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ATCO   Gregory Gaultier bt Wael El Hindi
               11/3, 11/5, 11/6 (38m)

The champion roars on
Richard Eaton reports

Greg Gaultier looks more and more capable of becoming the first player in eight years successfully to defend the Super Series title. The second-seeded Frenchman roared through his second match in less than 40 minutes, beating a slightly jaded-looking Wael El Hindi 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 to get to the verge of winning his group.

There were only a few moments when there was much doubt that Gaultier would do so. That was when El Hindi came back from 1-5 to 4-5 in the second game, but once that mini-recovery was halted, Gaultier was too fast and too incisive for his opponent.

El Hindi may well have been drained by his fine performance in taking world number one Karim Darwish to five games the day before. He can also take comfort from the attitude with which he continued to fight when hope was almost gone this time. But the result, and the manner of it, underlined how important fast daily recovery will be for anyone ambitious to take the title on Tuesday.



“We are human, we are not machines – that's why I have needed to work on my body,” said Gaultier, who looks as though he may be in the best condition of his life.

He also looks in improve mental shape: although he was playing his best mate on the tour, he focussed on the job almost all the way through, and did not often allow himself to become distracted.

The only occasion when it really seemed that he might be, he induced a great gust of laughter from the crowd – at the referee's expense, of course, as it so often is.

There had been four lets in five rallies as El Hindi was making his brief comeback. And there were four more, all in a row, at 9-4, as Gaultier was trying to close out the very important second game. His irritation bubbled over.

Out of the door Gaultier burst. “I don't think we have need of a referee,” he blurted. “Just pin the sign 'let' up there.” Not only did spectators laugh, but so did El Hindi, the player whose capacity for clearing the ball has occasionally been criticised.

After getting those feelings out, though, Gaultier did not lose concentration. Instead he followed it with a backhand drop to a clinging line, which made El Hindi rim the ball into the tin, and then unleashed a striking viper-like drive which induced an another tin.

The third game did see Gaultier relax briefly. He slipped to 0-3, but then hustled his way back to 7-3, his lower centre of gravity enabling him to thrust off better and change direction far more quickly than his tall opponent.

Near the end El Hindi leant heavily on the back wall, a moment which told much of the hidden story of the match. But he did produce the match's most spectacular shot – a sort of jump smash, badminton style, which hurtled stunningly into the nick – and he made a lot of admirers with the way he adapted to the pain of feeling his friend's superiority.

Not only has the men's tour has never had more variety; rarely has it had a better spirit either."It’s so hard to play Wael, he is my best mate on the tour, we practice together, he is like a brother to me. I’m really sorry to beat him 3/0 today, I know he was tired, but I hope that he’ll play better tomorrow.

"After my match yesterday, I was not that fresh physically today, and Greg is too quick and too fast for my tired legs! He was too strong and too fit today, and deserves to win.

"Playing on the glass court is so rewarding when you play a great shot, but if you are moving slowly, that’s no help at all!!!

"So, the lesson about the match today, I’ve got to be fresh when I start a match  ..."

"Yesterday, I knew he hard a long match, so I tried to turn it to my advantage, but on the other hand, I was happy to see him play such a great match, so intense…

"Still, it’s for that reason I’m so glad I have Mathieu Benoît with me, my physio osteopath, because we are not machines, we are human, and we need to recuperate… It’s so good to have a team to support me, it’s good to be able to trust them, that makes all the difference for me, and it just works…"

"It’s only when you lose something that you realise how important it was, and that’s what happened with my number one spot. It would be nice to get it back, but it will take a lot of work to do it. There are 400 players out to get it, and I’m only one of them…

"I surprised myself today, I haven’t played that well since last year, and trust me, when you are not together on that court, you can look pretty silly!

"Yesterday was a completely different sort of opponent. Thierry is like, how can I describe him, an octopus, and once he gets hold of you, you just can’t shake his grasp, and if you can’t break free, you cannot win. James is much more tactical, he can suck you in, but I guess that today, he put me under less pressure that Thierry did yesterday, I was able to break free easier.

