BY ARMSTRONG VAS
Doha: Recently-crowned world champion Nick Matthew of England and top seed Gregory Gaultier of France moved into the next round of the Qatar Classic tournament here yesterday.
Matthew, who last week won the world championship by defeating Gaultier in the final, edged past his ‘best friend’ Alister Walker of Botswana in a 11-8, 11-7, 12-10 straight games victory.
The Englishman was determined to gain the early psychological advantage by winning the first game.
But it was not easy. Walker fought every inch and put a price on each point which Matthew was keen to win.
The first game turned out to be pretty close at the start with scores of 2-2, 4-4, but Matthew broke free to dominate and win the game in 13 minutes at 11-8.
In the second, Matthew got off to a flying start racing to a 7-0 lead, but Walker bounced back to make it 7-9, but lost it at
11-7.
The third one was a see-saw battle for supremacy and both players were able to cut down on unforced errors.
If the first two games had its share of tins and errors, there were only a few in the third and one got to witness high quality squash from both players and played at a very fast pace.
There was very little to differentiate between the two. Excellent game all around that Walker nearly got at 9-9, but Matthew took the game at 12-10 and the match.
Matthew was relieved to win the first hurdle towards winning the title in Qatar.
“Probably the hardest draw I could have got, first he (Walker) is one of the toughest players and competitors out there, but also he knows me inside out. He knows me better than I know myself,” said Matthew after the match, which lasted for 42 minutes.
Matthew will take on Miguel Angel Rodriguez in the second round match today.
Gaultier on the other hand downed Simon Rosner of Germany 11-9, 11-9, 11-3 to move into the last-16.
The Frenchman said he has overcome his loss to Matthew in the world championship in England and has since moved
on.
“Yes, I lost in Manchester, but you know, it’s not the end of day, I moved on. I was very disappointed for two hours, but all credit to Nick (Matthew), he’s a great athlete, we always have great battles, and big or small,” he said.
Gaultier said the label of the top seed of the tournament and the withdrawal of world No.1 Ramy Ashour from Doha has not eased things him off retaining the title.
“Ramy as you know, he is unfortunately injured at the moment. The top seed ranking doesn’t mean anything. There are a lot of players that can win this and other tournaments,” Gaultier said.
Rosner who lost to the top seed said: “I played really well in those two first games. Maybe I was a bit unlucky at the end of those games, or maybe it was just him playing those points better than I was. Just not a good draw this time. But he is one of the, if not the best player in the world, so I cannot be ashamed of losing against such a player.”
On a day when there were no major upsets, also making it to the pre-quarter-final stage were Amr Shabana of Egypt, winner at the 2007 edition in Doha, and Tom Richards of England, Stephen Coppinger of South Africa, Borja Golan from Spain and Rodriguez of Colombia.
Shabana won 11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 11-7 against India’s Saurav Ghosal.
After the match, the former world champion said: “I lost a bit of focus in the third game but found my game back in the fourth but by that time, it was anybody’s game, and I’m happy to win in four games.”
THE PENINSULA
