HISHAM JOINS RAMY IN SECOND ROUND           [TOC DRAW]

When Nick Matthew pulled out of the TOC at the last moment, causing a reshuffle of the draw, Yasser El Halaby benefited: he was due to play Stewart Boswell  but got shifted to play Rafael Alarcon, a draw that he said he felt he could win.

Well, he could have won had he played like a professional rather than a talented amateur. That sounds harsh I know, but without Yasser’s stream of errors, Alarcon would not be through to the second round. The problem with great shotmakers –and El Halaby is from Egypt -  is that  they love burying the ball in the nick. Early in the first game he had some success with his winners and he tried to end the game – and match - in record time by going for winners all the time, without putting in the necessary work to manoeuvre  his opponent out of position. He should also learn that a ball driven to perfect length when your opponent is at the front of the court, is also a winner. Time after time, El Halaby would go for another drop rather than driving to the back to make his opponent use up some gas.

The sad thing is there were six rallies where El Halaby demonstrated  that he did know how to play  intelligently, moving his opponent around the court, dropping, driving and not trying to win the rally after three shots. Even if he did lose those longish rallies, Alarcon had been made to work for  his point.

In the first game from a lead of 8-7  he gifted the game to Alarcon with three careless errors.  El Halaby should learn that when you get to that game score, that is the time to get really down and dirty  and make sure your opponent  works doubly hard for every point. El Halaby made seven unforced errors; he should be made to watch every one a dozen times.

This is not to detract from Alarcon’s performance, he kept his head, refused to get drawn into a duel of winners and moved well to pick up at the front of the court..

Despite having Ramy Ashour advising him between games, El Halaby made another six errors  in the second game  and thus found himself two games down in a match that he expected to win.

In the third game he finally got down to some hard work and pulled back from 1-3 to lead at 5-4. He was really working Alarcon and making sure his drops went above the tin.  He trailed 6-7 but the next rally was marvellous- this was when he proved he could play world class squash and he and Alarcon  were equals. It finally ended with a wonderful  backhand crosscourt drop from El Halaby. From thereon he kept his impetuosity in check and took the game 11-8.

But while Alarcon was beginning to look a little weary, it was el Halaby who showed that fatigue was again making him go for winners, and towards the end of the fourth game, show some tired racket work as Alarcon smoothly moved to an 11-5 in just seven minutes. Alarcon, by virtue of his more mature approach, was a deserved winner of the  the 43 minute match.

KEMP PULLS THROUGH IN FIVE

After England’s Jonathan Kemp had won in five games, after being two games down to Hungary’s Mark Krajcsak, a player ranked 32 places below him, England coach David Pearson said to him “Watching you play is like watching a chicken – I want to wring your neck!”

I know he felt: Kemp had done exactly the same thing as El Halaby had done, played short at all the wrong times. Krajcsak is a talented player – better than his 58 world ranking sugfgests – and he revelled in the terms that Kemp had set which meant mostly just covering the front of the court. Kemp was hitting some lovely winners  but was also hitting some dreadful errors and he found himself two games down before he  knew that if he did not start hitting some length he would be on his way home.

But he did change his game and the results were immediate. He won the third game 11-5 in eight minutes, found himself 3-7 down in the fourth before stringing together seven points  with some solid squash to lead  10-7. To more  errors threatened his comeback  but the final rally was quality squash with Kemp always in charge  finally chopping in a lovely volley drop  to win the rally  and take the ten minute game to force a decider.

Krajcsak knew he was no longer in with a chance and the game was over in four minutes, 11-3,  much to Kemp’s relief.

“I was hitting everything to the front and no length, so all Mark had to do was to cover from the short line to the front of the court which was easy,” Kemp explained.  I suggested that as world number 26 surely he knew about good length. He looked a bit sheepish and replied:

“This was my first match  in a month and today was all about getting through it. Hopefully this match has sharpened me up and I will play well tomorrow.”

 As he could well  be playing John White tomorrow, Kemp will have to be much sharper if he wants to have a chance of progressing.

EGYPTIAN SHOT FEST

The final match of the afternoon was   Hisham Ashour facing fellow Egyptian Tarek Momen, a player who looks about 16 years old and plays like somebody who has been playing for 20 years. He’s actually 19 years old and plays wonderful squash, revelling in volley drops regardless of how fast the shot is. He and Ashour put together a wonderfully entertaining firework display, pushing each other for five games and competing to see who could put in the most winning drops. Hisham is ranked 22 against Momen’s  56, but there was very little difference in their performances which, together, produced a wonderfully entertaining match.  It was Hisham who emerged the victor  after 46 minutes (no, they rallies were not long) much to the annoyance of Momen. Yes, another Egyptian champion in the making; remember the name Tarek Momen.

FIRST ROUND Partial results.
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Chris Gordon (USA)11-6, 11-5, 11-5 (39mins)
[16] Omar El Borolossy (EGY) bt Matthew Guiffre (CAN)11-7, 10-11(0-2) 11-6, 11-2, (54mins)
[6] Wael El Hindi (EGY) bt  (Q) Reggie Schonborn (RSA) 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 (37mins)
Julian Illingworth (USA) bt [10]Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-9, 11-10 (5-3) 2-11, 11-8 (62mins)
[3] David Palmer (AUS)  bt Liam Kenny (IRL) 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (37mins)
Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) bt [15] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) 11-9,11-8,9-11,7-11, 11-8 (115mins)
[8] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt (Q)Mohammed Reda (EGY) 11-5,11-7, 11-8 (35mins)
[14] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) bt Q) Bernardo Samper (COL) 11-9,11-5, 11-10(2-0) (39mins)
[9] Rafael Alarcon  (BRA) bt Yasser El Halaby (EGY) 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5 (43mins)
[5] Stewart Boswell (AUS) vs Q) Amr Mansi (EGY)
[11] M.Azlan Iskander (MAS) bt ( Q) Maqbool (PAK) 11-6, 11-5, 11-1 (27mins)
[4] James Willstrop (ENG) vs  Q) John Rooney (IRL)
[13] Jonathan Kemp (ENG) bt Mark Krajcsak(HUN) 8-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-3 (54mins)
[7]  John White (SCO) vs  Q Ritwit Bhattacherya (IND)
[12] Hisham Ashour (EGY) bt  Tarek Momen (EGY) 5-11,11-5,11-10(5-3),9-11, 11-4 (46 minutes)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) vs Shawn Delierre (CAN

 

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