April news: France and England share European silverware

Two years after claiming their first ever European crown, France did it again last weekend in Finland thanks to a great display over long term rivals England. The two countries shared the honours: Sarah-Jane Perry and her teammates only needed two matches to down France in the women's final but both went to the wire.

Long term rivals France and England met in the two finals and shared gold medals (Photo credit: Petteri Repo)

"I've been telling the guys than when you have the best player in the world in your team, you have no choice but to aim for the title." France's national coach Renan Lavigne was hoping that Gregory Gaultier's current form would reflect on his teammates and his wish was fulfilled. Les Bleus were dominant throughout the week, winning 18 of their 19 matches. The final was a showdown versus England, for the 17th time in 18 events since 2000. "I knew it was going to be very close and every match could go either way," Lavigne said to us. The opening match did not prove him wrong, Grégoire Marche beating Daryl Selby in four very close games (13-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9 in 78 minutes). "It is a significant win for Grégoire who'd never won his match in the ETC final before," added his coach. The following match between number 1s Grégory Gaultier and Nick Matthew would turn out to be an eventful one, being interrupted several times because the court was deemed too slippery. The Frenchman finally came out as the victor two hours after the beginning of the match (12-10, 11-4, 10-12, 11-6), putting his team in an ideal position. The clash between Mathieu Castagnet and James Willstrop was a rematch of the British Open first round. The Frenchman confirmed his win in Hull by producing a masterful performance (11-6, 5-11, 11-5, 11-4), giving the title to France. The celebration was a little less crazy than two years ago in the French corner, but "nonetheless we are very happy, said Lucas Serme, who had won the crucial game in Denmark but didn't even need to go on court this year. It was less of a thriller because our three players showed thery were better on the day. This is a very good sign for the future team events." The French number 4 refers to the World Team Championship which will take place in Marseille at the end of the year. The competition will be fierce but France will aim for a first ever gold medal, with a team that is "certainly the best we've ever had, says Lavigne, even though the one I was a part of at the beginning of the century with Grégory, Thierry Lincou and Jean-Michel Arcucci came close to the European title several times. Nick Matthew was injured when we first won two years ago so this victory is even more meaningful." Germany are back in the top 3 after a thriller with Scotland, who had beaten them last year. Simon Rosner and his teammates won 133-127 on points countback ... Finland and Switzerland are relegated to Division 2, whose 2017 champions are Wales, who will be back to Division 1 in 2018 along with Denmark.

What a week for Fiona Moverley who was called at the last minute and gave the title to England (Photo Petteri Repo)

In the women's event, England continued their incredible run with a 39th title in 40 years! The final was also a France v England affair, for the fourth consecutive time. The scoreline (2-0) doesn't tell the whole story because Camille Serme and her teammates were very close to taking advantage of the fact that a few players were missing in their opponents' team (Laura Massaro, Emily Whitlock plus team's captain Alison Waters who did not feature neither in the semis nor the final). Number 1s were up first and it's Sarah-Jane Perry who had the better start. Serme came back strong though, leading 2-1 and having four match balls in the fourth game. But the combination of a few unforced errors and above all some incredible retrieving from SJP allowed her to save them all and come back into the match. She carried the momentum in the fifth and closed the match, winning 3-2 after 70 minutes of play. The following match was a rollercoaster, Laura Pomportes from France leading 10-6 in the first game before losing the next 6 points to Fiona Moverley, who subsequently took a 2-0 lead. But the French number 3 dug deep and levelled up at 2-2. The fifth was a tense affair throughout but Moverley came out as the winner, 11-8. The 30 year old is the story of the tournament: back on the tour in 2014 after being out for a few years because of a lack of funding, she was called at the last minute to replace Emily Whitlock and ended up playing the deciding rubber ... It was a very successful event for Wales, the ladies getting their first medal since 1983. Spain and Denmark are relegated to Division 2 and will be replaced by Germany and Switzerland in 2018.   

