Omar Mosaad Halts Ramy Ashour in Grasshopper Quarters by Nathan Clarke 17TH APR 2015 -
World Champion Ramy Ashour's hopes of winning back-to-back PSA World
Tour tournaments came crashing down as he limped off court against
compatriot Omar Mosaad during the quarter-finals of the 2015
Grasshopper Cup.
Ashour defied all logic to come from two-games down to beat home
favourite Nicolas Mueller in his first round match and Mosaad showed
his intent from the opening point, taking the ball short at every
opportunity to test Ashour's movement following his first round battle
and it was a tactic that paid dividends.
The imposing World No.9 played with composure to take a two-game lead
and while Ashour mounted a fightback to claw a game back, an awkward
looking lunge during the third game left him anguishing and it proved
to be the final nail in his tournament coffin, with the three-time
World Champion and winner of last week's El Gouna International
conceding the match with Mosaad dominantly ahead 11-3, 11-8, 7-11, 9-4.
“Of course I am happy to reach the semi-finals but that is not the way I want to win and it is hard for me,” said Mosaad.
“I'm really sorry for what happened to Ramy. He played amazing in El
Gouna last week but had a tough match against Nicolas Mueller last
night, where I think he got injured, so I hope he has a speedy recovery.
“Tomorrow I play Simon Rösner and I will do my best and hopefully play well.”
Mosaad's last four opponent came through a tough match against Indian
qualifier Saurav Ghosal to book his berth in the semi-finals,
struggling to find his best form during the encounter but managing
enough to keep the Indian pocket rocket at bay whilst top seed Gregory
Gaultier, the World No.3, was in commanding form against England's
Daryl Selby.
The Frenchman controlled proceeding from the start in a scintillating performance, winning 3-0 in just 45-minutes.
“Daryl is a great mover and he absorbs pressure really well so you
always have to be on your toes and control the court against him and
break his rhythm,” said Gaultier.
“I managed to move a little better today than the first round and play
more accurately. I had a little bit more confidence today as well ager
the first round and I feel like I played quite well today.”
Gaultier will take on World No.5 Miguel Angel Rodriguez of Colombia in the last four.
