (41m)
[7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [13] Olivia Blatchford (USA) 3-2: 7-11, 8-11, 11-9, 15-13, 11-7 (66m)
[5] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [10] Alison Waters (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 13-11, 11-7 (40m)
[4] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt Victoria Lust (ENG) 3-2: 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-3 (52m)
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) bt Donna Urquhart (AUS) 3-2: 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8 (53m)
[6] Nicol David (MAS) bt [9] Joelle King (NZL) 3-1: 11-9, 2-11, 11-7, 11-9 (53m)
[8] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [12] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 (24m)
[2] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt [15] Tesni Evans (WAL) 3-2: 8-11, 11-3, 15-13, 7-11, 12-10 (67m)
Draw - Quarter-finals: Women's 2018 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Campions
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
[5] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [4] Laura Massaro (ENG)
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) v [6] Nicol David (MAS)
[8] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v [2] Raneem El Welily (EGY)
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