QF: Auguste 2-0 George

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

One thing is sure. The Crowd was loud and reminded me the one in Canary Wharf. Maybe the Beer Bar was a little to do it? Anyway. Didn’t care too much for the first game. Loved the second though…

First game was what I don’t like in squash. The two players trying to put the ref on their side, looking for easy lets and cheap strokes. Add to that the George didn’t particularly enjoy Auguste movement, and made it clear to him in the middle of the game… I was a bit worried of that testosterone flying around to tell you the truth.

George won’t be happy with the lost chances in the opener. Completely in control up to 8/4 (5/2, 7/3), the Englishman made in my opinion the error of trying to match Auguste at the front. And that pushed him to open the court, and made so many errors: 7 unforced erros, plus 2 conceeded strokes: Auguste – AKA the Swordman (Thanks Joey for the Première of the Name) was very grateful indeed.

From 8/10 down – supported by a vocerous French crowd who could teach a thing or two to the Egyptians bless the Bleus – the French boy scored the following 4 points, 12/10, 22m.

Thank the Lord, the second game was much calmer, composed. Both players having settled down, the axes and knifes were put back in the bags, fairplay invited itself on court again, and much more pleasant that second game was – to me anyway.

All credit to Auguste, who found some remarkable winners in the front corners. I never saw him play such a crispy accurate squash, panache comes to mind. And although George reduced the errors to a minimum (1), Auguste was stringing points away, from 3/3 to 7/3, big push from the Englishman, back to 6/7, but the Frenchman wasn’t to be denied, and thanks to the support of a “delirious and slightly partial” crowd, he scored again the last 4 points…. 11/6, 21m.

Auguste

“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 had this tournament.