Top Seeds Through to Semis, US Open Day Seven Report by Steve Cubbins October 15, 2013
- We're down to the quarterfinals in Philadelphia and, after a day's
rest, the players in the top half of the men's and women's draws -
offering equal prize money for the first time ever in a World Series
event - took to the all-glass court tonight in Drexel University's John
A. Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia.
All four matches
finished in three straight games, with Joelle King and Karim Darwish
setting up semi-final meetings with top seeds Nicol David and Gregory
Gaultier.
King Crushes Waters
Joelle King stormed
through to a second successive U.S. Open semi-final with a crushing
defeat of England's fourth seed Alison Waters in the first match of the
night.
There was no sign of
the domination to come in the first game as Waters, volleying well as
she does, took a 6-2 lead. But King worked her way back, taking five
points in a row from 5-8 down to reach match ball as a let given to
Waters was turned into a no let on video review.
Waters saved those
game balls, but a stroke followed by another let that King appealed and
got turned into a no let, and the Kiwi was ahead.
That was the end of
the match as a contest, as King dominated the next two games, dropping
just five points. As well as King played - virtually error free,
precise and powerful - Waters was strangely passive and was unable to
put her opponent under any real pressure as the scoreboard ticked over
relentlessly against her.
"Quite often when you
sneak a game like I did the first you can get on a roll like I did
tonight," said King. "Alison probably wasn't at her best but I'm
pleased with how I played and really happy to be in the semi-finals
again. It's been a long break so it's good to be back plying
tournaments again, and this is such a great one to do well in."
David Comfortably Through
After a relatively
barren period in terms of major titles, Nicol David looked to be well
back on track with two tournament wins in a row, and tonight she was
very impressive in a straight-game defeat of Madeline Perry.
The Irishwoman reckons
she's been playing the best squash of her life in the last year, and
although she was never outplayed last night, only intermittently could
she knock the top seed out of her stride.
David was moving
fluidly and hitting smoothly throughout the match, made less than a
handful of unforced errors but made many more fleet-footed recoveries
in the rallies where Perry did have her under pressure.
David led 4-0 in the
first, Perry got back to 5-all but David eased away again to take it
11-6. From 3-all in the second David pulled clear to 10-3, Perry
eventually succumbing 11-6 again. David was dominant in the third and
the inevitable end came 11-4 after 34 minutes.
"I knew I had to be on
from the start," said David, " Madeline is so strong from the middle
and she had me on the run a lot of times so I had to work hard to stay
in front."
Perry was happy enough
with her performance, if not the result: "I thought I played pretty
well there, but it's pretty warm on there and she was getting
everything back. I thought I'd won some of the rallies three times
over, but when she's playing like that there's not a lot you can do!"
Gaultier wins French Affair
In the first of two
'local derbies' in the men's quarter-finals, Gregory Gaultier overcame
his young compatriot Mathieu Castagnet in straigh games, but it was
never easy for the top seed and world #2.
Castagnet got off to a
flyer, playing at a high pace and he led 6-0 with Gaultier contributing
a couple of careless errors. The top seed didn't look perturbed though,
and he calmly worked his way back into the game , levelling at 8-all
and taking the lead 9-8 with another crisp volley.
Castagnet wasn't done
though, firing in a volley winner of his own, then after a stroke
brought up game ball to Gaultier the youngster took two in a row for a
chance of his own. Gaultier had to push, but push he did to take the
game 13-11 .
Conventional wisdom
would have it that the senior player would then assert himself, and to
some extent Gaultier did just that, opening up to 6-2 in the second.
Castagnet continued to play well though, and keeping Gaultier honest he
closed up the gap, to 8-6 but still Gaultier took it 11-8. Again in the
third Gaultier always led, but never comfortably. A couple of dives
from Castagnet kept the crowd entertained, but Gautlier still had
enough of a grip on the match, and he closed it out 11-6 after 47
minutes.
"He started really
fast and took me a bit by surprise," admitted Gaultier. "It was maybe a
bit faster than he usually plays, so I knew I had to make the game
tough even if I lost it. Once I got a few points I was confident I
could win the game, but I had to work hard.
"He didn't slow down
at all in the second, he played just as well as he had in the first, so
I had to really dig in to stay in front.
"We've played together
for so long it's really hard to play in a match like this, but you just
have to forget about that and find a solution to win."
Darwish Bosses all-Egyptian Battle
Fourth seed Karim
Darwish came through to a semi-final meeting with Gaultier with an
impressive straight-game win against his young compatriot Mohamed
Elshorbagy, ranked just one place below and seeded five here.
Darwish took early
control, leading 5-2, 7-5 and 9-6 and despite Shorbagy's best efforts
took the lead 11-9. There were a few collisions, and as the second
began there were a few more, first Shorbagy and then Darwish bumping
into the back of their opponent. A few words from the referee and
things settled down, but there was clearly no love lost between the
pair of them.
Meanwhile Shorbagy had
built a lead of 6-1, then 8-3 and 9-4. Darwish got one point back, then
Shorbagy proceeded to self-destruct with five unforced tins in a row.
Darwish took the game 11-9 with a dropshot for an unlikely two-game
lead.
He wasn't going to let
the opportunity slip, and the senior partner bossed the third game,
taking a 5-1 lead, extended it to 7-3. Shorbagy would work hard to win
a point, then another unforced error and Darwish was clear again. At
10-6 a delicate crosscourt dropshot finished it off and he was through
to the semis.
"I was really focused
for this match," said Darwish, "I really wanted to win this one and
it's such a great feeling to be in the semi-final of the U.S. Open.
There were a few collisions in the second I wasn't too happy about it,
but I told myself I had to win and I'm happy I could do it.
"Greg's one of the in form players, so it should be a good match against him on Thursday."
WSA World Series Quarter-Finals:
[5] Joelle King (Nzl) bt [4] Alison Waters (Eng) 12-10, 11-2, 11-3 (37m) [1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [8] Madeline Perry (Irl) 11-6, 11-6, 11-4 (34m)
