Top Stars Face Tough Task At 2015 Swedish Open by Nathan Clarke December 16, 2014
- French World No.2 Gregory Gaultier will face a tough task in the
opening round of the 2015 Case Swedish Open as he will have to take on
Australian No.1 Cameron Pilley when the tournament gets underway in
Linköping Sporthall, Sweden on Thursday February 5.
Pilley is currently riding high on an impressive run of form and will
be looking to improve on his defeat against Gaultier in the 2014 Qatar
PSA World Championship quarter-finals, with the winner likely to face
Swiss champion Nicolas Mueller in the quarter-finals in one of the
toughest draws of the year.
Defending Swedish Open champion Nick Matthew will begin his campaign
against a qualifier and will be confident of securing a victory that
will take him through to the quarter-finals where long-time adversary
James Willstrop is likely to lay in wait.
The duo met in the final of the 2014 Commonwealth Games when Matthew
won an epic 3-2 encounter to seal the gold medal but with Willstrop
returning from an injury-enforced lay-off, the younger man will be
hungry to make amends for his recent run of defeats against Matthew.
2014 World Champion Ramy Ashour will have to be at his maverick best to
go one better than his runner-up finish in 2013, with the Egyptian to
face England's Chris Simpson in the first round with tough German Simon
Rösner and Gaultier seeded to stand in his way of reaching yet another
career final.
Local hopeful Rasmus Hult, the event's wildcard, begins his campaign
against the imposing figure of Rösner while World No.6 Peter Barker
will take on Stephen Coppinger in the first round.
2015 Case Swedish Open - Main Draw:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Cameron Pilley (AUS)
[Qualifier] v [8] Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
[6] Simon Rösner (GER) v [WC] Rasmus Hult (SWE)
Chris Simpson (ENG) v [3] Ramy Ashour (EGY)
[4] Peter Barker (ENG) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
[Qualifier] v [7] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY)
[5] James Willstrop (ENG) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
Having been held for the first time in the 1970s, the Swedish Open has
grown to become one of the biggest International-level tournaments on
the PSA World Tour calendar and will enter its twelfth year under the
stewardship of ActiPro events.
The 2015 CASE Swedish Open will take place at Linköping Sporthall,
Linköping from February 3 - February 8 and tickets can be purchased by
visiting www.swedishopensquash.se
