Quarts de Finale
Victor Crouin v [8] Mazen Hesham (Egy)
Il n’y a plus de Français au Canary Wharf Classic: deux jours après sa victoire mémorable face au numéro 1 mondial Paul Coll, Victor Crouin (n°21) espérait continuer sur sa lancée ce soir en quart de finale mais est tombé sur un Mazen Hesham (n°9) littéralement en état de grâce.
« Même si on a regardé 50 matches de Mazen Hesham en vidéo, se retrouver sur le court avec lui pour la première fois c’est autre chose, qui plus est dans un match en deux jeux gagnants, » a fort justement analysé le commentateur vedette de SquashTV, Joey Barrington. À l’évidence, Victor Crouin a eu du mal à lire le jeu atypique de celui que l’on surnomme « The Black Falcon » en début de match.
En conséquence, ce dernier s’est rapidement envolé au score et a pris de plus en plus confiance, affichant une réussite insolente dans ses choix offensifs aussi imprévisibles que variés. Irrésistible ce soir, l’Égyptien retrouvera son compatriote Fares Dessouky en demi-finale.
Second Tour
[4] Diego Elias (PER) 2-0 Mathieu Castagnet 11-7, 11-2 (34m)
[6] Joel Makin (WAL) 2-0 Baptiste Masotti 11-7, 12-10 (36m)
Bon, battre le numéro un mondial, ça, c’est fait.
Victor Crouin 2-0 [1] Paul Coll (Nzl) 11-7, 11-7 (36m)
Squash : Victor Crouin fait tomber le numéro un mondial Paul Coll !
L’analyse de Jérôme Elhaïk
C’est une onde de choc qui a secoué le monde du squash lundi soir : en 1/8ème de finale du Canary Wharf Classic (Gold), le jeune Français Victor Crouin a réalisé la plus grande performance de sa carrière pour éliminer Paul Coll, numéro 1 mondial depuis le 1er mars et tenant du titre, 2 jeux à 0. Retour sur cet exploit XXL à travers quelques faits et chiffres :
➡ Victor Crouin est entré dans un club très fermé, celui des joueurs Français ayant accroché un numéro 1 mondial à leur tableau de chasse : on y trouve bien sûr Grégory Gaultier et Thierry Lincou, qui ont occupé eux-mêmes le sommet de la hiérarchie, mais aussi Mathieu Castagnet, qui avait battu Mohamed ElShorbagy au British Grand Prix en 2014. Chez les femmes, seule Camille SERME a réalisé une telle performance.
➡ Qui était le dernier joueur hors du top 20 à s’être offert un numéro 1 mondial ? Joel Makin, qui avait battu Mohamed ElShorbagy au Channel VAS Championship en octobre 2018 alors qu’il était n°33.
➡ Battre Paul Coll n’est pas donné à tout le monde. Le Néo-Zélandais n’est certes n°1 mondial que depuis le début du mois de mars, mais il fait partie du top 5 depuis octobre 2019 et sa régularité est à toute épreuve : il n’avait plus perdu contre un joueur hors top 20 depuis octobre 2017 (Omar Mosaad, n°31, à l’US Open), et avait atteint au moins les quarts de finale lors de ses treize derniers tournois.
➡ Cette victoire propulse le jeune Toulonnais dans une autre dimension, lui qui n’avait jamais battu de joueur du top 10 auparavant. Son meilleur résultat était un succès sur Zahed Salem au CIB Egyptian Open fin 2019, qui lui avait permis d’atteindre les 1/8ème de finale d’un tournoi Platinum pour la première fois. Il y avait néanmoins des signes annonciateurs : il y a quelques jours, Victor avait battu Youssef Ibrahim en finale du championnat des États-Unis universitaire. L’Égyptien a récemment atteint la finale du Windy City Open, et sera tout proche du top 10 au prochain classement.
