[11] Victor Crouin (FRA) 3-1 Andrew Douglas (USA) 11-7, 11-4, 10-12, 11-5 (50m)
The Frenchman is probably in one of the worst stages of his career. His performances in the European being the cherry on a very high cake – getting pushed into a mental game by Shorbagy Senior and being rolled into flour, ending with an 11/0; he desperately needed a confidence booster.
A win against an up and coming American, nothing to lose and full of late good results might just have done the trick. As Malcolm Willstrop used to say “Winning is a habit”. He needs to get his head back in that frame of mind. “Plus facile à dire qu’à faire”…
Victor : “I’m happy to win a match on the PSA World Tour after three consecutive losses. The main goal was to find a solution to win regardless of how well I played. Sometimes I get stuck in trying to play my best squash rather than being efficient and win because I’m a bit of a perfectionist.
“I’m happy to get through to the second round. I’ve never made it past the third round of the World Championships before, and thanks to my ranking, I’ve got a good opportunity to do it. Hopefully, I can recover well and get my head in the right place.
“When you see a stat like this you try your best to keep it out of your mind and it can lead to negative thoughts and they keep coming back and you start to doubt yourself. I’ve not won too many matches in all the leagues and Championships recently, and I know the quality of the game hasn’t disappeared – I just need to express it. It’s always good to get a win and it’s important to think about the positives from that.”
