Momen Wins Thriller To Make Men's $150K Hong Kong Semi-final from PSA Media August 29, 2014
- Tarek Momen will make his first ever appearance in the semi-finals of
a PSA World Series event after coming through a thrilling 77-minute
encounter against Simon Rösner in the 2014 Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai
Financial Hong Kong Squash Open.
The Egyptian World
No.12 and his German opponent, ranked just one place above him on the
PSA World Tour ladder, delighted the crowd in a thrilling battle of
attrition that saw both players produce some of their best squash with
a combination of power, guile and sheer brilliance that had the
capacity audience on the edge of their seats.
With little to
separate the players, Momen twice came from behind to force the match
into a decider before eventually prevailing 7-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7,
11-8 to book a place in the final four where he will face World No.1
Gregory Gaultier and he says all the pressure will be on the French
number one seed.
"It was a huge battle against Simon today," said Momen.
"I didn't think about
being in the quarter-finals with the prospect of making my first World
Series semi-finals - I just wanted to take it point-by-point and the
level of play from both of us just kept getting better and better.
"The fifth especially game was just crazy but I really enjoyed it, it was a nice match to play in and I'm really happy to win.
"I'm really excited
about being in the semi-finals now. I've been on tour for eight years
and even at this point to experience something new like that is very
exciting.
"Greg is the number
one and the one positive to take from that is that there is no pressure
on me. We played here in the quarter-finals last year and I played well
then and I just want to enjoy myself on court, enjoy being in the
semi-final and play my best."
The second semi-final
will see number two seed Mohamed Elshorbagy continue on course to reach
his first Hong Kong Open final, after getting past tricky opponent
Peter Barker in their quarter-final, although the Egyptian World No.3
was forced to work hard for the victory.
Barker, the World
No.8, took the first game 11-9 and was proving a stubborn opponent
before Elshorbagy lifted to squeeze a 3-1 win which earns him a place
in the final eliminator against Spanish star Borja Golan, the 2013 Hong
Kong Open runner-up, who saw off the challenge of Swiss player Nicolas
Mueller 3-0.
Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Squash Open 2014 - Quarter-final Results:
Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Squash Open 2014 - Semi-final Draw: [1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Tarek Momen (EGY) [4] Borja Golan (ESP) v [2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY)
