Frenchman Serme Stuns Second Seed ElShorbagy In London by Nathan Clarke
photos PSA
March 7, 2016
- French qualifier Lucas Serme overcame a gulf of almost 40 places on
the PSA World Rankings to defeat World No.7 and tournament second seed
Marwan ElShorbagy 3-1 and secure a surprise berth in the quarter-finals
of the 2017 Canary Wharf Classic - the PSA M70 tournament taking place
inside London's East Wintergarden.
Serme battled through over 100 minutes of qualification action just to
reach the main draw of the event but played relaxed, free-flowing
squash to expose an under-par ElShorbagy and come through 11-9, 11-9,
7-11, 11-7 - with the Egyptian struggling physically following his
exploits in reaching the Windy City Open final last week.
25-year-old Serme though, who studied at the University of Bristol
alongside ElShorbagy, was sublime from the off and, despite dropping
the third game, was fully deserving of the victory that takes him
through to meet Spain's Borja Golan for a place in the semi-finals.
"I'm not entirely sure what happened," said a disbelieving Serme afterwards.
"I'm very, very happy with the result. He had a big week in Chicago and
I could feel he wasn't as sharp mentally as he usually is - he was a
little flat. I had to jump on there from the start and get as many
points as possible before he got into it and maybe I was the more
hungry player today.
"There was no pressure on me. He was the number two seed so the
pressure was all on him and that allowed me to play my shots - and my
wife Anna played a big part as well because she kept sending me
messages to help me relax."
Serme's compatriot and defending Canary Wharf Classic champion Mathieu
Castagnet began his campaign with a straight-forward win over Wildcard
Lyell Fuller, coming through 3-0 as he looks to end a poor run of
injury-ravaged form.
Since claiming the title here twelve months ago Castagnet has failed to
progress beyond the quarter-finals of any tournament, a record he'll
hope to change against Egypt’s Fares Dessouky tomorrow.
"I'm happy with how I played today - I fell like I was moving well," said Castagnet.
"Lyell is a good player and he surprised and scared me in the first
game - but today is the first match that I've felt like I'm moving and
playing well. Since leaving here last year my ranking and my health has
gone down - it's been a nightmare.
"Last season I reached my first World Series semi-finals, I won here
and played the World Series Finals - I played around 15 or 20 matches
more than in any other season of my career and I think maybe I didn't
listen enough to my body and I started to get injured.
"So this week I'm just going on court to focus on my game and not worry
about my body. If I can enjoy the experience, work on my basics and
just enjoy being injury free then I'll go home happy."
Draw - Quarter-finals
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [8] Cameron Pilley (AUS)
[6] Daryl Selby (ENG) v Paul Coll (NZL)
[4] Fares Dessouky (EGY) v [5] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
[7] Borja Golan (ESP) v [Q] Lucas Serme (FRA)
