R1: [4] Paul Coll (NZL) 3-0 Victor Crouin (FRA) 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 (34m)
This was never going to be easy for Victor as he was same generation, very very good friend than the young French player that passed away. When he heard the news this morning about Enzo’s death, it didn’t really register, he was stunned. The French players had a long talk about him, still, Victor was in control. But it’s when he got back in his room, and that he saw all the tributes, all the photos on social media, that emotions hit him.
And it hit him again at the end of the match. But on court, Victor did the job, and reacted pretty well to Paul pretty aggressive and positive squash. No lengthy rallies, just good solid accurate basic game, and super short game added to it.
Victor did his best, and got a few nice rallies out of his opponent. Only in the third, errors started to creep in, and it’s was a short game, 8m. But if you think Victor only knew he was coming here three days ago, no bad is it…
Victor
Il y a trop de bons souvenirs… So many great memories…
Paul
I was trying to come out a bit more aggressive that I have done in the previous couple of tournaments. I thought I was a bit passive in the early rounds so I wanted to start today, try to dominate the middle and take the ball in short when it was there and just play some more proactive squash.
I started using the HEAD racket straight after Qatar, had four weeks with it, loved it straight away. The gear is my gear, and it’s some of the best of the world, so it is pretty easy to get used to.
The squash community and especially the French boys, had a really hard loss today. They lost a friend so I just wanted to send my regards out to Victor and all the French boys playing today and his friends and family for that tragic loss that we had.