April in a nutshell

Grégory Gaultier and Nour El Sherbini shine in El Gouna

Is Grégory Gaultier in the best form of his life? Throughout his very successful career the Frenchman had never compiled such a winning streak: 4 tournaments and 19 matches won in a row (to which one can add 4 more at the ETC, see above)! His last title was in El Gouna a few weeks ago, where he beat the man who replaced him as world number 1 on Monday: after a few difficult weeks, Karim Abdel Gawad showed some renewed form in his home country, but it was not enough to truly bother Gaultier, who was dominant from the beginning to the end. The victor gracefully congratulated his opponent, pointing out that "the ranking rewards the results over a 12-month period. I knew that Karim had the potential to be number 1. He's always been talented but he has now found the discipline and is surrounded by the right people." Although he won the Houston Open since then, Gawad's achievement is mainly due to his results earlier in the season, including his World Championship title. But while Ramy Ashour is still troubled with injuries, Mohamed El Shorbagy is according to his own words going through a rough patch, and Nick Matthew - although he's still very much a top player at 36 years old - has not won a major event in two years, Gaultier is without a doubt the boss on the PSA World Tour at the moment. He will have another opportunity to prove that at the Grasshopper Cup (PSA $100,000) which starts today. The draw is very strong, boasting 6 top 10 players. Gaultier is seeded to play Gawad in the semis for what would be their sixth meeting this season ...

Grégory Gaultier and Nour El Sherbini were the heroes of the week in El Gouna (Crédit photo : squashsite)

The other star in El Gouna was Nour El Sherbini. After becoming the youngest ever World Champion in 2016, the 21 year old held her title in impressive manner. In the final, she had the better of her compatriot Raneem El Welily in three hard fought games. "Two or three months ago I wouldn’t have imagined that, she said (Source: PSA World Tour), because I haven’t won a major title this season. It felt like like I wasn’t going to win this season anymore, but once I knew that it was going to be in Egypt, I was so excited and I wanted to come and play in El Gouna. I’m really happy to win in front of my home crowd and it’s never easy to play Raneem. I’ve grown up learning a lot from her and she’s taught me a lot of things off court and on court. I am really thankful for everything she did for me.” The Alexandria born will have the opportunity to finish the season on a high at the World Series Finals, which will be held at the Dubai Opera in June. In the meantime, she received the Player of the Month award from the PSA, along with her cousin Mohamed El Sherbini. The 24 year old came from nowhere to rack up three tournament wins in South Africa. As a result, he jumped to 130th in the rankings (+248 places) and is in contention to win another title this week in Johannesburg.  

--- The Asian Championship men's title stayed in Hong Kong. Two years after Leo Au, Max Lee won the event for the first time in Chennai, India. In the final, he beat local hero Saurav Ghosal in 4 games. "To be honest I wasn’t even thinking about anything past the quarter-finals when I was coming here, he said (Source : squashinthemall.com). So reach the final and actually win feels great. There’s pressure on you as top seed, and having so many people watching, supporting your opponent makes it tough. But it’s a great atmosphere and it’s what squash needs.” In the women's draw, Joshna Chinappa took full advantage of Nicol David's absence - the Malaysian superstar had won nine of the last 10 times - to bring a first title to India. After three incredibly close first games, she prevailed over teammate Dipika Pillikal (final score was 13-15, 12-10, 11-13, 11-4, 11-4). “It’s an unbelievable feeling to win such a prestigious title here in India in front of such a great crowd,” she said "It was always going to be a tough game between us and I am happy I could keep my focus in the last two games."

Max Lee and Joshna Chinappa both over the moon after winning their first Asian Championship title (Photo credit: squashinthemall.com)

--- Victor Crouin (France) and Cristina Gomez (Spain) won the European Junior Championship in Lisbonne, Portugal. It was the first time since 2008 that none of the two champions were English! Kyle Finch and Elise Lazarus made up for their loss in the individual event's final by winning the Team Championship, which was England's eighth consecutive title.