January 19, 2014
- England No.2 and World No.4 James Willstrop came through a
challenging encounter with Australian Cameron Pilley at the J.P Morgan
Tournament of Champions earlier today to book his place in the
quarter-finals. Willstrop came through in straight games but was forced to work hard for his victory with two games decided on a tie-break. “It was a tight game and a bit of a scrap in places, especially in the first and third games,” said Willstrop. “I played well in the
second game but I’m not managing to my put my game together on a
consistent enough basis at the moment but you always take a win and to
win when you’re not at your best is a bonus. “It was testament to
Cameron in how he came back in the third. I was getting on top and he
could have let his head drop but he’s a world class player and showed
his talent.” Willstrop will now
face compatriot Peter Barker who beat French World No.25 Mathieu
Castagnet 3-1 to earn his place in the quarters. “Pete and I have played a lot and I think we’re both finding our feet in ways this week,” said Willstrop. “He’s shown that he’s
worked hard to come back from injury and win two matches so far so he’s
obviously in great shape at the moment. “He’s a great athlete
and never gives you anything lightly and he’s tough to crack so I need
to try and put my game together to get past him. I’m in another
quarter-final which is exciting so hopefully I can keep going and get
the win.” Egyptian maestro Amr
Shabana came through his second round game, putting in a superb
performance to dispatch Laurens Jan Anjema 3-0 and book a quarter-final
berth against World No.1 Nick Matthew, who dispatched South African
Stephen Coppinger 3-0. “I think today I
played as well as I ever could,” said Shabana. “LJ is a big guy with a
lot of great skills so I was very focused to play the right game
against him. “Every game is different but I was very happy with my game today and hopefully I can keep that up, “I have a lot of found
memories of playing here and especially from earning the No.1 ranking
in this event so to go further this week, in the first event of the
year, would be amazing. “First I have to get
past the World Champion and that will be an extremely hard task. Nick
is in a great run at the moment but I’ve been close a few times in our
last few matches so I’ll just concentrate on playing my game and see
what happens.” 2014 Tournament of Champions – Round 2, Top Half Results: [2] Nick Matthew (ENG) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-2, 11-4 [7] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 3-0: 11-7, 11-3, 11-5 [6] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 3-1: 11-9, 11-8, 3-11, 13-11 [4] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 3-0: 13-11, 11-1, 13-11 Order of Play Sunday January 20 – Second Round, Bottom Half [3] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v Tarek Momen (EGY) Chris Simpson (ENG) v [8] Daryl Selby (ENG) [5] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Simon Rosner (GER) Alister Walker (BOT) v [1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
