Julian Illingworth Checks In From Canberra,
To Face Anjema Today In Australian 2nd Round
from DailySquashReport.com
August 10, 2011 - #1 American Julian Illingworth enjoyed a rest day in Canberra yesterday, following a hard-earned first-round four-game win over Swiss star Nicolas Mueller in the $150,000 Viridian Australian Open.
Illingworth takes on 15th ranked Laurens Jan Anjema of The Netherlands today in round-of-16 action. Anjema scored a first-round upset win over seventh-seeded Frenchman Thierry Lincou.
Anjema is a 28-year-old lefty who was ranked inside the PSA top-ten last year. His best 2011 result came in the January Tournament of Champions, where he reached the quarters before losing to Egypt’s Amr Shabana in a 63-minute, four-game affair.
Julian told DailySquashReport:
The Mueller match was a good hard match.
Got a good start in the first 2 games and broke away in the middle of each game.
I thought I was making him do a lot of work but he kept running hard in the 3rd and 4th as well. The 4th at the end I got a little tight at 9-5 up, knowing i was close, and he took advantage to get back to 8-9 and I was lucky enough to finish it off 11-9.
It is amazing how nerves can play a huge roll at the end of games. Experience helped me a lot I thought in this match, just coming in I felt I was a little more settled than he was and executed my game plan a little better, but there wasn't much between us.
Felt good physically which is a good sign, felt strong and was confident on the volley which is so important on the glass court.
Looking foward to my match with LJ. (Anjema). It's a good opportunity for both of us; he had a great win yesterday over Thierry and he seems like he has upped his intensity and looks very fit for the beginning of the season.
I am going to need to really control the ball well tomorrow and try to keep the game clean since he is so strong physically.
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