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14-Aug, Final:

[1] Joey Barrington bt Sabir Butt (Can)
     11/8, 11/10(4-2), 11/8 (59m)

More from MoriSquash
 

"The final was very hard, Sabir played very well. We're good friends and always have good matches. "I'm happy to have won, and I've enjoyed my visit to Brazil and Colombia." Joey Barrington

"Tight games, pretty close but he always seemed to close me out down the stretch. "Near the end of each game he had a little more in his tank than I did. Being 36 pays a price sometimes. "The village [of Tênis & Squash] has been very important for the growth of squash in Brasilia and I have to congratulate all the team for their effort in putting on this event." Sabir Butt

Qualifying

Finals:
Omar Mosaad (Egy) bt Ahmed Mohsen Hassaan (Egy)    9/11, 11/3, 11/6, 11/7 (58m)
Omar Abd El Aziz El Iraki (Egy) bt Edilson Nunes (Bra)   11/3, 11/8, 11/5 (29m)
Fabien Verseille (Fra) bt Eduardo Ruske (Bra)               11/9, 11/7, 11/10(2/0) (24m)
Andre Holderegger (Sui) bt Mathieu Castagnet (Fra)      11/4, 11/10(2/0), 11/5 (36m)

First Round:
Ahmed Hassaan (Egy) bt Bruno Bolzan (Bra)            11/3, 11/4, 11/6
Omar Mosaad (Egy) bt Luciano Barbosa (Bra)           11/5, 11/10,(3/1), 11/5
Edilson Nunes (Bra) bt Andre Haschker (Ger)            11/7, 7/11, 11/5, 3/11, 11/7
Omar Abd El Aziz (Egy) bt André Sá (Bra)                11/3, 11/7, 11/5
Eduardo Ruske (Bra) bt Savério Christovam (Bra)    11/8, 11/5, 8/11, 11/10(2/0)
Fabien Verseille (Fra) bt André Moura (Bra)              11/4, 11/5, 11//4
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Júnior Christovam (Bra)  11/4, 11/7, 11/6
Andre Holderegger (Sui) bt Tiago CaBral (Bra)         11/6, 11/1, 11/2

Omar too much for Luciano

The best match of the night was Omar Mosaad vs Luciano Barbosa. The young
Egyptian, 17 years old and two times British Open U17 champion, was too
strong for Barbosa, the reigning Brazilian national champion. Luciano had 4 game balls in second game but Omar resisted, turn the game and after closed in straight.

Another interesting match was Edilson Nunes vs Andre Haschker, tough match, the German was 2/1 down when had a nose bleed, he fought hard to tie the match but in the fifth he couldn't avoid the defeat.

Cheers,
Murilo Mori
 

13-Aug, Semis:
Barrington Battles into Brazilian Final
  
Murilo Mori reports from Brasilia ...

"Without a shadow of doubt this was the most difficult victory that I've earned in Brazil. "Rafael is an excellent player, he fought very hard, and from the third game made less errors and was very disciplined. "I'm looking forward to the final. I didn't fight this hard against Rafael to lose it, but we'll see ..." Joey Barrington

It was a true battle, and Rafael Alarcon fought very hard, but the Brazilian number one could not quite reach  the final in Brasilia. Alarcon recovered from 2/0 down, took the match to a deciding fifth game against English top seed Joey Barrington, but eventually fell agonisingly short after almost two hours of effort.

Barrington's opponent in the final will be Canadian Sabir Butt, who beat Egyptian Amr Mansi in straight games in just 28 minutes in the first semi-final.

Butt, who has been resident in Brazil for 11 years and has trained with Alarcon since 1998, had little problem in ending the run of Mansi, the fellow non-seed from Egypt, winning comfortably 11/1, 11/5, 11/3 in just 28 minutes.

"To be honest I thought Rafael would reach the final, not me, but although I'm surprised at the result, I'm glad to get it over with quickly. "Joey is the favourite for the final, without a doubt. I'm ranked 120 and he's 31, that's almost 90 positions difference." Sabir Butt

The following match between Alarcon and Barrington provided almost two hours of dramatic action for the crowd.

After losing the two first games 11/8 and 11/2, Alarcon, urged on by the crowd at the Village of Tênis & Squash, found the strength to recover.

He won the third game 11/8, and saved a match ball in the fourth to square the match at two-all, taking it 13/11.

