On the Court
Karim Darwish maintains his number one position in the March PSA Men’s World Squash Rankings ahead of compatriot Amr Shabana. But the
Egyptian trio which had occupied the top three positions in December and January remain separated since Frenchman Gregory Gaultier overtook Ramy Ashour to reclaim third place in the February list published by the Professional Squash Association.
The 26 year old from Aix-en-Provence is certainly in form, having celebrated his fourth successive appearance in a PSA Tour event inal last month. He then beat Nick Matthew in the climax of the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions in New York at Grand Central Terminal, the irst PSA Tour Super Series Gold squash event of the year. Gaultier won the prestigious title for the irst time after a gruelling four-game win over 10th seed Matthew before a standing room only crowd in the inal of the
$117,500 tournament. Englishman Matthew also improved his ranking
following his surprise New York inal appearance. The former No5, out
of action for much of last year following shoulder surgery, leapt
three places to No9 and restored his status as the second highest-
ranked Englishman.
At the ATCO Super Series Finals 2009 held at The Queen’s Club,
London, England on 17th March, Greg Gaultier, the fourth seed,
maintained his superb form. In an all French inal, he looked as
though he were playing the best squash of his career as he became
the irst player for eight years to successfully defend the Super
Series title, fashioning a beautifully constructed win over Thierry Lincou
in the irst inal between players of the same nation.
Gaultier moved so easily between attack and defence, held so many tactical options, and so often played at such a high pace during his 11-5, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5 win that Lincou did well to extend a ine match for more than an hour.
Gaultier and Lincou reached the inal topping the groups after the inal round of pool matches.
First up was an entertaining match which saw David Palmer defeat
Wael El Hindi.
The resurgent Amr Shabana raced past out-of-sorts world champion Ramy Ashour to keep alive his hopes of playing on the inal day.
The third match was a winner-takes-all between top seed Karim
Darwish and defending champion Gregory Gaultier, which saw the
Frenchman come out on top after dropping a close irst game. In
the inal match of the day James Willstrop needed to beat Thierry
Lincou 3/0 to deny the unbeaten Frenchman a place in the inal.
After taking the irst two games it looked on, but Lincou came
back strongly to take the game he needed, and added one more
for good measure before Willstrop took the decider.
Out of four Egyptians who started out, it was Karim Darwish
and Amr Shabana, the world numbers one and two, who
contested the 3rd/4th playoff with a win for Darwish.
The two Frenchman were strangers to the inal at this event, Lincou having won the tournament in 2004, appeared in his fourth inal while for Gaultier it was for the third consecutive time.
Karim Darwish may not quite have lived up to his world number one ranking during the tournament, but his third place, the $14,250 prize money, and his conirmed status as the leading Egyptian were at least some consolation.
Darwish was more mobile and probably more motivated than his compatriot Amr Shabana during a 11-8, 11-9, 11-5 win which contained some eye-pleasing moments without ever suggesting it would involve much passion. This was perhaps because Shabana, who has only
just recovered from a knee injury, was not willing to test it again to its full extent after four hard days.
But Shabana, who went 33 months as world number one, now says he has the appetite to win it back.
ATCO Super Series Results Gregory Gaultier (Fra) beat Thierry Lincou (Fra) 11-5, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5
ATCO Group:
Gregory Gaultier (Fra) beat
Karim Darwish (Egy) 10-12, 11-5,
11-9, 11-7
James Willstrop (Eng) beat
Thierry Lincou (Fra) 11-8, 11-8,
4-11, 3-11, 11-6
Prince Group:
David Palmer (Aus) beat Wael
El Hindi (Egy) 7-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9
Amr Shabana (Egy) beat Ramy
Ashour (Egy) 11-9, 11-3, 11-2
