Grégoire Marche (Fra) 3-1 Adrian Waller (Eng) 12-10, 13-11, 6-11, 11-2 (49m)
“I can never relax against Adrian” confessed Greg at the end of the match. Just have a look at the stats from SquashInfo showing their last 5 encounters.
Even when the French seemed on his way to victory in two non PSA events, the Englishman managed to get into his opponent’s head..
As you can see, Adrian won all 4 of their last matches, last time Greg won was in 2016 in Channel Vas…
When you realise Adrian only knew yesterday that he was playing today – as I’m sure you know we lost the World number one to a 6 weeks PSA ban effective immediately. So for a last minute call out, I guess he won’t be too disappointed.
That said, he’ll be kicking himself all the way back home, as he could have led two love up, the silly billy, having led the first game the whole way, 3/1, 6/2, 7/4, 9/7, 10/8, only to lose the opener 12/1 in 10m, and the second game, again, 10/8, this time losing it 13/11 in 14m!
He didn’t do much wrong in that second game, didn’t make a single error…
He finally manages to get the third, from 5/5 to 9/5, 11/6 in 10m. But with a new ball, Grégoire rushed to 11/2, finally taking his first win since 2016!
France's @GregMarche secures the final spot in the second round of the @OPTASIAsquash after a win over Adrian Waller 💪
His thoughts below ⬇️#OptasiaChamps pic.twitter.com/HZy6dGPEAi
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) March 21, 2023
“First of all, thanks to the people who have stayed the whole day! Thank you for enjoying a bit more squash, even this late! Thanks to Adrian, that was maybe not the best quality match I would say, but it was tough!”
‘I knew at 2-0 up it was not going to be over because he came back twice last time at the Europeans, so of course it came in my head. I had to be focused in the fourth, and I managed to do it well.
“It was a long day, I tried to relax, bit of practice and then coaching the French boys in the afternoon. I am really happy to get through after last week, I was sick in Canary Wharf, so I didn’t know what to expect actually, but I moved well today!”
