They’re in l o v e..... they just have a strange way of showing it

Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) 3-0 Cameron Pilley (Aus) 16-14, 11-2, 11-8 (48m)

The Australian was able to compete and put immense pressure on the French today, when those two gladiators were battling for the win of the opener. 8/8, and it’s Cameron that got the first blood, 10/8. Mathieu equalised and got himself three game ball in a row, sprinkled with a few decisions/reviews, then Cameron had a third one, 14/13, but still couldn’t close and it’s finally Mathieu 16/14 as Cam played the ball on himself bless him, “Oh. My. God” was his comment…

As you may remember, Cameron had surgery a few weeks ago, and is only back, so he is still testing his body. And it was obvious that Pistol Pilley was a bit short after that big 25m opener, both physically but also mentally I felt, match fitness really.

The next two were pretty one sided for a game and a half, but at 8/3, second wind for the Australian and he was able to put again some lovely shots back and front, worrying the French a bit. Mathieu, himself coming back injury, was careful not to give a sniff to his opponent, and managed to close the third in 15m, 11/8 with the help of 6 unforced errors from his opponent, and was pretty relieved at the end not to have to fight any longer…

Mathieu The first game was crucial, especially because I had there or four games balls so I feel pretty lucky to have gotten that one. In the third, I got scared, at 8/3, he started to come back, and I felt that I could really lose that match. So I made sure I was fighting for every shot. Very happy with a 3/0 today. I tried to pick up every shot he hit. He had surgery a few months ago and I know what it’s like with injury issues. I hope he will be back in better shape and come back strong. It has been a nightmare for me injury wise - I had surgery but I love playing squash. I am only 31 so I trust my capacity to come back. I just want to enjoy playing. I’m not thinking about being in the last sixteen or anything, I just want to enjoy playing. I just want to keep going and see what happens.

Breakfast with Fram : Cameron Pilley

[3] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 Cameron Pilley (Aus) 12-10, 13-11, 12-10 (49m)

Let me put it this way. I don’t think that Tarek will cherish the memory of this match for the rest of his life. I kept writing as notes: wrong choice of shot, backhand length not working…

Of COURSE, it’s a lot credit to Pistol Pilley, who equal to his nickname, was shooting at will, only faulting at the very end of the games – he had game balls in all of them!

Tarek today was off. There is no other way to put it. He didn’t go mad on the unforced errors department, about 5 in the first game, 3 in the second and same for the third, I have seen him do much worse.

No, he was just only reacting to what Pilley was doing it seems, a mixture of junior squash mixed with reaction squash, more than really following a game plan. Against him, Cameron did a pretty good job I thought. He pushed hard, hit extremely fast, and if he lacked a bit of accuracy, his determination was pushing Tarek to make the wrong choices… Only at the pretty end of each game, Cam seemed to run out of fuel – match fitness will come back soon obviously – but he was a bit unlucky not to take any game, as he had 2 game balls in the first, one in the second and one in the third…. Tarek kept saying after the match that the positive of the match was that he was through, so, let’s see how he reassesses his squash for his next match, against Paul Superman Coll, who he just lost against in the US Open, a close 5 setter…

Cameron

I played much better than I expected, and to be honest, my two matches exceeded my expectations. Although I'm disappointed, there are a lot of positive to be taken away from this tournament...

 Tarek

This is my third tournament of the season. I’ve been playing back-to-back tournaments, I started in San Francisco a few weeks ago.

Before that I was in Cairo training for the past three or four months, it’s a long time to be away from competition and it takes a while to get into the zone. Today, I must say that I’m very glad to be through, it was one of those where you have to be thankful that you got through because a lot of things were not working. I was trying hard to get into my own rhythm and I couldn’t. He was playing really well considering he had some time off in the summer to have an ankle operation. It’s really good that he’s playing this well with the preparation he’s had.

I’m very happy to win in three and hopefully in the next round I get to improve a lot.

 I’m No.4 now and there is only one step to make. I need to take baby steps and that’s my aim for now, I want to go to No.3, then No.2 and hopefully No.1, but it takes time and I’m being as patient as I can.

Cameron Pilley (Aus) 3-0  Chris Simpson (Eng)  11-7, 14-12, 11-6 (50m)

When I asked this morning Cameron Pistol Pilley how it felt to come back from surgery, the 35 years old Australian smiled and said “well, it’s like I’m hitting the ball much better than I ever did, I’m shaper, more accurate”. So I replied, “so basically, you are thinking abnd are using your brain then now…”. “That’s correct” he laughed!!! Yes, when you cannot move that well, I guess you are forced to place the ball better – ask Ramy Ashour about that, he knows a bit about it – and your game gets to another level. Today, Chris didn’t do much wrong, but Cameron was hungry. If he struggled a bit in the US, taking the first two against Todd Harrity , only to lose in 5, today he was more settled from the start. “To be honest, I was surprised I managed to take the first two against Todd I think he was just more nervous than I was!” confessed Cam.

Cameron have a tendency to hit the ball very hard and fast, but today, it was more a question of hitting his target and building up rallies. Chris will be disappointed with losing the second, as he was up 10/8 after coming back from 4/0 down. He had three game balls,  but errors crept in at the worst of times, and Cameron finally took that crucial game 14/12 on two consecutive strokes. The Australian had to work very hard in the 3rd, although the score doesn’t show, 16m game, 4/1, 5/2, 7/3, 11/6…. He will be very very happy with that performance today, and will be fresh for his match tomorrow against the Momenator…

Cameron 

I'm very happy with my performance.

I had surgery two months ago, and it has been pretty hard to come back. I was struggling in the US Open, but maybe I came back a bit too soon. I just wanted to play… It was a question of starting from scratch really, I couldn’t stand balanced on one foot, then when I managed that, I tried with eyes closed, that didn’t go that well. Also, when I was walking, it was like my foot was not responding and would go flat with a loud noise! Really learning to walk again from the start…. But one thing, you actually strike the ball much much better, you think more probably!

I had my ankle surgery at the end of June and although it's recovery ahead of schedule, I'm so impatient and I just want to be back to full fitness as soon as I can.

There's been zero off-season training, so my focus has been on improving my shot selection and improving the quality of my shots. That's been my whole focus for the last month.

Chris is one of the best straight hitters in the game. If he has any kind of time he hits such a nice line, so my focus today was to outdo him with the straight line hitting. Once I could do that, I was trying to twist him with a straight cross court into the back corners, because it's a quick court.

I think I executed my game plan pretty well. There were moments when I wasn't too confident on my ankle and it's still not quite there yet, but it's getting better and I hope to be back to 100 per cent for the second half of the season.

Tarek knows I had ankle surgery so he is probably going to test my movement out, but that's the way he plays anyway. We played each other in this tournament last year, I had to qualify, win a couple of matches and then play Tarek. It was 1-0 or 1-1 and I had a lead in the second or third game, but I was disappointed with the way I finished that match.

Tarek likes to play a lot of short shots and likes to change angles. I'm going to have to restrict him, play even tighter than today and take my chances if and when they come.