(updated 6-feb-10 20:21 )  

PILLEY HAD HIS CHANCES     [PSA DRAW/RESULTS]   [WISPA DRAW/RESULTS]

Pilley puts pressure on Matthew, but not enough photo © 2010 Courtesy PSA.

Despite the stark three love scoreline today, Cameron Pilley did put substantial pressure on Nick Matthew in the Linkoping, Sweden semi finals, especially in the second game where he held a 10-8 game-ball lead in the second, with two game points. With that great opportunity, created by his sound cross-court and volley strategy, Pilley suddenly turned conservative on himself, his opponent and the crowd, turning down several must-use front court openings to go for a put-away, instead losing his nerve and going for length.

The game eventually slipped away from him, giving Matthew the 14-12 second game, all the momentum, and an almost insurmountable lead.

That was all Matthew needed to go on the all-out pressure attack in the third, closing the match out with an 11-2 third game. And even in that lopsided third, Pilley still put good pressure on Matthew throughout each point. It was a sound performance from Pilley's calendar year 2010 debut, but it put Nick Matthew into Sunday afternoon's finals.

WILLSTROP TOO MOBILE FOR SHABANA TODAY
James Willstrop and Amr Shabana managed to fit four games into about 37 minutes today. Willstrop said afterwards, "The court here is really dead, which lends itself to fast squash and a lot of points up front."

Shabana, who appeared quite visibly limping in the last two games of the match, and who customarily mixes his phenomenal attacking game with periods of measured length, was all attack and volley today, probably hoping to catch Willstrop off the mark. Willstrop, who was extremely fast and mobile today, parried every Shabana attack that didn't reach the "dead nick" and was able to turn Shabana's uncharacteristically impatient front game into a larger and larger advantage, so that the final two games weren't really in question.

ALL-DUTCH WOMENS FINAL SET
Top Dutch stars Annelize Naude and Vanessa Atkinson both advanced to Sunday's final with straight game victories.

CASE Swedish Open Quarters

Semi -final :
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-3 14-12 11-2
[4] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [2] Amr Shabana (EGY) 9-11 11-7 11-4 11-7

WISPA ZACK SWEDISH OPEN
Semi-final:
[1] Vanessa Atkinson (NED) bt [7] Nicolette Fernandes (GUY) 12-10 11-5 11-1
[2] Annelize Naude (NED) bt [3] Dipika Pallikal (IND) 11-9 11-8 14-12