Open De France: Day Four – Player Reaction

Day four at the Open De France De Squash will see the bottom half quarter finals take place as another 8 players look to book their place in the semi-finals.

Women’s No.1 seed Nele Gilis will look to join her younger sister Tinne in the final four as she takes on Egypt’s Salma El Tayeb who defeated compatriot Kenzy Ayman in the match of the tournament so far. Following that match will be an all-European battle between England’s George Parker and France’s Auguste Dussourd.

Wales’ Tesni Evans will be up against Egypt’s Nadine Garas, who defeated No.5 seed Lucy Turmel to progress to the quarter finals. Closing out day four will be France’s Victor Crouin taking on Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas.

All the action from the glass court will be shown live on SQUASHTV, and you can also keep up to date with the live scores from the event.

We will bring you all the reaction from those in action on the glass court in Nantes throughout the evening right here.

Order of play

Top Seed Gilis Wins In Straight Games Against Tricky El Tayeb

Belgium’s No.1 seed Nele Gilis opened up day four with a win over dangerous Egyptian Salma El Tayeb on the all-glass court at Hangar 24. The 26-year-old used her smooth and efficient movement to counter the attacks of the Egyptian and used height well to disrupt her rhythm.

After securing the first game 11-6, Gilis continued in the same fashion, relentlessly finding the back corners with good precision to limit the El Tayeb attacks. Gilis was helped by errors from the World Junior Championships runner-up to take the second game again 11-6 to win the match and reach the semi-finals.

She had this to say after her win:

“I think I got better towards the end. At the start I was nervous because I want to do well here at my favourite tournament. Salma just made the final of the World Junior Championships, I know it would be tough to beat her. So I was a bit edgy and nervous but I’m just glad I could sneak the win 2-0.

“Its definitely a surprise for me to back playing pain free so quickly. I couldn’t be more happy about it. My goal was to be fit for this event really and play in front of this amazing crowd.”

Result:

[1] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Salma El Hany (EGY) 2-0: 11-6, 11-6 (23m)

Home Crowd Helps Dussourd Down No.8 Seed Parker

The second match of the evening was a feisty affair between two of the more aggressive players on the PSA World Tour, Auguste Dussourd and George Parker.

Parker got off to the perfect start by squeezing Dussourd on the side walls with tight lengths and crosscourts, much to the home crowd’s disgust. The Nantes crowd made their feelings known which only spurred on the Frenchman. Parker earned two game balls at 10-8 but back came Dussourd to force a tiebreak then take the game 12-10, letting out an almighty roar to his French supporters.

Fuelled by the home support, Dussourd marched on in the second game and utilised his low straight kills to test the movement of Parker. Parker’s resilience was starting to fade as the Frenchman gained in confidence. A brutal rally at the end of the second game went the way of Dussourd and sealed Parker’s fate. Dussord closed out the match 2-0 to reach the final four.

“Two day’s ago against Greg [Marche] I played well but I was proud of myself to win, I pushed hard and I’m glad I didn’t let him back in the match to win. Today was different, I was 8-4 down in the first and in another venue I might have lost 11-4 but not here. The crowd helped me and the people I have here helped me to push.

“The start of the season was not the best for me, I lost out in 3-0 in Qatar and had some pain in my leg so I was thinking that this would be the start of my season. I have trained hard all summer and was waiting for it to pay off and it has this tournament.”

Result:

Auguste Dussourd (FRA) bt [8] George Parker (ENG) 2-0: 12-10, 11-6 (46m)

Wales’ Evans Advances To Final Four

No.3 seed Tesni Evans safely booked her place in the semi-finals of the Open De France De Squash after a convincing victory over Egypt’s Nadine Garas. The teenager overcame England’s No.5 seed Lucy Turmel in the last 16 to set up the quarter final encounter tonight.

Evans is renowned for her excellent weight of shot to the back of the court and found her length immediately in her fist outing on the all glass court in Nantes. Evans possesses great deception from all areas of the court and used this to great effect to stop and start the movement of Garas to not allow the Egyptian to make progress in the match.

Evans continued to pile the pressure on her younger opponent in the second game an although Garas showed signs of making headway in the match, Evans’ experience came through for her to keep the Egyptian pinned to the side wall to close the match out 11-7. She now faces Belgium’s No.1 seed Nele Gilis for a spot in the final.

“She’s very attacking and dangerous, you know she beat Lucy [Turmel] in the round before and I tried to just use the front when she did. I tried to make the rallies long and hard and keep the ball tight to the side wall,” said Evans.

“It’s very motivating [the crowd], this is why we play, we want this from the crowd. I’ve never seen anything like this. The louder the better, the drunker the better, it’s amazing.”

Result:

[3] Tesni Evans (WAL) bt Nadine Garas (EGY) 2-0: 11-8, 11-7 (22m)

In-Form Crouin Completes Semi-Final Line-Up

New French No.1 Victor Crouin completed the semi-final line-up at the Open De France De Squash after overcoming a strong test from Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas in the final match of day four in Nantes.

In-form Frenchman Victor Crouin stepped onto the Nantes glass court full of confidence after his final appearance in Qatar last week and showed that form in the early stages against Cardenas in the last match of the day. Crouin moved the ball around superbly well, forcing difficult movements from his Mexican opponent. Cardenas was able to stay strong however and pick some loose balls off with accurate winners. However, The Frenchman eventually sealed an exciting opening game 14-12 to place one foot in the semi-finals.

The physicality of Cardenas seemed to be fading in the second game as his efforts in the opening game took it’s toll on the Mexican. Crouin, however seemed to step it up and push further up the court to really bury Cardenas. The Frenchman didn’t have to do much to secure the second game as he took it 11-3 to set up an all-French semi-final with Auguste Dussourd.

“It was crucial to get that first game, just to get my confidence going more than anything. I could see he was getting a little bit tired towards the end of it and if you lose the first in best of three it’s so difficult to turn it around. I’m just super happy I stayed calm and composed and managed to take it one point at a time, but that first game was crucial.

“He’s [Auguste Dussourd] playing his best squash I think, I was really impressed by how he played that last game today. It’s good to see him playing this way but I hope he has an off day today so I can have a comfortable win but I’m not expecting that at all, I know it will be tough but it’s nice to go back to best of five games.

“Auguste is one of the best French players and I’m happy with my first two rounds but I need to stay focused and hopefully we can have a good match tomorrow.”