Kuwait PSA Cup Final: It's James Again
29th November 2011Kuwait PSA Cup 2011, Final
[3] James Willstrop (Eng) bt [2] Karim Darwish (Egy) 11/7, 10/12, 11/4, 11/2 (65m)
James Willstrop claimed a second consecutive World Series title as he beat Karim Darwish for the second time in just over a week, this time in Kuwait City's Green Island rather than on the harbourfront in Hong Kong. At the time that was his biggest ever win, a record that lasted just over a week!
The match itself was pretty similar though, as the Englishman won a close first game in which both players were initially cautious - 24 lets in the first 28 rallies, but from 6-all Willstrop pulled away to take the lead.
Darwish got the better start in the second though, leading 6/3, but Willstrop recovered to earn a game ball at 10/9. The Egyptian took three in a row though to end Willstrop's run of 28 consecutive games won.
That didn't seem to affect the Yorkshireman though, on the contrary he was soon 6/1 up in the third, and not long afterwards he was back in the lead after finishing the game 11/4.
The fourth was one way traffic, as the final game in Hong Kong had been, Darwish only scoring two points, but Willstrop being if anything even more delighted than last week when he took the last one to become Kuwait PSA Cup champion.
"In the third, I didn’t hit the wall physically, but mentally more. I was fine physically, but I was just frustrated, I just couldn’t get the ball to the back of the court anymore," said Darwish. Still, very happy with two finals in a row, it’s very positive, and now I’m going to go home and get ready for India and the rest of the season."
Willstrop was at least double pleased with his latest triumph: "I’m incredibly pleased, I’m sure you could see by my reaction how pleased I was. Can I win 3 in a row? Well, I guess it can be done, if I can produce squash like that, I can win the next one! And I’m not going to let the fact that it’s three in a row get in the way!"