Chris Gordon Upsets Hisham Ashour In US Open 1st Round For Career Win
by DailySquashReport.com
October 7, 2012 - 72nd-ranked Christopher Gordon of New York converted a dramatic fifth game effort into the biggest win of his ten-year pro career yesterday, as he knocked off 15th-ranked Hisham Ashour of Egypt before an energized, partisan crowd on the stadium court at Drexel University.
The final match tally was: 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 5-11, 11-6 in 59 minutes.
Gordon's career-best world ranking was #65. Ashour was ranked #11 in February.
Gordon advances to the second round as the lone remaining US hope in the event. He will take on 5th-seeded Karim Darwish, a straight-set first round winner over Joe Lee, on Monday at 3pm eastern.
It is a well-deserved moment of recognition for Chris, who has been the perennial second-best American pro, behind the arguably more-talented Julian Illingworth.
Illingworth was beaten in Friday's qualifying finals, and now it is Gordon, who received a main draw wildcard, on center stage in the round-of-16 in the US Open.
Steve Cubbins files this report on Day One of the men's first round:
The opening day of the main draw of the Delaware Investments U.S. Open at Drexel University in Philadelphia saw just one upset, but what an upset it was as the USA’s Chris Gordon experienced “the best moment of my squash life” as he beat Egypt’s Hisham Ashour in a thrilling five-setter.
More of that later, as after the noon match was rescheduled to 4pm, it was left to top seed and world number one James Willstrop to open proceedings on the all-glass court.
Willstrop was facing Alister Walker, the Botswanan world number 12 who has had several close matches with the Yorkshire favourite of last, but with a 10-0 head to head record Willstrop started the firm favourite.
The top seed was relatively untroubled in the first two games, taking them 11-3, 11-4, and although Walker struck back to take the third 11-7 and hold his own for the most part of the fourth, it was Willstrop who advanced, taking the fourth 11-9 after a tough 80 minutes to christen the glass court.
Qualifier Steve Coppinger’s prediction that all the main draw players he might get were tough propositions proved true enough as he had to wait until Cameron Pilley had posted 13 unanswered points before the South African managed to trouble the scoreboard.
Coppinger went on to make the second and third games more competitive, but Pilley was always in charge as he went through 11-0, 11-5, 11-5 in half an hour.
“I wanted to try to get a good start, I knew that Steve had two tough qualifying matches in his legs,” admitted Pilley. “I did that and managed to keep it going so I’m happy to get through in three. We’ve trained together a fair bit but that was our first competitive match.”
Asked about the possibility of breaking his own 175mph spedd record set here last year, Pilley declared himself “up for a go at it, but not while I’m still in the tournament, I nearly pulled my shoulder out last year!”
Pilley’s next opponent will be eighth seed Mohamed El Shorbagy, who beat Germany’s Simon Rosner in a very competitive four games. The Egyptian took the lead, Rosner levelled and early in the third required treatment on his back. It didn’t seem to affect him unduly though, but he was unable to capitalise on hard-earned slight leads in the third and fourth games as Shorbagy closed out the match 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7 in 68 minutes.
“I’ve seen some of Simon’s recent matches where he’s had good results,” said a relieved Shorbagy, “so I knew it was going to be tough. When we had that break I took the time to think about my tactics and I managed to play well enough to win the next two games.
“I don’t have a good record against Pilley,” he admitted, “but our games are always tough, so I hope I can play as better in my next match.”
Daryl Selby was pleased enough with his 11-5, 11-9, 12-10 win over qualifier Omar Abdel Aziz – “If someone had offered me 3/0 before the start I’d have taken it,” said the Englishman, “even though there were some things I could have done better.”
The Egyptian started slowly but improved as the match progressed, and established a four point lead in the third but couldn’t finish it off as Selby recovered, using his video challenges to good effect.
“He got better as the match went on,” said the winner, “he found his length well and I wasn’t hitting the ball as well as I’d like, I had to scrap it out towards the end. I can do better, and I’ll have to against James but at least I have a chance to do that,” he concluded.
