Matthew Fights Off Match Points, Digs Deep To Keep NetSuite Glory Hopes Alive by Nathan Clarke September 27, 2015
- Three-time World Champion Nick Matthew was forced to draw on all his
18-years of professional experience as he came within a whisker of
exiting the 2015 NetSuite Open at the quarter-final stage against
German Simon Rösner in San Francisco today (Sept 26).
In all their seven previous meetings Matthew, the 35-year-old winner of
33 PSA World Tour titles, had never dropped more than a game against
the 27-year-old World No.7 but needed all his trademark fighting spirit
to keep his tournament alive when he found himself 10-6 and match-ball
down in the fourth game.
Matthew, traditionally one of the strongest starters on tour, was
behind from the off as Rösner came out firing with precision and pace
to take the opening game and after sealing the third after a nervy
tie-break, the powerful man from Paderborn looked on course to record a
career-defining win. But Matthew called on every fibre of his
Yorkshire-grit to save four match-balls and force a fifth and deciding
game - which he eventually sealed 11-7 after 96-minutes of compelling,
nail-biting drama.
“I’ve a good head to head record against him and normally I’ve broken
him down after a game or two but tonight I never felt like I did that
and I had to fight for every point,” said Matthew.
“He was taking the volley away from me and mentally I had to put in so
much focus to every shot that I struggled to implement my game plan. I
had to dig deep and all credit to him as that’s the best he’s played
against me.
“I used all my experience in that fourth game to make sure I didn’t
panic and stay composed but aggressive as well. There were a lot of
guts in there as well because I just didn’t want to lose tonight.
“Once it got to the fifth I felt like I had the momentum and the
experience behind me. I thought that if I managed a good start then I
could push on and I’m happy I managed to do that.”
Matthew’s opponent in the semi-final will be the entertaining Colombian
Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who secured his place in the last four courtesy
of a similarly dramatic come-from-behind win over Australian Cameron
Pilley in a titanic 108-minute battle.
Rodriguez too was match-ball down in the fourth game against an
inspired Pilley, who produced some of his best play of the last
18-months to dictate the pace and unsettle the Colombian from the
start, but after a series of nervy exchanges the man from Bogota
managed to save the match and force a decider - which he managed to
sneak 11-8.
“Cameron played very well tonight and I had to play at 100 per cent in the entire match to try and match him,” said Rodriguez.
“He’s a very talented player and he was playing amazing today. I was
focusing so much on retrieving the ball and not making a mistake in
that forth game, which was crucial, and I was lucky to win the match.”
In the women’s PSA W25 event American number one and crowd favourite
Amanda Sobhy dismantled Welsh challenger Tesni Evans 3-0 in just
26-minutes to move into the semi-finals to face Line Hansen of Denmark.
“I love playing in the US because the crowd is so amazing and when
people come and support me it makes me want to push harder and play my
best and to play at this venue is amazing,” said Sobhy.
Results - NetSuite Open PSA M100, Quarter-finals:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [5] Simon Rösner (GER) 3-2: 5-11, 11-7, 11-13, 13-11, 11-7 (96m)
[3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 3-2: 6-11, 11-3, 8-11, 14-12, 11-8 (108m)
[4] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [Q] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) - To Be Played Sunday Sept 78
[8] James Willstrop (ENG) v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) - To Be Played Sunday Sept 27