"Also today, I told myself to forget how important this event is, and just enjoy it. Because I told you yesterday Fram, I want to play, I really want to play, I want to play, and play….

"You know, if I can beat a great player like James, it means that I’m not as bad player that I thought I had become. It proves I can still do it again, although people have started talking about me in the past, like I’m finished and everything, but do not bury me that easy people, I’m not old, I can still do it, you know, I can, I know I can, and I will.

"Hopefully, this will be a new starting point for me. But win or lose tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, I know now that I can still do it."

Prince  Amr Shabana bt James Willstrop
                        7/11, 11/6, 11/8, 11/8 (54m)

The great man is back
Richard Eaton reports

It will make a few players shudder when Amr Shabana says he has not played this well since last year. It will make most spectators shiver with pleasure.

Shabana's movement was somewhere near what used to be during his win over Saturday's hero James Willstrop. His front court game and ability to jerk his opponent around was pretty well what it was too.

The Egyptian was also a different man from the subdued one who had lost to Thierry Lincou in his first match: he started slowly, worked his way into the match, recovered lost ground in a pivotal second game, and then showed some flashes of the genius which had kept him at world number one for 33 consecutive months.

“I realise how disappointing it is when you lose that,” he said. “Yes, it would be nice to get it back.”

You could sense Willstrop indulging in another bout of mock peevishness when he heard this. “He always plays well against me,” he muttered with pleasing dark humour. “I have to work on dealing with that backhand flick-thingy he plays.

For one and a half games Shabana didn't play it very much. During that phase Willstrop looked as though he might be able to carry on where he left off after beating another Egyptian, world champion Ramy Ashour.

But when he went 2-6 down in the second game, Willstrop bent over, as though his reservoir of energy had been depleted, and soon Shabana was draining it more.

That happened after a collision at 5-6 which left Shabana looking dazed, and caused the referee to ask if he were all right. He certainly was, and the forehand volley kill which prevented Willstrop from getting back to 6-6 set the star man moving into a phase in which he began to control of more of the rallies.

He moved quickly through to level at one game all, and when Shabana then nosed ahead at 6-5 in the third, Willstrop gazed up at the roof, as though a reserve fuel tank might be hidden in the rafters, ready to be lowered and injected into his flagging resources.



Willstrop conceded two penalty strokes in the next seven rallies, lost another with a serve which allowed Shabana to make a volley drop winner with a return, and put a disguised backhand drop into the tin to lose the game.

By now Shabana was hustling him, moving both between and during rallies as though his knee injury were a thing of the past, and unleashing his wonderful repertoire with a familiar flourish.

“That was a foul shot,” said Willstrop, as he went 7-9 down in the fourth, clearly heading for the end - though in truth he did not have too much reason to berate himself. Circumstances, and a reviving great player, had conspired against him.

It means that Shabana can still qualify if he beats Ashour in his last group match on Monday. This will be a repeat of their World Open semi-final in Manchester in October, and that should surely be an encounter to savour.

"Shabana always plays well against me!!!!

"One day, you are on the top of the world, and the next… Well, that’s what our sport in all about, and that’s what I was telling myself last night. This is not the first time I start with a great win, and end up having not such a great week… Wining the first match, doesn’t mean that you are going to win and play well the next day. Not that I didn’t play well, he was just too good. Too good.

"I’ve reached the second spot in the world, and won a few events, I’ve achieved things in my life, but still there a lot more I want to achieve. I may actually get to learn how to do that flick shot of his!!!!!"

ATCO   Karim Darwish bt David Palmer
                    11/3, 15/13, 11/9 (62m)

The top dog barks
Richard Eaton reports

Karim Darwish suggested his game may permanently have reached a new level since becoming world number one in January, producing a tough, disciplined, and yet fluent performance which saw off the challenge of the former top dog David Palmer in a dramatically edgy tussle.

