Title Favourites On Form In Tournament Of Champions by Nathan Clarke photos squashpics.com
January 9, 2016
- On the opening day of Women’s action at the 2016 J.P. Morgan
Tournament of Champions, which for the first time in tournament history
is offering equal prize money across both the Men’s and Women’s draws,
title favourites Nicol David, Laura Massaro and Raneem El Welily, the
defending champion, signalled their intentions to triumph on the
sport’s grandest stage with a trio of dominant first round performances.
Under
the stunning chandeliers of Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall
the triumvirate, who are currently embroiled in a compelling battle for
dominance atop the World Rankings, ruthlessly dispatched their
opposition as they sent warning signs to each other ahead of what
promises to be a crucial week in the World Rankings race.
After
enduring a series of disappointing results during the second half of
2015 recently deposed No.1 El Welily, for whom victory here 12 months
ago laid the foundations for her surge towards dethroning Nicol David
and ending the Malaysian’s nine-year rankings reign, hinted at a timely
return to form as she breezed past Tesni Evans. The victory sees her
move closer to a potential semi-final encounter with in-form Massaro,
who took out home hope Olivia Blatchford with a composed performance.
“I’m
really happy to be back here in New York,” said El Welily, who came
through 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 after 30 minutes. “It’s a great crowd, great
venue and great atmosphere to play in and I’m happy with how I played
today.
“I was trying hard to make sure I moved up the court
and increased the pace and I’m glad that it worked. It’s a good start
and hopefully I can keep it going.”
David, who at World No.3
is at her lowest ranking in ten years, returned to form in December
with a decisive victory at the 2015 Hong Kong Open and she picked up
from where she left off prior to the Christmas break with a destructive
victory over England’s Victoria Lust, dropping just seven points
throughout the 25 minute match.
“It’s great to be back here in New York in what is one of the most amazing places in the world to play squash,” said David.
“There’s
no better way than to start the year here, especially now that this
tournament has taken a huge step and is offering parity in prize money
between men and women for the first time ever. Hopefully I can continue
to play well this week.”
While the top seeds moved through
unscathed there were surprise victories for qualifiers Mariam Metwally
and Coline Aumard who took out established World Series performers
Dipika Pallikal and Sarah-Jane Perry, respectively, while in the Men’s
draw 2015 winner Mohamed Elshorbagy came through a difficult second
round encounter with a resurgent Cameron Pilley.
Elshorbagy
beat Pilley less that a month ago to take the Hong Kong Open title and
once again consigned the dogged Australian to defeat as he played at an
intense pace to out gun the 33-year-old in an exhibition of ferocious
hitting.
“Cameron has been playing really well lately so I
knew it would be difficult tonight and I’m really pleased that we
managed to play a high quality match in front of this amazing crowd
here in this amazing place because that always makes it even more
special,” said Elshorbagy.
“I felt good throughout the week
in Hong Kong and came here wanting to defend my title. I started 2015
in the best way possible by winning here and I’ll be giving everything
I have this week in order to do the same thing at the start of 2016.”
Results: J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - Men’s Second Round (Top Half) [1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 (47m) [5] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-1: 11-5, 11-4, 12-14, 11-7 (73m) [7] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt Max Lee (HKG) 3-2: 10-12, 11-8, 10-12, 11-2, 11-4 (73m) Borja Golan (ESP) bt Leo Au (HKG) 3-2: 11-6, 11-5, 11-13, 4-11, 11-4 (80m)
Draw: J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - Men’s Second Round (Bottom Half) [3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Fares Dessouki (EGY) James Willstrop (ENG) v [6] Simon Rösner (GER) [8] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) v Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
Draw - J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - Women’s Second Round [1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [10] Amanda Sobhy (USA) [14] Delia Arnold (MAS) v [6] Alison Waters (ENG) [8] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v Heba El Torky (EGY) [Q] Coline Aumard (FRA) v [3] Laura Massaro (ENG) [4] Camille Serme (FRA) v [16] Emily Whitlock (ENG) [Q] Mariam Metwally (EGY) v [7] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) [5] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v [15] Joshna Chinappa (IND) [9] Annie Au (HKG) v [2] Nicol David (MAS)
The
2016 Men’s J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, PSA World Series
tournament, takes place in New York’s iconic Grand Central Terminal
from Jan 7 - 14, with the 2016 Women’s tournament taking place from Jan
9 - 14.
Ticket prices range from $8 for early round
matches, going up to $170 for the sought-after Men’s and Women’s Finals
on the evening of Thursday, January 14th. Tickets are available online
at ToCSquash.com or by calling (718) 569-0594.
