What's been happening in the world of squash/30th of January to 5th of February

Gaultier stops Gawad

Grégory Gaultier ended the unbeaten run of Karim Abdel Gawad on Sunday at the Swedish Open in Linköping. The reigning world champion had won his last 19 matches, but the “French general” was able to raise his level to down the Egyptian, who was also the title holder. “I started like a rocket in the first game,” Gaultier said during the trophy ceremony, “but he raised the bar even higher, especially during this very hard rally at 7-7.” With this one game advantage one could have thought that Gawad was going to benefit from his current confidence and take definite control of the match. But thanks to exceptional court coverage and accuracy, it is his opponent that started to gradually take the upper hand. Gaultier even punished Gawad with a 11-0 in the third game, a first in the world number 2's career! Obviously lacking of mental and physical energy after all his wins (he had a marathon match against Cameron Pilley in the quarterfinals), the Egyptian did all he could in the fourth game but it was not enough to stop Gaultier, who clinched his second title of the season after the NetSuite Open, and his third in Sweden. “I am very faithful to this tournament,” he said, “I played the first edition when I was nineteen years old! I will continue to play here, even when I am fifty for the masters event, Freddy I am coming for you (addressing Fredrik Johnsson, former professional player and tournament director, who won countless titles in masters. Gaultier also thanked him for an outstanding event). I'd like to thank the group of French people who came to support, but also the Swedish crowd of course, and the rest of the world,” he concluded in a speech in which he had préviously – like Gawad – highighted the importance of the player's entourage. “Without them, we wouldn't be able to stand on court and push our limits again and again. There are the trainers, the doctors and the physios. As far as I am concerned, I flew to England to see my fasciatherapist before the tournament and she was able to flush the issue with my glute.” Gaultier had been close to the exit in the quarters, coming back from a two-game deficit against Tarek Momen. He eventually won his thirty-fifth title since his debut on the PSA World Tour. Besides Gaultier, another player had a great week in Sweden: Alan Clyne reached the semi finals in such a big event for the first time in his career. Although he benefited from the withdrawal of Mathieu Castagnet to reach this stage, he had pulled off the biggest win of his career in the previous round, beating world number 13 Miguel Angel Rodriguez.

Grégory Gaultier stopped the run of Karim Abdel Gawad and won in Sweden for the third time (Photo credit: www.psaworldtour.com)

The next big event on the tour will take the players to Chicago at the end of February, for the Windy City Open. Gaultier and Gawad are in the same half of the draw, and so is Ramy Ashour.

Around the world

Zahed Mohamed is not the most famous among the Egyptian players but the 25-year old continues to improve. Last week in Pittsburgh, he lived up to his seeding and won his second $25,000 title, overcoming the resistance of dangerous opponents such as Alfredo Avila, Campbell Grayson and Ivan Yuen in the final. For the world #28, the next step will be to get a major result in a World Series event. Why not in Chicago at the end of the month? --- After more than a year out due to several injuries, Samantha Cornett is gradually getting back to her best form. In Winnipeg, she stopped the run of 18-year old Zeina Mickawy in the final, winning in four games. The young Egyptian had beaten three seeded players earlier in the week. --- It took 75 PSA events to England's Adam Murrills to clinch his first title, but he just had to wait a few weeks to get his hands on a second trophy! The 26-year old triumphed in Mc Lean, Virginia, beating his compatriot Ashley Davies in four tough games in the final. --- India stopped Malaysia from winning the Asian Junior Team Championship in both men's and women's, like they had done in 2015. With Velavan Senthilkumar and Abhay Singh, winner and runner-up of the last British Junior Open, the Indian boys lived up to their number 1 seeding but Singh had to overcome the resistance of Malaysian Darren Rahul Pragasam to win in five games and bring the title to his country. In the women's event, Sivasangari Subramaniam – who played the World Team Championship in Paris in December – gave Malaysia the lead before her teammate Andrea Lee sealed Malaysia's victory in the final against home favourites Hong Kong China. --- Ryan Cuskelly and Kanzy El Defrawy have received the Player of the Month award for January from the Professional Squash Association. The Australian won the biggest title of his career in Detroit, while the Egyptian won back-to-back $10,000 titles in the US. --- The British Nationals will take place next weekend in Manchester. In the men's draw, long term rivals Nick Matthew - who whon the last five editions - and James Willstrop are seeded to meet in the finals, and their main challenger Daryl Selby's participation is very doubtful after he hurt his ankle in Sweden. In the women's tournament, Laura Massaro and Alison Waters are seeded 1 and 2, but the latter is likely to clash with in form SJ Perry in the semis.

India and Malaysia were crowned Asian Junior Team Champions last weekend in Hong Kong China (Photo credit: www.squashsite.co.uk)