Adrian Grant and Chris Simpson knocked out in last eight
By Squash Mad Reporter
Top seeds Adrian Grant and Chris Simpson crashed out of the ILEX Construction Charlottesville Open at the quarter-final stage.
The duo came out on the wrong end of two epic encounters against French qualifier Lucas Serme and Egypt’s Karim Ali Fathi, respectively, with both contests going down to a fifth and deciding game after over 80-minutes of action.
Serme, the 22-year-old from Creteil, continued his giant-killing form to follow up his surprise first round victory over number six seed Ryan Cuskelly with an impressive 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-2 win over tournament favourite Grant, taking 83-minutes to see off the man ranked 42 places above him on the PSA World Rankings.
Simpson, the World No.25 from Guernsey, had an equally tough day at the office after seeing a 2-1 lead slip against Egyptian Fathi before the man from Cairo powered home to complete an 11-8, 3-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-7 victory, taking just one minute longer than Serme to end the hopes of the number two seed.
Number three seed Alister Walker of Botswana and number four seed Tom Richards of England had no such issues in their quarter-final match-ups however, coming through with relative ease against Declan James and Campbell Grayson to book their places in the semi-finals.
ILEX Construction Charlottesville Open: Quarter-final Results:
[Q] Lucas Serme (FRA) bt [1] Adrian Grant (ENG) 3-2: 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-2 [83mins] [4] Tom Richards (ENG) bt [7] Campbell Grayson (NZL) 3-1: 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 11-5 [65mins] [3] Alister Walker (BOT) bt [Q] Declan James (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 14-12, 11-8 [38mins] [8] Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) bt [2] Chris Simpson (ENG) 3-2: 11-8, 3-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-7 [84mins]
Semi-finals:
[Q] Lucas Serme (FRA) v [4] Tom Richards (ENG)
[3] Alister Walker (BOT) v [8] Karim Ali Fathi (EGY)
Picture courtesy of UVA Squash