Matthew Wins Manchester’s Battle Of Britain While Gawad Gallops Into Semis by Nathan Clarke September 12, 2015
- Defending champion Nick Matthew produced an outstanding display to
defeat long-term adversary James Willstrop in the quarter-finals of the
AJ Bell British Grand Prix, PSA M70 tournament taking place at
Manchester’s National Squash Centre and extend his recent dominance
over his closest national rival.
The pair were facing each other for the first time since the 2014
Commonwealth Games final, when Matthew won a dramatic five-game
encounter to claim Gold, but the 35-year-old from Sheffield produced an
emphatic performance in an encounter that treated the capacity crowd in
Manchester to some electric rallies as he downed his 32-year-old rival
11-7, 11-5, 11-7 to record his 19th consecutive win over Willstrop.
“I thought I played really well today,” said Matthew.
“I didn’t really expect to play that well yesterday. I tried to start
well and that’s what I did. There were patches where he got on top of
me because he is a good player. It was always going to be a struggle to
maintain that level and I think I maintained it for more than I did
yesterday, that’s all I can do.
“We’ve not played each other for a while which can be a good thing
because it makes you refocus. But it can also be a bad thing because he
can surprise me with something new. All I really focused on was trying
to impose my game on him from the first point and thankfully I got the
win.”
The World No.2 now progresses to the semi-final stage where he will
face Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad who produced the shock of the round as
he knocked out World No.4 Miguel Angel Rodriguez in a high class
86-minute encounter.
“I can only say he [Rodriguez] is one of the best four players in the world,” said Gawad.
“He is very good and very strong both physically and mentally. Beating
him today is a great achievement. I played well in the first two games
and then he came back.
“I was thinking in the fifth that I had to win. I have been training
really hard so I had to win. I have been eating, sleeping, training all
for this.
“I put all my focus into the fifth and give it everything. I’m playing
with one of the most experienced players on the PSA World Tour tomorrow
against Nick. He’s 35-years-old and has been the World No.1 before so
he has a lot of experience. First I will rest and tomorrow I will try
do my best against a great player like him.”
The other semi-final will see World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy take on
French World No.3 Gregory Gaultier in a mouth-watering encounter.
Results - AJ Bell British Squash Grand Prix: Quarter-finals
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [7] Daryl Selby (ENG) 3-1: 6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 (54m)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [5] Peter Barker (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-7, 11-4 (28m)
[6] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt [4] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) 3-2: 11-7, 15-13, 4-11, 3-11, 11-3 (86m)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [8] James Willstrop (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 (45m)
Draw - AJ Bell British Squash Grand Prix: Semi-finals
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v [3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
[6] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
All the action will be shown live on SQUASHTV - www.psaworldtour.com/tv
