[17] Dimitri Steinmann (Sui) 3-2 Ivan Perez (Esp) 9-11, 11-4, 15-13, 7-11, 11-6 (102m)
Ridiculous squash. Absolutely ridiculous squash from those two.
I arrived at the end of the third, and I chose not to take any notes. That match, I just wanted to enjoy as a spectator. And you know what? I did! Two lunatics battling on the last court, everybody had left to the glass, and we were quite a few watching. And enjoying it. Thouroughly.
Dimitri had been running on fumes I thought from the 4th game. But talking with him, he actually said it was much earlier in the game. Ivan looked as fresh as a rose, bless him. Dimitri was angry, finding the adrenalin in confronting the ref at time. But nothing about nasty. It was about staying alive. About keeping on fighting. Another point. Another game.
His dad, watching on the left of the seating, side by side with the Swiss contingency, was very nervous. On the other side of the scale, Ivan was as relaxed as a Karim Gawad in a final. Laid back, smiling, enjoying it. Dimitri wasn’t smiling. He was too busy trying to find the fumes to stay alive….
Incredible pace and accuracy between those two, Dimitri finding some outrageous would be winners, which came back as lethal as he played them. It never stopped. Relentless incredible squash.
How did Dimitri come back in the 5th? He looked down and out completely in the 4th, trying to catch his breath as the court was slippery in the right front corner, and the court cleaners intervened a few times. The fifth was close up to the middle of the game, and out of nowhere, the Swiss found his best squash, 5th wind and all, and to not disappoint Dad, produced one of the gutsiest performances I saw this season.
Dimitri : I was physically gone from the second game.
I didn’t want to go out like that, I tried and hung in there, and found a way, played point for point. I won the third game, in a tiebreak somewhere… Lost the fourth, I was just was so spent from it, and somehow, found a way in the 5th to regain some accuracy and that made a difference.
Ivan played really well, played the conditions really well.. I just hung in there…
The presence of my father is 100% the reason why I didn’t throw in the towel at some stage.
When he is here, when he is around, I just don’t.. give up. He was in Gouna, when I played incredibly well against Youssef. And I’m really proud of the fact I pushed through at the end, lived to fight another day.
I’m playing Fares and no, I don’t have any thoughts about that, not yet. I just want to recover!
