Qualifying Complete In $70K PSA British Grand Prix
by Steve Cubbins
September 19, 2012 - In contrast to last night's series of marathon round one matches at Wolverhampton LT&SC, tonight's qualifying finals of the Springfield Solutions British Grand Prix were comparatively straightforward with just one of the four matches reaching the hour mark.
Not that it was easy for any of the four qualifiers - Adrian Waller and Mathieu Castagnet both won 3/0 in the opening pair of matches, but both needed to win the first two games on extra points before completing their wins.
Waller, having taken out top seed Max Lee yesterday, overcame local favourite Chris Ryder 17-15, 12-10, 11-5 in 54 minutes, the effect of Ryder’s recent illness taking its toll as he became slower on the ball as the match progressed.
Castagnet took exactly an hour to beat world junior champion Marwan El Shorbagy in a similar scoreline of 14-12, 12-10, 11-7. The pair were trading drop shots throughout the match but the Frenchman, who had a much shorter match last night, made his higher winning percentage count.
Waller now faces third seeded Frenchman Gregory Gaultier in the main draw, while Castagnet meets Germany's Simon Rosner, who he was due to meet in the first qualifying round before withdrawals forced a draw shuffle!
Top qualifying seed Saurav Ghosal had a momentous five game match with local Jonathan Kemp. None of the games were particularly long with both players going for their shots and inevitably making mistakes.
However, a large crowd was greatly entertained with the range of shots played, and it was only after 54 enthralling minutes that Ghosal prevailed 11-9 in the fifth to book a place in the main draw against Adrian Grant.
On the other court Joe Lee, who had a shock win over Scotland’s Alan Clyne the previous evening, was up against compatriot Chris Simpson.
The game was played in great spirit with both players ensuring that the referee’s job was easy. Although this 3/0 match was the shortest of the night it still lasted 50 minutes to the delight of the supporters of both men.
Simpson's reward is a match against Alister Walker - a repeat of their Allam British Open meeting in May - on the all-glass court at Manchester's National Squash Centre in the main draw which gets under way at noon on Friday (21st Sep).
19-Sep, Qualifying Finals, Wolverhampton LT&SC
Adrian Waller (Eng) 3-0 Chris Ryder (Eng) 17-15, 12-10, 11-5 (54m)
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) 3-0 Marwan El Shorbagy (Egy) 14-12, 12-10, 11-7 (60m)
Saurav Ghosal (Ind) 3-2 Jonathan Kemp (Eng) 5-11, 11-4, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9 (54m)
Chris Simpson (Eng) 3-0 Joe Lee (Eng) 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (50m)
Updated main draw:
[1] James Willstrop (Eng) v Daryl Selby (Eng)
Laurens Jan Anjema (Ned) v Jens Schoor (Ger)
Simon Rosner (Ger) v [Q] Mathieu Castagnet (Fra)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) v [Q] Adrian Waller (Eng)
[4] Peter Barker (Eng) v Borja Golan (Esp)
Adrian Grant (Eng) v [Q] Saurav Ghosal (Ind)
Alister Walker (Bot) v [Q] Chris Simpson (Eng)
[2] Nick Matthew (Eng) v Tom Richards (Eng)
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