Karim Darwish is usually one of the best finishers in early rounds of tournaments, and although the Egyptian fifth seed duly completed a straight-game win over Hong Kong qualifier Max Lee, it wasn’t with his usual straightforward efficiency. Lee established leads in the first and third games, 6/1 and 7/2 respectively, but couldn’t hold on to them as Darwish refused to let a game go, winning 13/11, 11/2, 11/9.
“It’s my first real tournament since El Gouna,” said Darwish, “we had a baby, spent some time in the US, training back in Egypt and I was injured in the Malaysian Open, so it’s been a long time since I’ve been on court feeling right.,
“The first match in any tournament you’re always a bit nervous, especially in a big tournament like this, and against someone like Max who is improving all the time it was never going to be easy.
“I love the venue, I love playing in the US, they take care of us so well here. My aim for any tournament is to play as well as I can and win it, so I’ll be trying my best for the rest of the week.”
Then came the moment US squash fans and Chris Gordon had been waiting a long time for – in Gordon’s case, all his squash life.
Hisham Ashour has mercurial talents, but is prone to spells of inconsistency, and mix this with an American spurred on by the home crowd and playing as well as he ever has, an upset looked on the cards from the beginning.
Gordon took the lead in a tight finish to the first, Ashour levelled, but lost out on extra points in the third. Another fightback from Ashour levelled it, but the fifth was all Gordon as he refused to give ground, retrieved brilliantly and forged ahead with Ashour becoming more and more frustrated.
As the Egyptian’s final shot hit the tin Gordon sank to his knees in celebration, and the crowd rose.
“This is the best moment of my squash life,” said a delighted winner. “I’ve had a few good wins, a few close misses against some of the top guys but this tops everything by a long way, I can’t believe it.
“Winning the first helped, but DP [David Pearson] was telling me that I needed to start not just be competing, but believing that I could win. I was playing well, not perfect and not flashing winners but nice and solid and steady, and I started to believe I could win.
“It’s not the best I’ve ever played but it’s definitely the best match I’ve ever played. I’m not blessed with Hisham’s vision and talent but I’m proud that I could weather the storm and stop him bringing the wow factor he often does to the court.
“ To finally get a win like this, here, in the US Open, it’s just fantastic.”
It would have been hard for the next match to live up to that, and Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, the third seed, made sure it didn’t with a comprehensive 11-1, 11-2, 11-3 win over Finland’s Olli Tuominen.
One of the fans’ twitter questions was put to Greg after the match, asking what he ate after matches. “Cheeseburger and Fries,” he joked. More truthfully he was happy with his performance. “I haven’t been here for long and it took me a little while to start feeling comfortable, but I was happy enough with the way I played, especially at the front of the court, so hopefully I can improve as the tournament goes on.”
The final match of the day pitched birthday boy Joe Lee, who had produced two qualifying upsets to reach this stage, against experienced Spaniard Borja Golan. The 23-year-old Englishman matches Golan all the way for two games, which were shared although he had his chances to go two games up, only tailing off towards the end of the third and fourth games as a relieved Golan went through 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 in 76 minutes.
“He played really well today,” said Golan, “he did well to qualify and proved that he belongs at this level, he’s improved a lot even over the last few months. In the end I think it came down to experience, and I had a little bit more energy than him at the end.”
Men’s Round One (top half):
[1] James Willstrop (Eng) bt Alister Walker (Bot) 11-4, 11-3, 7-11, 11-9 (80 m)
Cameron Pilley (Aus) bt Steve Coppinger (Rsa) 11-0, 11-5, 11-5 (30m)
[8] Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy) bt Simon Rosner (Ger) 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7 (68m)
Daryl Selby (Eng) bt [Q] Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy) 11-5, 11-9, 12-10 (57m)
[5] Karim Darwish (Egy) bt [Q] Max Lee (Hkg) 13-11, 11-2, 11-9 (38 m)
Christopher Gordon (Usa) bt Hisham Ashour (Egy) 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 5-11, 11-6 (59m)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt Olli Tuominen (Fin) 11-1, 11-2, 11-3 (24m)
Borja Golan (Esp) bt [Q] Joe Lee (Eng) 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 (76m)
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