Gaultier Glides to TOC Semi-Final Spot by Nathan Clarke
photos courtesy squashpics.com
Janaury 22, 2014 -
French World No.2 Gregory Gaultier booked his place in the semi-finals
of the 2014 J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions earlier today,
dispatching German Simon Rosner 3-0. The victory, in what
was his 34th consecutive appearance in the quarter-finals of a PSA
World Series event, will now see Gaultier compete in his third
consecutive Tournament of Champions semi-final - an event where he
finished runner-up in 2013. “It’s always good to win and Simon has been improving a lot recently,” said Gaultier. “The past few months
especially, since he won in Kuwait, has been a big confidence boost for
him and he has had a few big wins this week and it highlights how tough
the tour is at the moment, so I’m glad to still be able to win these
matches. “I still want to be the best in the world and I’m happy when I’m still able to beat these young guys. “I’m going to recover
now and take tomorrow as another day. I will go in with a game plan and
I will try and stick to it. I have been working a lot on my mental side
recently and it seems to be working and I’m quite happy with the way I
played so I’m looking forward to the semi-final tomorrow.” Gaultier came through
12-10, 11-6, 11-7 and he will now take on Egypt’s Mohamed Elshorbagy in
tomorrow’s semi-finals who earned his place in the final four with a
3-1 win over Daryl Selby of England. “I’m very excited to
be in my first TOC semi-final,” said Elshorbagy. “The match today was
such a tough battle and Daryl played very well. “It was a very flowing
game played in great spirit as well and he put me under a lot of
pressure so I’m happy that I came through that match to win. “I have never played
in a semi-final here before but I hope that I can win in the
semi-finals because it would mean a lot to me to make it through to the
final. “It was be very
special if I could play Amr Shabana in the final because that would be
a dream come true for me – to play my idol in the final of a world
series event so hopefully we can both win tomorrow.” 2014 J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions – Quarter-final Results: [3] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [8] Daryl Selby (ENG) 3-1: 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 [1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Simon Rosner (GER) 3-0: 12-10, 11-6, 11-7 Order of Play Thursday January 23 – Semi-finals [7] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [4] James Willstrop (ENG) [3] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v [1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
