[5] Simon Rösner (GER) 3-0 [11] Joel Makin (WAL) 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 (47m)
That was a high level of squash played today between those two European players – the only match without an Egyptian!
Simon didn’t play his best squash for a few weeks now, and was very up for it from the first rally. The way he was confident and calm, at the same time assertive in the first rally, well, I hadn’t seen Simon that way for a while. And he commented at the end of the match that it felt good…
Joel was not in the best of conditions. He likes a bit warmer conditions, but then again, his short game was pretty sharp today, and that compensated it I felt. Like Paul Coll a few years ago, he is improving his attacking game with Rob Owen, and it’s showing in his results.
If Simon kept his winners numbers high 8, 8 and 7, there was a bit difference in the errors. 2 in the first game, 7 in the second, and only 1 in the third…
I loved his comment at the end “I didn’t give any cheap points…” REALLY SIMON?? 7 errors??? Bless him. “it didn’t feel like it, Fram, I think I was playing the right shot, even if I was making errors, it meant that I was confident. If I’m not confident, I just play to the back. So even if I made a few errors, I played the right shot” he concluded.
Joel kept his calm as he always does, but I could feel his frustration to the lack of consistency in the refs decisions. “What do you advise” he ended up asking the ref? “go and play the ball”, he was replied.
First game 15m, close enough 3/3, 5/5, then Simon in control, 8/5, 9/6, Joel putting the pressure up 8/9 but the German closes it 11/8, with Joel making his only error of the game on the last point…
Second game, Joel is putting enormous pressure on the German, by retrieving beautifully and at the same time, attacking nicely to the front corners. Simon will make like I said 7 errors for only 1 winner to Joel, and despite the high number of mistakes, the German looks really good, confident, and moving the best I’ve seen him move for a long time. Second game, same score than the first one, 11/8, in 16m.
The last one, a bit more onesided, Simon full of confidence, letting the arm go nicely. 5/2, 8/4, a few tired errors from the Welsh, I counted 3, and it’s 11/5 in 12m for t
he German, a 3/0 win against Joel at this point in time is a truly remarkable result.
Simon
Having not had the best few weeks lately, it’s very good to get a win against someone who is in form like Joel at the moment, beating Tarek last week. It’s a big confidence boost for me and I need to take this kind of form into the next rounds and I’m looking forward to it.
My coach said I should chop it into the nick! I think against Dec we both played really well but it was more like a solid back court game, whereas today I was trying to push forward, take the ball even earlier and going into the shots better.
I saw him struggle physically as well, at the beginning of the third game he wasn’t as fast as he was at the beginning, and that gave me the mental edge because I knew I needed to continue the way I did.
It’s so good to have another rest day tomorrow and I’ll get back in the rhythm again for the match on Wednesday. Having Oli Pettke our national coach with us helps a lot, he’s giving me a lot of confidence, he talks to me a lot and I think that’s what I needed.
