Matthew, Gaultier Through to Swedish Open Final by Nathan Clarke February 7, 2015
- England's 34-year-old World No.3 Nick Matthew kept alive his hopes of
retaining the CASE Swedish Open, PSA International 70 title, after
seeing off the challenge of German World No.10 Simon Rösner during the
semi-finals in Linkoping today (Feb 7).
Matthew, who produced an impressive display to beat Ramy Ashour 3-2 and
win the title in 2014, ensured his place in the final with a
hard-earned 3-1 victory over the 27-year-old from Paderborn and he will
now line-up against long-time adversary Gregory Gaultier, the man he
beat in the finals of the 2011 and 2013 World Championships, to contest
the final in Sunday February 8.
"What I was really pleased with was that when it came to the big points
today I was able to raise my game and make them count," said Matthew
afterwards.
"That's going to be especially important tomorrow against Greg because
he looks in good form and I'm glad it didn't go into a fifth game
because I'll need to be fresh tomorrow for the final."
The Englishman, a notoriously strong starter, lived up to his billing
as he tested the tall German's physical abilities from the off, taking
the opening game after 14-minutes but Rösner mounted a spirited
fight-back in the second game and levelled the scores following some
impressive action.
After restoring his advantage in the third, Matthew was forced to use
everything in his locker to prevent the match from going into a fifth
game, a scenario he has never experienced against Rösner in their five
previous meetings, showing his mental composure and resolve to save
four game-balls before eventually sealing the match in a tight
tie-break, winning 11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 13-11 in 62-minutes.
"I was maybe a little guilty in the fifth game at 5-1 up of thinking
about the next day and you can't do that against someone like Simon,"
he said.
"He can win points quickly and he's a very exciting player. He's an up and coming player so I'm happy to have won in four."
Gaultier, the current World No.2, ensured his place in the final with a
comfortable 3-0 victory over Stephen Coppinger, ending the South
African's hopes of reaching back-to-back finals on the PSA World Tour
with a dominant 11-4, 11-3, 11-6 win which took just 33-minutes.
The victory means the Frenchman goes into the title-decider without having dropped a single game during the tournament.
Draw - Semi-finals:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [8] Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-3, 11-6 (33m)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [4] Simon Rösner (GER) 3-1: 11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 13-11 (62m)
Draw - Final:
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