The Egyptian came through by 11-3, 15-13, 11-9 but this was no ordinary straight games success. The tenacious Australian held a game ball in the second game, and tried everything he knew to avert the probable outcome, including six or seven full length dives, a lecture to the referee about how to control the match, and one audacious attempt to buy time at match point by asking if he could go away and get his knee patched up.

Palmer also produced some great courage, some brilliant volleying, and a mixture of flint-willed retrieving and early ball attacking which showed that the 32-year-old is desperate to remain at the highest level as long as he can.

Darwish meanwhile resisted everything – the disruptively domineering and cleverly constructed tactics, the tight lines with drops in the front corners, the nudges and the bumps and the accidental collisions, and the temptation to try for a quick end to hard, body-jerking and sometimes painful rallies.

Asked if he felt he were now joining the pantheon of Egyptian greats, Darwish wisely said that he “tried not to think about it.” He also, he said, concentrated on putting as much into it as he could, which he mostly always has, and to enjoy it, which sometimes he hasn't.

Consequently he is now often more relaxed on court than he was, and it may be this which is helping him to maintain his patience and persist with his discipline, and stick to the well-tried orthodoxies and percentages when the going is tough.

Palmer said: “I am not getting the training at the moment,” - referring to the fact that he is now based in Boston, Massachusetts, and is separated from his long-time coach Shaun Moxon - “so I have to come up with a better plan.”

Had he been able to stop Darwish attacking at 9-10 in the second game with a good length ball which set up a backhand drop half-nick winner, Palmer might have levelled at one game all and given the match a different course.

Instead that crucial game zig-zagged on for another eight points and nine rallies, until another fine, pressurising Darwish drive brought another Palmer dive, but only one which scooped the ball over the top of the front wall and into the distance.

With that his best chance sailed away too, though Palmer still managed to lead 6-3 in the third game, gained some recovery time with the pauses required to wipe his sweat off the court after his diving, and might have got an even longer respite had his knee been bleeding a little more than it actually was.

“It's been bleeding for three games and you guys haven't noticed,” he called up to the referees, when he was match point down at 8-10 and the latest bout of court-wiping was coming to an end.

“Can I go and get it fixed?” he asked three times, and there was enough of a delay in the referee's refusal to make Darwish wonder and the crowd smile. It was worth a try, and no-one can doubt that Palmer is one of the greatest triers the game has seen, as well as one of the best of the modern players. And he proved he is still feisty enough to trouble anyone.

Darwish's best moments, however may be in the short-term future. His success put him within one win of reaching the final and earning the biggest title of his career. But that next match is against Gregory Gaultier, the titleholder – and he too appears to be in the form of his life.

"I can’t say that I’m not disappointed, as it’s a 3/0 defeat, but two out of three games could have gone either way. And I can’t say I’m that surprised, I haven’t done the work for a couple of months, but still, to see that I’m able to push that hard give me confidence. I’m not far off the mark, a couple of months of hard training, and I should be back on track.

"Going to Boston was the right move, it’s family first now, even if that means that at the moment, I’m not getting as much training or hitting I would need to, and especially, I can’t train with Shawn anymore. With him, I was able to compete against the likes of Shabana and Karim, although I’m not that young anymore, 32. But without him, without the match training, it’s just a bit too much!

"Mind you, I guess that I should be better for Canary Wharf, those matches here are a bit like a hard training, I’m fine fitnesswise, but when the ball goes dead, those boys can really put me under pressure.!"

"I feel good at the moment, combination of different factors, I’m more relaxed, more focused, just trying to enjoy my squash and my game as much as I can…"

"As I often say, it’s not a question of age, it’s a question of mindset. As long as the mind is in the right place, and that you are doing the work, you just have to push the button, and it’s all there again…

"I’ve been lucky enough to play Ramy a few times, so you get a sort of memory of the situation, and that’s when a defeat can be good actually, like three weeks ago, Ramy gave me a good beating, and I learned from that.

