Spaniard Golan Downs No.4 Seed Rodriguez In TOC Upset by Nathan Clarke photos squashpics
January 7, 2015
- On the opening day of action at the 2016 Men’s J.P. Morgan Tournament
of Champions staged in the iconic setting of New York’s Grand Central
Terminal it was Spaniard Borja Golan who stole the headlines as he
knocked adopted crowd-favourite Miguel Angel Rodriguez out of the
prestigious PSA World Series tournament at the first hurdle.
World
No.5 Rodriguez, returning to the scene of his 2015 heroics when in a
career-defying week he downed current World Champion Gregory Gaultier
en-route to a maiden World Series semi-final appearance, was odds-on
favourite to come through against the 33-year-old but found himself on
the receiving end of a performance of clinical precision from Golan -
which will serve to bolster his hopes of reclaiming a place within the
world top ten.
It took the World No.19, who ranked as high
as No.5 just 18 months ago, 35 minutes to complete the straight-games
win against an under-par Rodriguez who, after a particularly ferocious
rally in the heart of the second game, looked to be struggling with
inhibited movement and cut a dejected figure as he left the court in
front of a subdued capacity crowd who had taken the ‘Colombian
Cannoball’ to their hearts 12 months ago.
“I’m really happy
to win today,” said Golan. “This is one of the biggest tournaments on
the circuit and the first event of 2016 so to start by beating a player
of Miguel’s ability is a good confidence boost for me.
“I
struggled with my consistency last year and I had a few matches where I
was close to winning, but just couldn’t see it out, and I lost some of
my confidence. I worked hard throughout the Christmas break and changed
some of my training with the aim of feeling good on court so to get off
to such a good start in 2016 is great for me
“I’m very
pleased to be in the second round and I’m just going to focus on the
next match and not look too far ahead. I’m going to enjoy being on
court and try to put into practice the things that I have been working
on and hopefully I will continue to play well.”
Golan will
now take on Hong Kong’s Leo Au in the second round after he and
compatriot Max Lee impressed during first round wins over Gregoire
Marche and Farhan Zaman, respectively, while defending champion Mohamed
Elshorbagy began his bid to retain the prestigious title with a
comfortable straight-games victory over England’s Adrian Waller.
After
winning December’s Hong Kong Open in emphatic fashion Elshorbagy, who
regained the World No.1 spot on January 1st, picked up from where he
left off in the first tournament of 2016 as he controlled proceedings
to get past the World No.33 in just 30-minutes.
“Adrian is a
good player and we have had some very tough matches in the past so I
knew I had to play well today and I’m happy I was able to do that,”
said Elshorbagy.
“I started 2015 in great form here by
winning this trophy so I’m hoping to start 2016 in the same fashion and
look forward to playing in front of the fantastic crowd here in New
York once again in two days time.”
In the opening match of
the tournament Australian Cameron Pilley, who lost out to Elshorbagy in
Hong Kong in what was his first ever PSA World Series tournament final,
continued his recent resurgence with a comfortable straight-games
victory over Egyptian Tarek Momen.
The tall hard-hitting
Aussie cited recent changes to his game, most notably the introduction
of a new grip, as the keys to his impressive run in Hong Kong, in which
he defeated World No.2 Gregory Gaultier and World No.3 Nick Matthew en
route to the final, and the dividends contained to come as he nullified
an under-the-weather Momen during an 11-4, 11-3, 11-3 encounter.
“I
finished 2015 in some of the best form of my career and with three of
the biggest wins I’ve ever had,” said the 33-year-old from Yamba.
“I’m
not really sure exactly what is going on but I made some changes to my
game and things just seem to be going well for me. I didn’t have a long
break over Christmas and New Year. I tried to keep in shape and keep
that form from the back end of the year and I’m delighted that I was
able to play so well today and turn the tables on him, because he
normally beats me 3-0 when we play.”
Results: J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - Men’s First Round (Top Half) [1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-2 (30m) Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Tarek Momen (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-3, 11-3 (36m) Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt [Q] Raphael Kandra (GER) 3-1: 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 11-1 (45m) [5] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [Q] Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 (52m) [7] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 3-1: 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6 (59m) Max Lee (HKG) bt [Q] Farhan Zaman (PAK) 3-1: 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9 (43m) Leo Au (HKG) bt [Q] Gregoire Marche (FRA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 (55m) Borja Golan (ESP) bt [4] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (34m)
Draw: J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - Men’s First Round (Bottom Half - Played Jan 8) [3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [Q] Ramit Tandon (IND) Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [WC] Todd Harrity (USA) James Willstrop (ENG) v Alister Walker (BOT) Tom Richards (ENG) v [6] Simon Rösner (GER) [8] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) v Cesar Salazar (MEX) Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) v [Q] Nasir Iqbal (PAK) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Daryl Selby (ENG) [Q] Diego Elias (PER) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
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.
