Switzerland’s Yannick Wilhelmi survived match balls in the fourth and fifth games to beat Mexico’s Cesar Salazar in a 70-minute classic at The Pittsburgh Open and progress to his maiden quarter-final on the PSA World Tour.
The first game saw dominance from Salazar as he took an early 9-5 lead, controlling the tempo of match as the inexperienced Wilhelmi struggled to keep up, finally sealing the first game 11-6 as the Swiss player’s back-court boast hit the tin.
Wilhelmi earned his first game ball of the match at 10-9, but a mis-judged straight drive came back to him, earning the Mexican a stroke and two quick points moved Salazar within a game of victory.
The Swiss player’s fightback began by catching Salazar out with a thin backhand cross-court as he came out of the break in play looking sharper. Salazar battled to 5-5, but the 23-year-old ran away with the game from there to give himself four chances to halve the deficit, taking the game on fourth time of asking.
Wilhelmi claimed the vital fourth game with a reverse angle shot, punctuating the momentum shift in the match with a celebratory fist-pump towards the crowd as he left the court.
The final game saw Salazar take a seemingly decisive 7-1 early lead, but Wilhelmi rallied, and soon the game looked as close as the end of the fourth, and the two players found themselves level at 9-9. Wilhelmi earned his first match ball of the encounter at 10-9, however Salazar found an important kill shot off of his opponent’s serve to prolong the match.
Wilhelmi finally put an end to the dramatic final game, stretching his opponent with a drive after a front court boast to force the mistake and earn his first quarter-final place on the World Tour, surviving three match balls in the process.
“I had a bit of a bad start, he played well, I struggled a bit with his game in the beginning, but the ball got colder and I think that was a bit better for me and I’m just happy I fought through all the games, especially the fourth and fifth tie breaks,” said Wilhelmi after the match.
“I just kept on going point-for-point. Like my dad always says, ‘it’s not over until it’s over’, so I just kept on fighting and it was good.
In the other seedings upset of the day, India’s Velavan Senthilkumar won out in a thrilling 3-1 encounter against home favourite and No.8 seed Faraz Khan.
Senthilkumar took an impressive early lead over the American, and cruised to an 11-6 first-game win. Khan regrouped, showing the World No.63 his strength as he levelled the match at 1-1.
The Indian reacted, storming to a 10-5 lead and Khan struck the tin on his return to put the 25-year-old within a game of his maiden Silver-event quarter-final.
The American pulled ahead in the fourth game as he took a 6-1 lead, but Senthilkumar upped his game, playing quick and accurate squash to level the game at 8-8. The Indian continued his late resurgence and won the fourth game 11-8 to secure the match, ending with a mistake from Khan on match ball.
“It was really good. First of all, Faraz is a really good player. I’ve seen him play recently and he’s been having some really good results so going into the match I was a bit nervous, but at the same time really excited to be here competing. I was just there, enjoying my squash and enjoying myself,” said Senthilkumar after the match.
On achieving his maiden Silver-event quarter-final, he said, “I’m really happy, it’s something that I’ve always pushed for, and I’m always going to keep pushing for it as much as I can.”
The quarter-finals of the Pittsburgh Open commence at 17:00 (GMT-5) on Friday, 9th February, with action from court two live on SQUASHTV.
Results: Pittsburgh Open RD2
[4] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) bt Andrew Douglas (USA) 3-2: 11-7, 9-11, 14-12, 8-11, 11-7 (58m)
Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) bt [8] Faraz Khan (USA) 3-1: 11-6, 5-11, 11-5, 11-8 (46m)
[1] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt George Parker (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-9 (30m)
[5] Adrian Waller (ENG) bt Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 (39m)
[2] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) bt Aly Hussein (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 (32m)
[6] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) bt Addeen Idrakie (MAS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 11-9 (35m)
[3] Youssef Soliman (EGY) bt Simon Herbert (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 (29m)
Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) bt [7] Cesar Salazar (MEX) 3-2 6-11, 10-12, 11-9, 13-11, 14-12 (70m)
Draw: Pittsburgh Open Quarter-Finals
17:00 Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) v [4] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)
17:45 [1] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [5] Adrian Waller (ENG)
18:30 [6] Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) v [2] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG)
19:15 [3] Youssef Soliman (EGY) v Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI)
