Gaultier breezes into squash World Open quarter-finals

HAMILTON (Bermuda)—France’s Gregory Gaultier underlined himself as the most in-form player of the World Open on Wednesday, reaching the quarter-finals in the fastest match of the tournament so far - only 25 minutes.
The second-seeded British Open champion from Aix-en-Provence overwhelmed Hisham Ashour of Egypt 11-4, 11-8, 11-4, having the confidence to try his full repertoire. Gaultier gave his opponent a point which the referee had got wrong and still had something to spare.
Gaultier was only briefly challenged when the talented Hisham, who was good enough to upset 16th seeded Englishman Adrian Grant in the previous round, led 4-2 in the second game and kept in contention at 8-9. But Gaultier finished the next two points with impressive conviction and continued to play so well that he looked more than good enough to atone for the disappointment of last year when he was unable to convert five match points in the World Open final in Cairo. Afterwards he celebrated the speed with which he had progressed. “If I want to be fresh for the later rounds I need to end it quick. I donÂ?t want to waste my time,” he said, talking as emphatically as his squash had been.
“Especially when I finish at close to midnight I want to finish as quick as possible. I donÂ?t want to waste any energy.” By marked contrast, his next opponent, John White, the former world number one, needed fully 76 minutes to survive a five-game match with Azlan Iskandar, the 13th-seeded Malaysian, and even looked as though he would not survive at all in the fourth game.
At that stage White was required to save three match points before winning 7-11, 11-4, 7-11, 13-11, 11-6. It was a victory which suggested that, even at the age of 34, the Australia-raised, US-domiciled, Scottish international has not entirely given up hope of making up for the two match points he missed in the World Open final five years ago in Antwerp. James Willstrop, the British national champion, also produced a startling recovery, his second from two games down in successive matches. Having wrenched himself through 93 minutes against Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema, he survived another 91 amazing minutes against Mohammed Abbas, the 12th-seeded brilliant shot-making Egyptian.
Willstrop won 5-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5 and pronounced himself “thrilled” with what was “almost carbon copy” of the Anjema match, but it all looked highly improbable at one stage.
But AbbasÂ? standard briefly dropped early in the third game, letting the Englishman in, and in the fourth Willstrop set the crowd roaring with a spectacular shot between his legs which helped him reach 4-0.
Both players were finding it hard to keep their feet by now, and there was a worrying five minutes when both players came out of the court to discuss with referee John Massarella and tournament referee Jack Flynn the problem created by sweat on the glass floor.—Agencies