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Men & Women PSA Gold $110k, 01-07 May, New York, USA

Quarts de finale

[3] Mazen Hesham (EGY) 3-1 Victor Crouin  11-4, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8 (48m)
[2] Diego Elias (PER) 3-1 [4] Gregoire Marche  11-3, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6 (49m)

Il n’y a plus de Français en course au Tournament of Champions (Gold, 115 000 $) : Victor CROUIN et Gregoire Marche se sont tous les deux inclinés en quart de finale en quatre jeux hier soir à New York.

Lors de leur premier affrontement il y a quelques semaines au Canary Wharf Classic, Victor Crouin (n°23 mondial) avait eu du mal à lire le jeu de l’imprévisible Mazen Hesham (n°8). Hier soir à New York, leur match a commencé sur les mêmes bases mais le jeune Toulonnais apprend vite : très offensif dans le deuxième jeu, il est revenu au score et a posé des problèmes jusqu’au bout à l’Égyptien, qui s’impose néanmoins en 4 jeux. Victor devra encore attendre pour atteindre le dernier carré d’un tournoi majeur, mais ce n’est qu’une question de temps au vu de sa dynamique récente.

Il y a eu deux matches en un entre Diego Elias (n°5) et Grégoire Marche (n°13). Pendant deux jeux et demi, le Péruvien a dominé les débats, alors que le Français commettait un nombre de fautes directes inhabituel pour lui. Mené 7-3 dans la troisième manche, ce dernier a sonné la révolté, et commencé à utiliser sa vitesse pour déplacer son adversaire du T. Marche a sauvé une balle de match avant d’enlever le troisième jeu au tie-break et a même continué sur sa lancée, menant 6-5 dans le quatrième. Désireux d’éviter un cinquième manche alors qu’il semblait le moins frais physiquement des deux joueurs, le « Peruvian Puma » va produire une accélération décisive, alignant 6 points de suite pour remporter le match et se qualifier pour sa première demi-finale au ToC.

🎙 "That is absolutely magnifique!"@VCrouin, take a bow! What a shot that is from the Frenchman 🔥#ToCSquash pic.twitter.com/TwRkLki3wD

— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) May 5, 2022

Second Tour

[6] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 3-1 Auguste Dussourd  11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6 (66m)
[5] Gregoire Marche 3-1 Nicolas Mueller (SUI)  11-8, 11-9, 12-14, 11-3 (58m)
Victor Crouin 3-1 [6] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 11-4, 13-11, 7-11, 12-10 (64m)

[6] Olivia Clyne (USA) 3-1 Melissa Alves   12-10, 11-6, 7-11, 11-6 (41m)

Greg a dit

“Nicky is probably my best friend on tour, apart from the French boys, we’ve been playing for maybe 20 years and he was beating me all the time when I was young and we have a long history and today you could see it on court today. I’m really pleased to win this one, after losing the third having had match balls it’s not easy to come back and I think I was a bit more ready physically to push in the fourth and I’m really happy to win this one.

“It’s been a long season, we had Europeans last week and it was a tough week and I came straight to this, I had three days to recover and get ready for this one, it’s going to be a long week again but that’s what we train for and it’s good to see it’s paying off.

“How can you say no to this venue? When I was a kid it was a dream to play here, and I remember 12 years ago when I came for the first time I was over the moon, and to be able to play and win matches on this court is the best feeling so I’ll just keep going and go again tomorrow.”

Victor a dit

“I’ve watched Karim for many years and I remember watching him at the World Championships in Egypt, where he nearly lost in the first round and then basically chopped everybody else. I knew it would be tough, I’ve never played against him and usually, when I play someone for the first time it takes me a few matches to get the right tactic and play my game. Usually, my strength is my consistency, I’ve beaten almost all the players ranked below me and not beaten many people ranked above me. Like I beat Paul Coll and Gawad today but have lost to some up and coming players, but still ranked below me, so I’ve just been trying to figure out what’s going on, I need to keep winning those matches but also get my consistency back.

