Farag And Hesham Impress To Reach Qatar Quarters by Nathan Clarke
photos squashpics.com
November 3, 2015
- Rising Egyptian talents Mazen Hesham and Ali Farag produced two of
the most impressive and dominant performances of the tournament so far
to progress to the quarter-finals of the 2015 Qatar Classic in Doha
today (Nov 3).
The duo will meet each other in a highly anticipated encounter tomorrow
after 21-year-old Hesham produced a sensational performance to overcome
World No.6 Omar Mosaad, the Delaware Investments U.S. Open runner-up,
in straight-games while Farag showed class and maturity beyond his
23-years as he ran proceedings against experienced English campaigner
and World No.16 Daryl Selby.
“Today is a very, very good day,” said Farag, who graduated from Harvard University last year.
“I knew I could win and I believed I could win but I didn’t expect to
put in a performance like that - that is the best I have played all
week and the best I have played in a long time.
“It’s my first time in the second round of a World Series tournament
and now I’m into the quarters for the first time and that feels
amazing. I’m really happy with how disciplined I played as I didn’t go
for many silly shots and that is pleasing.”
Meanwhile Karim Abdel Gawad overcame Gregoire Marche of France in an
enthralling 81-minute battle that ranks as one of the tournaments
standout encounters so far to set up a last eight match up with French
number one Gregory Gaultier.
In a back-and-forth battle Gawad came from 7-3 down in the fifth game,
notching up seven consecutive points, to defeat the acrobatic Marche.
“Even when i was 7-3 down I still believed that I could win because he still had to win four points to make it,” said Gawad.
“So I tried hard not to think about the score and just told myself to
push as hard as I can on each point because that was absolutely
critical, especially as I need to be even more constant to keep my top
ten ranking and keep improving.
“I didn’t play my best today so I’m happy to win and I know that’s what
the top players do - they win on bad days - so I’m very happy I was
able to do that.”
In the women’s draw defending champion Nicol David, who lifted the
trophy when the tournament last took place in the Emirate in 2011, led
the charge into the last eight with a straightforward victory over
Victoria Lust to keep alive her hopes of winning a first PSA World
Series title since the 2014 U.S. Open.
“It was a bit of an up and down match but I am happy to get through in three,” said David.
“In the middle of each game she was doing her own things so I had to
reassess and make sure that I worked to impose my own game. I have been
working hard on improving my strength in training to get lower on the
ball, be faster onto the ball and also to be more assertive with my
shots.”
Elsewhere Egyptian Nour El Sherbini came through a battle of
sharp-shooters with Rachael Grinham while Frenchwoman Camille Serme
prevailed in a battle of wills with American number one Amanda Sobhy.
Draw - Quarter-finals:
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v Max Lee (HKG)
[Q] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) v [3] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Mazen Hesham (EGY) v [Q] Ali Farag (EGY)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Draw - Quarter-finals:
Joshana Chinappa (IND) v [5] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY)
[8] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [4] Laura Massaro (ENG)
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) v [6] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
[7] Annie Au (HKG) v [2] Nicol David (MAS)
