World No.1 Gaultier Wins Grand Central Epic While Defending Champion Serme Survives Second Round Scare by Nathan Clarke
photos PSA
January 22, 2018
- A dramatic day of action at the 2018 J.P. Morgan Tournament of
Champions saw men's World No.1 Gregory Gaultier come through a titanic
90-minute, four-game thriller with long term rival Nick Matthew to
secure his place in the semi-finals of the PSA World Series event,
while defending women's champion Camille Serme narrowly avoided a shock
second round defeat at the hands of Australian Donna Urquhart.
Inside New York's
iconic Grand Central Terminal, Gaultier, who was up against Matthew for
the 36th time on the PSA World Tour, recovered from losing a 30-minute
opening game to prevail 12-14, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7 in what will go down
as one of the finest matches in the history of the event.
Probing back and forth
from the off, the pair engaged in rally after rally of physically and
mentally testing squash that saw them move the ball, and each other,
into all four corners of the court. Gaultier struck a crucial blow when
he came from behind to take the third-game from under the nose of
Matthew and go ahead on the scoreboard for the first time.
From then on the
Frenchman tried to inject pace into the play to tire Matthew. The
tactic worked as he eventually prevailed to inflicting defeat upon the
37-year-old in what was his last ever appearance under the chandeliers
inside Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall.
"We've been playing
each other for 20 years, since we were kids, and he definitely made it
tough today," said 35-year-old Gaultier.
"He was dominating the
centre of the court with his accuracy and made it very hard for me, he
was hurting me on there. I just tried to dig in and retrieve as much as
I could to keep the rallies going and make him work as hard as
possible.
"We both gave
everything. Of course we are rivals but we are friends as well and have
a huge respect for each other. Playing here in this atmosphere is
amazing and we both emptied the tank - hopefully I can recover well for
my next round match now."
After the match
Matthew said: "Today he just came out on top even though I think it was
the best I have played all season, which shows there's more to come
from me over the next few months."
Gaultier will now go
up against Simon Rösner of Germany for a place in the title-decider
after the 30-year-old from Paderborn beat Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller
- his friend and training partner - 3-1 to reach only the second PSA
World Series tournament semi-final of his career.
The win comes just three months after Rösner secured his maiden appearance in a major semi-final during October's Qatar Classic.
"It's hard to play someone who you know so well so I'm just relieved to get through the match today," said Rösner.
"I am a little disappointed I couldn't close it out in three, but I'm happy that I got it back in the fourth.
"I had been waiting
for a big quarter-final win for a long time and finally managed to get
one in Qatar to reach my first World Series semi-finals. To be in a
second semi this season here in New York - for the first time in this
great venue - is very special."
In the women's draw,
defending champion Camille Serme had to call on all her fighting spirit
to recover from a 2-1 deficit and come through a difficult clash with
Urquhart in what was one of four women’s second round matches to go the
distance.
Serme became the first
Frenchwoman ever to win the Tournament of Champions last year when she
beat England’s Laura Massaro in the final, but the number three seed
was on the brink of an early elimination after conceding a one-game
advantage following some superb squash from Urquhart.
The World No.16
outplayed Serme for large parts but the 28-year-old from Creteil showed
her resilience as she came from 4-1 down in the fourth game to keep the
match alive and, after taking the match into a crucial fifth, she
maintained her composure to complete the victory.
"When you are losing,
you start thinking about not playing again and being out of the
tournament, so that’s when you fight even more," said Serme.
"You think that you
have nothing left to loose and that’s when you relax a bit. At the end
I got a lucky bounce and I just fought as hard as I could.
"I knew today would be
tricky. Donna is in really good form and she put on a great match. She
made me struggle a lot so I’m happy to be through."
Serme will go up
against Malaysian squash icon Nicol David in the quarter-finals after
the eight-time World Champion impressed in a 3-1 victory over New
Zealand's Joelle King, while current World Champion Raneem El Welily
will take on compatriot Nour El Tayeb after scraping through a
difficult five-game battle with Welsh number one Tesni Evans.
El Welily suffered a
nasty looking ankle injury during her first round win over Jenny
Duncalf and was still feeling the effects of that injury during the
early exchanges. But the Egyptian managed to find her footing in the
second and raced through the gears to produce some spell-binding play
that was equally matched by Evans.
The duo traded points
through a series of thrilling exchanges, going all the way to a
decisive tie-break finish in the fifth game, which El Welily converted
to a standing ovation from the crowd.
"Tesni played fantastic today and I think I was a little flat at the beginning," said El Welily.
"It was mentally hard
for me today. It felt like I was playing a final, which it isn't, but
at least I get to live for another day in this tournament. It
definitely wasn't easy at the beginning with my ankle - I just tried to
adjust to it.
"The physios put in a
lot of work and really helped me to recover for today and I'll need to
do a lot of work again to be ready for the match tomorrow."
Elsewhere World No.1
Nour El Sherbini set up a last eight clash with England's Sarah-Jane
Perry with Laura Massaro and Nouran Gohar both prevailing in their
second round battles to set up a last eight meeting.
Results - Quarter-finals: Men's J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions 2018 [1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [6] Nick Matthew (ENG) 3-1: 12-14, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7 (92m) Simon Rösner (GER) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-1: 11-7, 11-7, 13-15, 11-6 (59m)
Draw - Quarter-finals (Bottom Half - Played Jan 23): Men's J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions 2018 [3] Ali Farag (EGY) v Ramy Ashour (EGY) [7] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
Draw - Quarter-finals: Women's 2018 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Campions [1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) [5] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [4] Laura Massaro (ENG) [3] Camille Serme (FRA) v [6] Nicol David (MAS) [8] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v [2] Raneem El Welily (EGY)
