RESULTS: JP Morgan Tournament of Champions, New York, USA
Quarter-finals (top half of draw):
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [7] David Palmer (AUS) 5-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 (62m)
[6] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [3] Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-5, 11-7, 11-4 (31m)
England's James Willstrop pulled off a notable upset in the quarter-finals of the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions when he despatched Egypt's world champion Amr Shabana in straight games to reach the semi-finals of the $97,500 PSA World Tour Super Series squash event at Grand Central Terminal in New York.
In a match that sixth seed Willstrop himself described as “average”, the 26-year-old from Leeds was never really pushed by the two-time Tournament of Champions winner, who may have been worn out from his prior evening’s match against Englishman Alister Walker that required a comeback of Herculean proportion.
"Shabana’s been at the top for so long now - and that is so hard to do, week in and week out," said Willstrop after his 11-5, 11-7, 11-4 victory in 31 minutes. "It rarely happens that he has a bad match against me, so when it happens, I better take advantage of it,” added the Yorkshireman, with good humour.
The win was sweet revenge for Willstrop who last lost to the former world number from Cairo in the semi-finals of the World Open in Kuwait in November - when Shabana went on the win the title for a fourth time. After that match, Shabana credited Willstrop for being "up there amongst the top three Englishmen of all-time".
Willstrop's win dashed hopes of an all Egyptian semi-final after Cairo-based event favourite Karim Darwish beat Australian David Palmer in the other quarter-final.
There was an air of eager anticipation in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall as the first quarter-final got underway between two of the game’s bigger players – both in terms of physical size and accomplishments on the PSA Tour.
Seventh seeded Palmer attacked early and won the first game. Darwish, ranked world No1 for all but one month in 2009, increased his depth and picked up the pace in the second game to draw level. The third game was a seesaw battle as the lead exchanged hands several times. With the score tied nine-all, a Palmer miss-hit and a Darwish winner put the match firmly in the Egyptian’s grasp as he took a 2/1 game lead.
The fourth game also saw the lead exchange hands several times. At 8-7 in favour of Darwish, Palmer hit the ball in frustration and it got stuck in the lights, necessitating a replacement. With the new ball not quite as warm as the one in play for the prior part of the match, Darwish hit two consecutive winners that died just out of Palmer’s reach. Then Palmer made two diving forehand shots that won him the next point but bloodied his knees, forcing him off the court to be bandaged.
Darwish won the next point to close out the match 5-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 and even his lifetime match record against Palmer to seven victories apiece.
“I felt like I really played a perfect first game,” said 33-year-old veteran Palmer, who was recognised after the match by tournament director John Nimick for being the only player in the tournament to have played the championship every year since it was first staged in Grand Central Terminal 13 years ago.
Winner Darwish added: "This has been good to play a hard match and get my confidence and my shots back after being injured at the end of the year."
Between the two quarter-final matches, the ToC audience was treated to a trip down memory lane as Englishman Peter Nicol and Canadian Jonathon Power, who between them own seven ToC titles, played a Legends Challenge match, won 11-9, 13-11 by Nicol.