"Also, we are in the middle of the season. I seem to always struggle at the start of a new year, after the breaks, like I did for France and the Worlds. Whereas now, I feel that the more I play, the more I can anticipate, and the more my marks are well in place.

"And that’s when I really enjoy myself on a squash court.

"I’m really relaxed this week, I’m not thinking that much about my matches, I just want to take care of my wife… And actually, I think she should be coming more often…

"Like all the others players, we sometimes find it more difficult to recover, it’s means that I have to pay even more attention to details, when I travel, when I train, when I prepare, etc… And that’s when experience pays off probably, like reading the other’s game, and anticipating more; especially at my age …

"James tomorrow, I don’t know, the man just had a great win, his confidence is back, and he is home. He’ll be VERY dangerous….

"One thing is sure. My passion for the game is still intact, and as far as I can stay injury free, I think I’m going to keep on playing for a few more years."

Prince  Thierry Lincou bt Ramy Ashour
                        11/7, 11/7, 8/11, 11/5 (44m)

The oldest beats
the best again
Richard Eaton reports

Thierry Lincou defied the years, the brightest young player in the game, and in many people's minds, the odds as well, to give himself a great chance of making the title match of the Super Series finals only two weeks short of his 33rd birthday.

The former world champion from France beat Ramy Ashour, the reigning world champion from Egypt, to earn his second fine win of the tournament and become the only unbeaten player in his group.

Remarkably, Lincou looked much livelier than his 20-year-old opponent, and his quick, fresh, and eager court coverage was a feature of a win which at one stage looked as though it would come significantly quicker than it did.

Lincou led 6-4 in the third game before he made unexpected and uncharacteristic errors, especially with the backhand drop, which reprieved the struggling Ashour.

This helped the younger man to advance to an early parity in the fourth game, and the possibility of a decider was just beginning to loom when Lincou rediscovered his abilities to take the ball early, to mix steadiness with aggression, and to cover the court with economic but hustling movement. When he did he got right on top again.

“As long as the mind is okay and as long as I feel young enough, you just have to push the button and try to move as quick as you can against the younger players,” Lincou said cautiously, as though even he wasn't sure how long his second youth would last.

But Lincou is more relaxed than most, more intelligent than many and perhaps more intuitive than anyone – and these qualities help make for longevity.

Ashour by contrast, had moments when he looked down in the dumps. Although his best had a quicksilver quality which few can match, he also had phases when he found the tin more often than he should, and occasionally went for cross courts which a well-positioned Lincou was comfortably able to cut off.



It means the world champion cannot now qualify, and we were unable to learn how he feels about that, because he departed quickly. He was muttering to himself, and it might have been revealing to know what he had been thinking, especially at the moment at 4-7 in the second game when he volleyed the ball down, stared at his racket in astonishment, wiggled it irritatedly, and gestured with a puzzled expression as though his senses had somehow re-arranged themselves.

Whatever it may be – apart from an excellent Lincou – which has been preventing Ashour from reaching his loftiest heights, most squash fans will be keen that he quickly overcomes it.

He played the first game as though his hard match with James Willstrop on Saturday might have taken something from him, then pulled a three point deficit back to one in the second game with flashes of unique brilliance, before thunderously putting an overhead into the tin to go 7-9 down.

He followed it with two disappointing points to land himself in a hole at two games down. Having dug himself out of it and produced a delicious cross court winning lob to reach 2-3 in the fourth, his challenge evaporated.

Lincou meanwhile rediscovered his mature excellence. His backhand drop and backhand volley drop were delicately destructive weapons, and his appetite for victory as intense as it has ever been. He was also a gracious and popular winner.

Whether that would be so tomorrow, if he were to succeed again, is another matter. Lincou plays Willstrop, and will reach the final if he beats the Englishman, and could even do so if he loses – provided Shabana wins well against Ashour. The opponent in the final will be either Greg Gaultier or Karim Darwish. Sumptuous.