➡ Victor Crouin va disputer son premier quart de finale dans un tournoi de cette importance, et ce sera face à Mazen Hesham (n°9 mondial). Peut-il continuer sur sa lancée ? Réponse mercredi aux alentours de 20h30.
Il a dit
“My game plan was just to win one game. We played four times last season and I didn’t get one game, but as I said yesterday, if I can get one game then I could have the belief to win the match. After yesterday, it was the first time I’d played best of three and I didn’t like it, as it takes away the endurance of the game but today I just beat Paul Coll in two games so I think I like it now.
“If you just play to the back of the court with Paul, you’re usually going to lose. I think my strength is trying to move my opponents into the four corners and today I needed to be more aggressive and I just wanted to stay relaxed and have fun and play my shots without thinking too far ahead. I hit some great shots and it worked out.
“We have some great legends of the game in France, Greg Gaultier and also Thierry Lincou and Renan was amongst them as well. I used to watch them and I dreamt of being here and yesterday I was overwhelmed by you guys and I felt a bit anxious. But after I’d played on the court I felt better knowing what it was like so I just wanted to play to the best of my ability tonight.
“I just tried to play my squash, I didn’t have much expectation, Paul’s No.1 because of his consistency so I’m glad I could break that today but he’s World No.1 and I’m sure he’ll stay there for a while and everyone is chasing him, but personally I was just trying to improve my game and be more consistent competing against these players and get some results this season so I can be among them to get to top 15, top 10 and someday world No.1.
Premier tour
Victor Crouin (Fra) 2-0 [wc] Joshua Masters (Eng) 12-10, 11-2 (21m)
Nicolas Mueller (Sui) 2-1 Auguste Dussourd 11-1, 7-11, 11-3 (31m)
Mathieu Castagnet 2-1 Eain Yow Ng (Mas) 11-8, 3-11, 14-12 (66m)
Baptiste Masotti v Moustafa El Sirty (Egy) 14-12, 14-12 (37m)
Nathan Lake (ENG) 2-0 Grégoire Marche 11-9, 11-3 (31m)
Baptiste
“I’m sorry guys, the match was awful, to be honest, he is playing well, but when he’s doing these kinds of things he will never be respected. You need to respect your opponent, I tried to play my best, I’m sorry for this awful match, I found a way to win, I won’t have respect for him, he is a very good player but I can’t respect what he is doing on court.
“I had an injury that put me out for six weeks in December, I’m struggling with my body at the moment, I had covid 10 days ago, I tried to get back in shape, I changed my racket as well and some of my team. I’m very happy, my best friend and his wife are here, my coach and my new sponsor so it’s great support for me, I still love playing in front of you guys – don’t drink too much.
“I was quite stressed on there, it’s difficult for me to be well on there and find my best game. I tried to push and focus, I have some moments in the game where my mind is gone so I try hard to maintain my focus, I’m sure on Tuesday my game will be a lot better.”
Mathieu
“I think I have a day off tomorrow, I will probably have an ice bath and stretch and have a lot of protein and try to relax and enjoy this win.
“The only thing I felt at the end, maybe the ref was stressed, he doesn’t want to give me a stroke, I was just thinking I am going to retire from the PSA World Tour soon and my biggest success has been here at the canary wharf classic and my only thoughts were to keep going and play one more match because I will never be back playing here again.”
“I just reminded myself that it was best of 3 and I need to wake up and start to produce some squash because he was out playing me in these first 6 points. I’m happy that I came back and won that first game which was crucial.
“I felt at the end of the first game he started to rush to the front so I thought he was getting tired and I need to push through that first game and not worry about the result. To come out tough in the second game and winning the first was a bonus and just play my squash.
“It’s my first time here at Canary Wharf, it’s amazing to have the crowd so close to the court and today I felt that atmosphere. I’m really happy to play the World No.1 tomorrow, I’ve played him too many times recently, I haven’t been able to get a game off him yet but hopefully if I can get one I can get two or three more.”
