Barker, Pilley, Mosaad & Rodriguez Into Bogota Semis by Howard Harding 10 August 2013
- Unseeded Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez continued to delight the
packed crowds at Club El Nogal in his home city of Bogota as he marched
into the semi-finals of the Abierto Colombiano de Squash Club El Nogal
after overcoming Australian Ryan Cuskelly in the quarter-finals of the
long-established PSA World Tour International 50 squash event in the
Colombian capital.
"Now I'm playing my
first semi-final in a 50 International - I'm very proud of myself,"
exclaimed the 27-year-old world No19 after his 11-9, 4-11, 11-5, 11-3
victory over the Australian left-hander (both pictured in action above).
Rodriguez, who
recently became the second highest-ranked South American player of
all-time, made his breakthrough in the event when he toppled defending
champion Tarek Momen, the world No10 from Egypt, in the opening round.
"I knew it was going
to be tough match," continued the Colombian who won bronze, his
country's first squash medal, at last week's World Games in the
Colombian city of Cali. "Ryan has been improved a lot and I had to be
ready for another battle. I had to play at my best in the fourth,
picked up the pace a lot because I did not want to go to a fifth game."
Rodriguez now faces a
second Egyptian for a place in the final. Third seed Omar Mosaad
battled for four games to hold off impressive young Mexican qualifier
Alfredo Avila 11-9, 11-8, 3-11, 11-6.
"Alfredo was so good
today - I am really happy to win," said Mosaad, the tall world No11
from Cairo who is making his maiden appearance in the event. "I tried
to keep focusing in my game because Alfredo is a very speedy guy and I
tried to finish it in 3/0 but I couldn't.
"I am glad to won
today. Now I will try to relax for tomorrow and prepare myself for my
match against Miguel. I played him six years ago in Ecuador. He won,
but I will try to do my best!"
The other semi-final
will see top-seeded Englishman Peter Barker take on Australian number
one Cameron Pilley, the No4 seed. Pilley, the world No13, had to toil
for 66 minutes to see off Scotland's determined Alan Clyne 13-11, 11-4,
6-11, 11-3, while Londoner Barker was on court for just 19 minutes when
Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet conceded the match with score standing at
11-6, 11-0, 3-0.
It later transpired
that world No31 Castagnet suffered an injury to his right leg in his
marathon 94-minute five-game win over Mexican qualifier Cesar Salazar
24 hours earlier.
"Unfortunately Mathieu
couldn't recover from his tough match yesterday and retired in the
third," explained world No7 Barker. "I thought I started pretty well
and will try and do the same tomorrow.
"Tough conditions
here, but an excellent tournament as always," added the left-hander who
is a three-time champion of the event. "All the players are being very
well looked after."
Pilley added after his
victory: "Very happy with my win today over Clyney. The conditions were
extremely tough but I stuck in there well in the big points and managed
to play my game for most of the match.
"The club here is amazing so a bit of hot-cold recovery and food and the body will be ready for the semi!"
RESULTS: PSA International 50 Abierto Colombiano de Squash Club El Nogal, Bogota, Colombia
