Birmingham — World No.1 elect Diego Elias said that the extra expectancy of going to the top of the squash tree almost cost him his British Open quarter-final with gallant Frenchman Victor Crouin.
Indeed, it took a two game come-back and three match balls for the Peruvian to avoid a shakedown after the crafty Crouin used the element of surprise to coast to a 2-0 lead in short order. Victory saw the Peruvian through to a first British semi-final.
But with history beckoning, Elias refused to buckle. He said: “It’s mentally tough to get to one and still play a full tournament and I’m just happy I got my head together in time.
“Obviously when you haven’t played someone before and there is so much riding on it this is tough and Victor is very quick and tricky with it and it took time to work him out but what mattered was the result not how I got there.”
With Crouin 11-4, 11-9 up and the packed crowd at The Rep sensing a South American tragedy unfolding, as Elias’ mentor Jon Power sat almost open-mouthed in the front row at the impending disaster, the man from Lima dug deep.
The fraughtness of the situation saw Elias warned for dissent at 4-4 in the third with the new World No.1, teetering very much on the brink, yet gradually the man who will be the game’s first South American No.1 steadied the ship to pull away from the increasingly frantic Frenchman.
Despite a mid-game rally from the No.8 seed, a particularly brutal rally, which ended with a fine Elias forehand drop, did the ultimate damage as the Peruvian grabbed his lifeline 11-7.
The suspicion now existed that Elias had sufficiency of momentum to turn the game on its head and a solid start to the third saw the South American tighten his Garrotte.
Manfully though the Gaul struggled a forehand drop tin made the margin insurmountable and Elias was level. Just shy of an hour played, 11-6.
Growing control of the T saw the balance of power shift inexorably Elias’ way and, despite a wobble on match ball that saw two tins and a mini rant at a stroke against, he held on and lived to fight another day – and justify his impending elevation.