Abouelghar Ousts Pilley In Grasshopper Shock from PSA Media April 25, 2014
- Egypt's Mohamed Abouelghar produced the biggest win of his career
when he defeated eighth-seeded Australian Cameron Pilley in the first
round of the Grasshopper Cup in Switzerland to become the only
qualifier to make the quarter-finals of the PSA World Tour
International 50 squash event at the ezw-Unterwerk Selnau in Zurich. The youngest player in
the draw, 20-year-old Abouelghar battled for 62 minutes to see off
World No.17 Pilley 11-7, 8-11, 13-11, 11-6 in his first appearance in
the main draw of a PSA Tour event this year after four successive
qualifying disappointments. "I'm very happy -
finally a losing streak has come to an end!" said the World No.57
(pictured below, in black) from Cairo. "Cameron is such great
player and I never thought I could keep up with him and have a tough
four-setter. "I need to thank some
people: First of all my coach Mohamed Farid, and my fitness coach
Mahmoud. They've been doing a great job with me over the past 10
years and maybe I couldn't play squash without them!" Abouelghar will now
take on distinguished fellow countryman Amr Shabana, the four-time
World Champion also from Cairo, for the first time on the
Tour. Third seed Shabana, the left-hander making his
Grasshopper debut (pictured below), ended champion Alister Walker's
reign – beating the World No.19 from Botswana who won the title last
year for the first time 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 in 36 minutes. There will be further
Egyptian interest in the fourth quarter-final line-up settled on the
second day of first round action. No.7 seed Omar Mosaad survived
an all-Egyptian clash with Cairo club-mate and qualifier Mohd Ali Anwar
Reda, winning 11-4, 5-11, 11-7, 11-3. "It's the first time
playing Reda on PSA," explained the World No.13 after his 49-minute
victory. "He's my team mate - we play at the same club in Egypt,
the Heliopolis club, so we usually train together at the club. We
know how each other plays. "Today I started
really well, especially at the end of the first game - but in the
second he started to change his tactics and he played more basics and I
struggled a little bit and I think that worked for him. In the
third game, especially in the first five points, it was a mental game
because we were both trying to lead - so I think in the middle of the
third I played two more good shots and I started to create a lead. "In the fourth I
started early and was able to move ahead. I'm really happy to
play with Mohd Reda - he did good work in the qualifiers. Now I'm
going to watch Henrik and Borja, have dinner, and enjoy Zurich!" Spaniard Borja Golan
was the victor in the final match of the day, beating Finnish qualifier
Henrik Mustonen 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 in 35 minutes. "Henrik was a really
tough opponent, attacking all the time, so you have to be patient and
play a good basic game," explained the No.2 seed, but highest-ranked
player in the draw. "I think the
difference today was that he made more errors at crucial times in the
first and second game," added the World No.5 from Santiago de
Compostela. "Looking forward to my match tomorrow." RESULTS: Grasshopper Cup, Zurich, Switzerland 1st round (lower half of draw): [3] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Alister Walker (BOT) 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 (36m) [Q] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt [8] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-7, 8-11, 13-11, 11-6 (62m) [7] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [Q] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) 11-4, 5-11, 11-7, 11-3 (49m) [2] Borja Golan (ESP) bt [Q] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 (35m) Quarter-final line-up: [1] James Willstrop (ENG) v [5] Simon Rösner (GER) [4] Daryl Selby (ENG) v [6] Tarek Momen (EGY) [3] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [Q] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) [2] Borja Golan (ESP) v [7] Omar Mosaad (EGY)
