Shabana Survives Scare At US Open While Matthew Marches On by Nathan Clarke October 14, 2014
- Squash World Champion Nick Matthew booked his place in the
quarter-finals of the 2014 Delaware Investments US Open with a 3-0 win
over Guernsey's Chris Simpson during the second day of second round
action at Philadelphia's Drexel University.
Matthew was forced to
produce some of his best squash against the spirited Simpson, who came
into the second round following a 3-0 demolition of South African Shaun
Le Roux, before eventually emerging an 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 winner in the
battle of Commonwealth Games flag bearers.
"I really enjoyed that
battle," said 34-year-old Matthew. "It seems to be a familiar
tale for me to be hanging in against Chris at the end of the third game
and you could see he was desperate to take that one.
"I've not had a match at that pace for a while now and it did wonders for me and really opened up my lungs.
"I have a day off to now to enjoy and do some work with my coach on a few areas and prepare for the next match."
Matthew will now face
Egyptian Fares Dessouki in Thursday's quarter-finals, after the
20-year-old saved five match points against Karim Abdel Gawad to
complete a remarkable comeback and secure his place in the last eight,
while Egyptian duo Amr Shabana and Omar Mosaad triumphed to set up an
all-Egyptian encounter.
Four-time World
Champion Shabana had to use all his guile and experience to survive the
onslaught from Hong Kong's No.1 player Max Lee and scrape his way into
the quarter-finals after an epic 78-minute encounter.
"Max seemed very
powerful on court tonight and all credit to him for the fight he put up
as I needed every second of my experience to beat him today," said
Shabana.
"We played at the
British Open and I think he definitely learnt few things from that
match but I was pleased with how I dug in as it shows that I still have
some fight left in me at my age.
"Omar is a player who
is up and coming and already banging on the door of the top eight
players. He's incredibly strong and it will be a tough match."
2014 Delaware Investments US Open: Second Round, Bottom Half Results: [4] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Max Lee (HKG) 3-2: 12-10, 13-15, 11-6, 4-11, 11-8 [78m] [7] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-0: 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 [41m] Fares Dessouki (EGY) bt Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 3-2: 6-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9 [86m] [2] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 [49m]
2014 Delaware Investments US Open: Quarter-final Draw. [1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [6] Simon Rösner (GER) Adrian Waller (ENG) v [3] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) [4] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [7] Omar Mosaad (EGY) Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
