KUWAIT CITY Gregory Gaultier, playing his first tournament as world number one, survived a severe test of character, temperament and brains before reaching the semi-finals of the squash World Open in a thriller lasting till beyond midnight here on Wednesday.
Gaultier was 1-3 down in the fourth game as well as two games to one down before beating Nick Matthew, the British Open champion from England, by 8-11, 11-8, 2-11, 11-6, 11-4 in the match of the tournament so far.
It lasted 82 fascinating minutes, during which the advantage swung backwards and forwards and in which Gaultier's changes of pace in the second, fourth and fifth games proved decisive.
When Matthew was finally unable to respond to these variations Gaultier was at last able to score points with more penetration and regularity, and decisively regain a control that had appeared to be slipping away from him.
To do that it required mental qualities he might not have been able to summon a few years ago.
'Yes, I was strong,' he said, excitedly, still pumped full of adrenalin after the memorable win.
'I said to myself the third was rubbish.'
'I just didn't play tactically as I was supposed to, and I was losing my focus.
'So I put this game in the garbage can and I started again. I knew it was possible. And then I kept my focus all the way.
'And I got my tactics right in the fourth and fifth. And when I got a lead in the fifth I kept my head down. I knew then I could run away with a few points.
'As soon as I got a lead I felt confident. I could see that Nick (Matthew) was playing at the same pace, This was when I pushed myself to get in there - but it could have gone either way, because it was such a mental game.'
Matthew agreed.
'Often we have very physical battles because we are perhaps the two fittest players on the tour, but this was tactical, very chess-like,' the Englishman said.
Gaultier concluded that he would have to recover pretty quickly for Thursday's semi-finals.
'At the end of the day it was just a few points in it, and I am so pleased I made it. Tomorrow is another day. I am just going to get a good recovery and get my body ready to play again,' said the Frenchman.
Gaultier will need to.
His next opponent is the defending world champion Ramy Ashour, who can be unstoppable when he hits a hot streak.
The Egyptian only did that in phases against Peter Barker, another top ten Englishman, whom he beat 11-8, 11- 3, 9-11, 11-8, after looking certain to win in three comfortably straight games.
But from 6-3 up in the third Ashour let Barker in, and caused himself a lot of worry and effort before surviving. Once he suffered a conduct stroke for throwing his racket, and it was only when he was 5-6 down in the fourth that he got his brilliant best back together again.
The other semi-final is between another Egyptian, Amr Shabana, three times the former world champion, and another Englishman, James Willstrop, the former world number two who is playing his best squash for four years.
Willstrop, seeded only 11 after being out for several weeks for an ankle operation, scored his second fine win in two days. Having overcome the top-seeded Karim Darwish on Tuesday he now beat Thierry Lincou, the former world champion from France.
The score was 11-9, 11-5, 11-5, and Lincou was never really in it after recovering a three-point deficit to reach 9-9 in the first game.
His movement seemed laboured and Willstrop, a fine stroke player, more often played conservatively in order to tease out errors from the 33-year-old from Marseille.
'I played a cagey match and it worked,' said Willstrop.
'He really prevented me from attacking,' said Lincou.
'I thought he was impressive.'
Willstrop may need to be even more impressive against Shabana, who overwhelmed his compatriot Wael el Hindi by 11-1, 11-5, 11-9, barely putting a foot wrong. —AFP
