Photos

Les Bleus au 1er tour

George Parker (Eng) 3-2 [17/32] Victor Crouin                        9-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6, 11-9 (66mn)
Cesar Salazar (Mex) 3-0 Auguste Dussourd                                                      11-5, 11-9, 11-6 (28mn)
Borja Golan (Esp) 3-0 Benjamin Aubert                                                               11-3, 11-2, 11-8 (23mn)
[WC] Gregory Gaultier 3-1 [17/32] Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP)  10-12, 11-3, 11-9, 11-8 (57mn)
[17/32] Baptiste Masotti 3-0 Ramit Tandon                                                   11-6, 11-6, 11-2 (24mn)
[17/32] Lucas Serme 3-1 Todd Harrity (Usa)                                    11-5, 12-14, 11-4, 14-12 (64m)

Gaultier
“At 7-7 in the first I was pushing up the ’T’ pretty well and trying to control the match from there, but all credit to him, at 10-7 he kept pushing hard and I was slightly off, I thought the game was already in my pocket.

“That was a huge mistake and he had more belief to maybe get the win today. I fought hard and I played really well in the second game, I was a bit more aggressive to the front. I was moving a bit better and trying to push closer to the ’T’ line and get more variation in my game.

“In the third, I told myself to believe and that even if I was going to lose that game I had to put some work into his legs. Fortunately I managed to get that belief that I could win and sneak the game. At 2-1 up I then had a big advantage mentally.

“There are a couple of things I need to work on still, I’m still lacking a few things since I came back from injury, but I’m still happy with the way I move and there is no pain in my knee, so I’m glad.

“I remember the crowd in 2011 was amazing, they were cheering for me more than my opponent and it was a huge moment. I was so happy to get that title and I always play well here in Qatar. I’ve been coming here for 20 years, I missed the last two because of my injury, but I’m very happy to be back here.

I’m very thankful to the Qatar Squash Federation for giving me the opportunity to get the wildcard to play. After being out for 14 months, my ranking went from No.1 to No.600, so I’m very grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to play otherwise I wouldn’t have taken part in this event.

Marwan has been playing well at the last few events, he even came to Prague to train with me in September. He’s been improving a lot and it’s going to be a tough match, but I’ll do my recovery and I’ll be up for it.”

Parker

“I thought it was a tough match, it was quite up and down and both of us made errors at silly times.

“It’s a dead court, so whoever was more proactive and took the ball well first was mainly winning most of the rallies. It was about getting forward, so it was quite high intensity squash. It was a good match, but I struggled with my forehand today, I thought I was pretty loose and Victor gets on it so fast.

“I really struggled to hunt the next shot, but credit to him, he’s a fit boy and it was a clean match.

“I’m looking forward to playing ElShorbagy. I’ve played him a few times in Bristol in training and didn’t win, so it will be an experience for me at No.40 in the world and 24 years old. I’m trying to get as much experience as I can playing in these matches when there is money and points on the line because playing these tough games is how you develop.”

Greg Marche entre en lice au 2ème tour.  Six français dans ce premier tour. Quelques Stats de la PSA sur Victor, Lucas et Greg….

Sur le circuit PSA, Victor et George se sont rencontrés deux fois, et en sont à 1/1, Greg n’a jamais joué Iker, tandis que Lucas a joué et battu Toddy deux fois..