The final game was a hard fought affair (disputadíssimo). Joey opened up a lead of 7/4, and Rafael came back to 7/6, but, from there, the Englishman started to dominate the points.

Playing better at the decisive moments, he finished off the game 11/7 to move the final.

12-Aug, Semis:
Mansi Marches On ...

Unseeded Egyptian Amr Mansi continued to create waves  as he ousted seventh seed Sam Miller in the quarter-finals in Brasilia. Mansi, 23, from Alexandria, won a see-saw match in which the Egyptian led twice but needed to save two match balls to force a tie-break in the fifth, eventually winning after 85 minutes.

A non-seeded finalist is guaranteed, as Sabir Butt, the Canadian now based in Brazil, also reached the semis. Butt also needed a final game tie-breaker to clinch victory, although in the Canadian's case he needed to twice recover from deficits, finally winning in 99 minutes after saving a match ball.

The other semi-final will feature England's top seed Joey Barrington and home favourite Rafael Alarcon, the third seed.

Barrington won the only straight-games victory of the day, against Mark Krajcsak, taking the first two games comfortably but needing a tie-break in the third.

Alarcon started well against Dutchman Dylan Bennett, opening up a 6/1 lead in the first, but Bennett recovered to take the lead. With strong local support, Alarcon recovered to take the next three games  to keep hopes of a home title alive.

11-Aug, Round One:
Koukal Kicked Out
As Mansi Moves On ...

Czech No1 Jan Koukal suffered his second first round exit in a week when he narrowly lost out to Egypt's Amr Mansi in the opening round in Brasilia.

Seeded two after the withdrawal of Australia's Raj Nanda, the 22-year-old from Prague went two games down, but came back strongly to level the match, and appeared to have the edge as Mansi looked tired.

Mansi, however, opened up a 9-6 lead in the decider, and although it was Koukal who first reached match-ball at 10-9, the unseeded Mansi levelled to force a tie-break.

The Egyptian saved a further match-ball before taking the fifth 13-11 after 80 minutes to earn an unexpected place in the quarter-finals.

"It was a pity we had to play each other in the first round, as  Roni is playing very well and could certainly have reached the second round. "I've played some tournaments on the world circuit, which gave me the edge over Roni. "I've never played Dylan, but it's sure to be a close game, as he's no 68 in the world, and I'm 69 ..." Rafael Alarcon

Mansi, 23, from Alexandria, now faces England's sixth seed Sam Miller, who beat Egyptian qualifier El Iraky Omar Abd El Aziz.

Canada's Sabir Butt also pulled off a notable first round upset. The unseeded 36-year-old despatched Denmark's eighth seed Morten W Sorensen to set up a quarter-final clash with England's Lee Drew, the fourth seed.

Top seed Joey Barrington moved easily into the quarter-finals, where he meets Hungary's Mark Krajcsak, while home interest was maintained as Rafael Alarcon prevailed in his all-Brazilian encounter with Ronivaldo Santos.

Alarcon meets Dutchman Dylan Bennett for a place in the semi-finals.

Qualifying:
Brazilians bow out in Brasilia ...
 
Final qualifying for the Brazil Open in Brasilia saw the last of nine localhopefuls, Edilson Nunes and Eduardo Ruske bow out, as Omar Mosaad, Omar El Iraky, Fabien Verseille and Andre Holderegger claimed places in the main draw.

"I only played two professional tournaments until today," said Mosaad after his victory over compatriot Ahmed Hassaan, "and I managed to reach the semi/finals in both. If I can repeat that I will be satisfied, but I would like to reach the final," added the Egyptian.

The hosts are guaranteed a place in the quarter/finals, however, as third seed Rafael Alarcon takes on wildcard Ronivaldo Santos in the first round.

"It's a pity that the draw came out like this," said Alarcon, "but we have to try to see the good side. At least already we will have a Brazilian in the second round."

England's top seed Joey Barrington is now seeded to face Czech Jan Koukal in the final, after the withdrawal of Australian second seed Raj Nanda, finalist in last week's Colombian Open.

Barrington goes for one better in Brazil
  
The Brazilian Open returns to Brasilia for the 2005 edition, as a one/star $10,000 event, featuring entrants from 20 countries.

Top seed is England's Joey Barrington, who will be looking to go one better than his defeat in the final of the Sao Paulo Open, while his expected opponent in the final, is Czech Jan Koukal, elevated to second seed after the withdrawal of Raj Nanda, finalist in Colombia last week.