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 TODAY at the British Grand Prix    
Friday 8th, Day ONE

Friday 8th, Day ONE
Steve Cubbins reports from Sportcity

Day one of the third running of the Gerrard British Grand Prix saw eight of the world's top players descend on Manchester's National Squash Centre, fresh from their exploits in the World Championships in Cairo.

Peter Barker was called in from standby to replace Anthony Ricketts, still struggling with the elbow injury that caused him trouble in Cairo, and shortly after 6pm we were ready to roll ...
 

James is back but ...

After his illness scare in Cairo - "It's not a great experience going to accident and emergency in the middle of the night in Cairo," Malcolm Willstrop said on his return to the UK - James Willstrop's return to action came against Amr Shabana, who he could well have met under the pyramids had fate not intervened.

It was an entertaining match, with both showing off their racket skills, but the chances of James being at his best, so soon after a major scare, were slim, and although James did his best, apart from a the third game where Shabana let him get away, it was always the Egyptian who looked the likely winner.

So Shabana moves ahead in the Gerrard group, and James has his work cut out.

"It’s good to have a nice first game, I need to get used to this court again, it’s very different from the outdoor one in Cairo. "I feel so sorry for James, he was a serious contender in the world open, and when I saw that he would have been in my part of the draw I was very relieved. "There was such a lot of expectation of the Egyptians, and of myself in Cairo, and in the end it became more than I could handle … I cracked. "I don’t regret it, I got to the semi-final of the world open, but in the end the best player won. ”I’m glad that Paul has put the British a couple of weeks earlier this year, I’ll still be do Ramadan but it will be much easier than last year." Amr Shabana

World Champion Hangover

The difference between going out of your last tournament in the first round and going all the way to the final was made vividly obvious in tonight's second match.

Karim Darwish, rested, eager to get back to winning ways, was just too fast, to sharp, too keen for a double world champion who played a marathon final just two days ago and spent most of the intervening time travelling.

David will get better, that's a guarantee, but will it be in time to challenge for top spot in the Manchester group ... tomorrow will tell.

"I like this court, it's quite easy to hit winners on it. "David wasn't at his best today, but I'm glad I found my form and I'm hoping to play another good match tomorrow. "There was big pressure on us in the World Open, playing in front of 4,000 people. I didn't play too well, lost in the first round, so I'm hoping to do better here and in the British Open." Karim Darwish

Third time lucky for Barker

Considering he only found out this afternoon that he was playing, Peter Barker put in a good performance against Nick Matthew, on the National Champion's favourite court.

But Matthew was always favourite, and always held the advantage, although Barker pushed him hard enough for the Yorkshiremen to give the referee a few friendly pointers.

A solid start for Nick, and for Peter the guarantee of three more matches - as first reserve he got two in the first year and none last time out.

"I used to struggle on this court, but through the amount of times I've played on here with England squads I've got used to it and really love it now. It means there's no excuse for losing! "Pete played well, I knew it would be a tough battle. We've trained a lot together bu that’s the first match we've ever played, we were ribbing each other about it on texts this afternoon. "I was a bit disappointed to go out in the second round in Egypt, my fitness and sharpness were a bit lacking, but a few matches here should do the trick." Nick Matthew

Save the Best for Last

If the first three matches of the evening were a little one-sided, the crowd at the National Squash Centre were treated to a gripping contest to finish day one, that lasted almost as long as the other three matches combined.

These two played a world open final two years ago, and both appeared to want to win this match just as much as that one in Qatar.

Thierry won the first three points, Lee the next three but There was nothing to separate them for the rest of the first. Thierry got to 10 first, a fortuitous nick from Lee levelled it, but on his third game ball Thierry took the lead.

Lee just waltzed the second, then it was deja vu as Thierry took a third where neither player could eke out a lead.

The rallies were getting longer and longer, each getting more determined not to lose. Lee edged ahead from 6-all in the fourth and we moved into the decider.

That final game must have been half an hour long (I'll check), a tie-break seemed inevitable, and that was what we got after Lee saved two match-balls from 10-8. Huge rallies, with both players showing delight and/or exasperation as they ended ... they both wanted to win this one, make no mistake. At the end of several rallies both players were querying, imploring referee John Massarella.

Two more match balls for Thierry at 11/10 and 12/11, one for Lee at 13/12 which Thierry saved, letting out a loud, characteristic "YES".

Another huge rally ... 'was Lee's drop good?' asked Thierry. No-one was really sure, except the ref ... "Yes". To finish, one of Lee's characteristic delayed deceptive cross-court flicks, and at just after 11pm it was all over.

As Thierry said, "I wanted to get some good games in here" ... He'd got that, and the crowd had got their money's worth, that's for sure ...

 

”I got to be a bit tired in the end tonight. I’m trying to play my best here and next week, but it’s been a few matches in a row and it’s difficult to keep the fitness and motivation up. ”It was a tough match, not great squash, but a good battle, a good fight, and it came down to a few points at the end. That’s the way it goes, but what I wanted was to play some good matches, so that’s a good start.” Thierry Lincou

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