Darwish Holds Off Momen In Hurghada by Howard Harding
May 18, 2011-Second-seeded
Egyptian Karim Darwish held off a determined quarter-final bid by Tarek
Momen in the Hurghada International - but needed almost an hour to
overcome his young fellow countryman to book a place in the last four
of the men’s PSA Tour International 70 event in the Egyptian Red
Sea resort of Hurghada.
Momen, the 23-year-old world No26
from Cairo, made an excellent start – leading 5-2 before going on
to reach game-ball at 10-9, then again at 11-10.
But world No3 Darwish reclaimed the advantage to take the game after his own second game-ball.
"It was a very different Momen in
the second game," said event spokesman Hesham El Attar. "Darwish
dominated and took the game 11-5 in just nine minutes."
Momen was equal to the task up to
eight-all in the third, then lost concentration as Darwish closed out
the match 14-12, 11-5, 11-8 after 58 minutes.
"Tarek is one of those players
coming up very strong, so there was no way that I would be taking this
match lightly," said 29-year-old Darwish, a former world No1,
afterwards. "I had to stay focused to make sure that I could
control the match throughout."
Darwish's semi-final opponent was unable to complete his quarter-final match last night.
"The final match of the evening had to be postponed due to humidity causing a slippery floor," explained El Attar.
Finland's Olli Tuominen led Egyptian
qualifier Mohammed Abbas 2/1 when the match was stopped. When
resumed this morning, the unseeded Finn went on to secure an 11-8,
11-7, 8-11, 11-5 win after 55 minutes.
Teenager Nour El Tayeb pulled off a
notable upset in the women's WISPA World Tour Silver 20 event to set up
a surprise all-Egyptian semi-final in the lower half of the draw.
The 18-year-old fifth seed from
Cairo recovered from a game down to beat France's third seed Camille
Serme 11-13, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 – repeating her win over the world
No9 two years ago on the same court in Hurghada.
"My racket control was not great
this evening so my main objective was to get the ball past her and not
giving her much chance to volley or attack me from the middle of the
court," explained the rapidly-improving Egyptian who made her top 20
debut in December.
El Tayeb will now face top-ranked
Egyptian Omneya Abdel Kawy. The second seed from Cairo, who is
bidding to win the established WISPA title for the fourth year in a
row, beat eighth-seeded compatriot Heba El Torky 11-8, 12-10, 11-4.
RESULTS: Hurghada International, Hurghada, Egypt
Men's quarter-finals (lower half of draw):
Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt [Q] Mohammed Abbas (EGY) 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5 (55m)