Where to begin? I had the privilege of being court side for this semi-final and what a game it was. These two players seem to bring out the very best in eachother and despite their ruthless desires to win, their was an air of huge respect between them.
This respect manifested itself in the form of a cautious first game with neither player prepared to attack too much, but nor were they able to given the tight width that both players were exhibiting. Willstrop took an early 4-1 lead, but allowed Matthew back in with a few too many strokes and unforced errors. The second game saw Willstrop seize the initiative, mixing the play up more minus the strokes, and he raced to take it 11-5.
Father and Son commentary team
Then came the third, which was a match in itself. The game lasted approximately 40 minutes, and was won by Willstrop 20-18. Having continued his push from the second game, Willstrop look set for the third before Matthew finally responded to Willstrop’s change of gear with some attacking squash of his own. The beginning of the tie-break at 10-10 was arguably the beginning of a new phase in this match as the intensity seemed to increase even more, with both players determined to take the game. The tie-break saw countless changes in momentum – Snarls and fist pumps from Matthew, outrageous drops from willstrop, superhuman retrievals from both, before Matthew tinned a drop to hand the game to Willstrop. Unbelievable.
The fourth saw Willstrop continue in his ‘zone’, producing a quality which would normally be enough to see off most players in the world, but not Matthew, who stubbornly fought to put right the outcome of the third, making for some hugely intense squash. By now both players were in full swing – playing attritional tight squash up and down the walls, probing and pressuring his opponent to leave something loose, before pouncing on the opportunity. Rallies were rarely won by a shot out of the blue, rather by a killer shot from an opening engineered over a series of shots. Classic squash.
The ending was a hugley disappointing finish to one of the best matches in recent times, with Willstrop diving into back left corner to retrieve a length drive from Matthew, and seizing up with cramp. Hardly surprising given that they had been playing such a high pace for over 2 hours!!! Matthew admitted to also feeling the onset of cramp. Despite being disappointing, the ending produced one of those great sporting moments. Willstrop was told he had no time to recover given that the injury was self-inflicted, but Matthew allowed his Yorkshire counterpart time to try and play on rather than take the match. On not being able to continue, Willstrop conceded to Matthew, and in the middle of the court the two rivals shared a quick but rare smile. Recognition that they had pushed each other to the limit of their physical capacities…
Great new look to the website