“It’s hard to know what to do when you’re two up against Karim, you feel like you’re playing well and you want to play even better but after losing the third I tried to tell myself to not change anything and keep it on his backhand and play a three-quarter game and try to avoid that front left corner and every time I hit off the back wall it went over there and I thought ‘Damn you’re going to be in trouble’ and usually I was, but I was just trying to win one point at a time.

“I’m just starting my final exams, I have four essays due so I’m going to go back to my studies now.”

Le Récap de Jérôme

La journée n’a pas souri aux joueurs qui avaient sauté dans l’avion à peine le championnat d’Europe terminé : Sébastien Bonmalais (n°35), défait pour la deuxième fois en quelques semaines par Shahjahan Khan (n°30) malgré des balles de jeu dans la deuxième manche, Énora Villard (n°45), battue en 3 jeux par la jeune Sivansagari Subramaniam (n°20) malgré une belle prestation et Baptiste Masotti (n°21).

Ce dernier avait pourtant pris la première manche et fait la course en tête dans les trois jeux suivants, mais son compatriote Auguste Dussourd (n°39) a eu le mérite de s’accrocher et a été récompensé. Le Parisien décroche la plus belle victoire de sa carrière et affrontera Miguel Angel Rodriguez mercredi. Victor Crouin (n°23) a bénéficié de l’abandon de Nathan Lake (n°34) alors que le score était de 1-1, et sera opposé à Karim Abdel Gawad demain.

Vainqueur de Nicolas Mueller (n°15) il y a quelques jours, Lucas Serme (n°40) n’est pas parvenu à rééditer cette performance et s’incline en 3 jeux.

Premier Tour

Melissa Alves 3-0 Donna Lobban (Aus)  11-5, 11-8, 11-6 (27m)
Sivasangari Subramaniam (Mas) 3-0 Enora Villard 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 (32m)

Auguste Dussourd 3-1 Baptiste Masotti 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 12-10 (55m)
Victor Crouin 3-1 Nathan Lake (Eng)   11-5, 8-11, 7-0 retired (30m)
Shahjahan Khan (Usa)  3-0 Sébastien Bonmalais 11-9, 14-12, 11-6 (44m)

Melissa a dit

“I was out for a while, so I had a lot of time to train and get stronger. I was so excited for tonight, I’ve been waiting for this moment and what a venue to play my first match [back from injury], I’m very excited.

“Donna is a strong player, so to get the win in three games tonight is a good start to the tournament. I couldn’t have hoped for a better start, I had some friends that came to watch, so thanks to them, and I’m just excited for the next round.”

Victor a dit

“Nathan has been in good form in the last few weeks and months and he is at his best ranking so far. I’m sure he will continue to go up and I was really looking forward to playing this match. He played incredibly well last week at the Euros [European Team Championships] against the French boys, which is not what I wanted, but at least if I could get revenge today it would have been great for the French boys. But it’s definitely not the way I wanted to win and I’m wishing him all the best for his recovery.

“When I came to Harvard, I didn’t know what to expect in terms of professional squash. I took a gap year after high school to play professionally and I really enjoyed it. I came to Harvard with the goal of graduating and turning pro afterwards. My goal was to stay in the top 100 during the four years, and I continued to go up, so I decided to keep balancing my academics and squash.

“I did that during high school, so there was no reason I couldn’t do that in college. I was playing on the professional tour and I was also really excited to play the college season from November-March. I spent three years at Harvard because of COVID and those three years have definitely transformed me in many ways.

“I’m going to look back in 10, 20, 30 years and I’ll be really grateful to have had this opportunity to go to Harvard.”

Auguste a dit

“It’s the best venue I have played in my life. I was so happy to get in the draw and to get the win for the first time I am here. I will have one day to enjoy [the win] and then I’ll think about the next match.

“I will maybe watch this match once to see what I did right and did wrong, then after that I will focus on the next match against a top player.”