Simpson Downs Darwish In Men's Malaysian Open Shock by Howard Harding 12 September 2013
- Unseeded Englishman Chris Simpson scored one of the best wins of his
career when he upset top seed Karim Darwish in today's first round of
the CIMB Malaysian Open, the PSA World Tour International 50 squash
event at the Bukit Jalil National Squash Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
Making his debut in
the event, the Guernsey-born world No25 recovered from the loss of the
first game to take the next two before the Egyptian former world number
one conceded the match after just three points of the fourth game.
"The first game was
close with Chris holding the advantage but just losing out 11-9,"
explained event spokesman Andrew Cross. "In the beginning of the
second, Darwish took a fall in the front backhand appearing to slip on
some sweat - and a three-minute injury break was awarded. He continued
and looked fine.
"In the middle of the
third, Darwish began to look a little flat and Chris ran away from
4-4," Cross continued. "After three rallies in the fourth Darwish
offered his hand and that was the end of the match."
After his 9-11, 17-15,
11-4, 2-1 (ret.) victory, the jubilant Simpson said: "I wasn't
expecting to beat Darwish - I have a flight home tonight which I will
now need to change. I wanted to ask some questions of him physically
and see where it got me.
"I thought I deserved
to win the second a bit easier but the fact it was so hard probably
worked for me better. The second was crucial - I'm pretty happy it
extended to 17-15 rather than 11-8."
In the quarter-finals,
which take place on an all-glass showcourt at the Curve Shopping Mall
in Selangor, Harrogate-based Simpson will line up against Saurav
Ghosal, the Indian number one who defeated Egyptian qualifier Omar
Abdel Aziz 11-5, 11-9, 11-3.
"I'm looking forward
to playing Saurav tomorrow," Simpson continued. "I've never beaten him
before - hopefully it will be a good match. It's always a clean match
with him.
"I'm definitely
looking forward to playing at the Curve as one of the best venues in
the world, really looking forward to playing there."
Another significant
upset took place when Egyptian qualifier Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry
outplayed experienced Finnish opponent Olli Tuominen 8-11, 11-6, 12-10,
11-6. The teenager from Cairo will now face fellow countryman Tarek
Momen, the defending champion ranked ten in the world who beat
Australian Cameron Pilley, ranked just four places lower, 11-9, 10-12,
11-4, 11-2.
"Very happy to win,"
said Ga Sabry after his shock upset. "Playing Tarek tomorrow will be
tough - he is better than me but I'm looking forward to it."
RESULTS: PSA International 50 CIMB Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Qualifying finals: Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt Max Lee (HKG) 11-13, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12, 12-10 (99m)
Quarter-final line-up: Chris Simpson (ENG) v Saurav Ghosal (IND) [4] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [Q] Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY) [3] Borja Golan (ESP) v Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) [2] Peter Barker (ENG) v [WC] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS)
