[5] Simon Rosner (Ger) 3-1 Declan James (Eng) 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9 (70m)
Never comfortable for Simon 3/1
“All the games could have gone either way”, stated Simon at the end of the match. Well, pretty much yes. A few rushed errors at crucial times for the English, but he is getting very close indeed to beat the top guys.
Excellent start for Simon in the opener, 4/0, caught up 4/4, 5/5, 7/7. Another big push from the TreeShopper, and it’s 10/7. Only a error will prevent the Englishman to set a tie break, and it’s Simon 11/9 in 17m.
Second is closer the whole way, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8. This time, it’s Declan up 10/8, taking it 11/9 in again a long game, 16m.
Third is close up tot 5/5, then it’s a big gap for Simon, 9/5. Dec will come back close but it’s the German that clinches that crucial game, 11/8 14m.
Simon will dominate the last game, 7/4, 8/5, 9/6, 10/8 match ball, and closing it 11/9 in 18 long minutes.
A very pleasant match, with a lot of long rallies played sometimes very fast – when Simon was controlling, or slower pace – when Declan managed to contain the Egyptian.. Very tactical match, both playing clever and constructed squash.
Simon
You could hear with my grunts on the court that it was very tense out there today. We both played very well today I thought, and I’m happy with my performance.
He is so dangerous, we play the same type of squash, we just go for it, and it’s not easy to get the win. Look at the score, each game could have gone either way.
If some days you feel you don’t have much in the cans, today I felt good physically and that I could push.
Happy to have my coach with me to be able to play tomorrow as I prefer to keep going to keep the rhythm going…
