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Tarek & Farhan continue their runs
The event moved on to the glass court at the Sky Club tonight,
but by then we had already witnessed two more shock results as
youngsters Tarek Momen and Farhan Mehboob followed
up yesterday's exploits with another upset win each.
Once darkness fell the large crowd saw Amr Shabana and
Karim Darwish win to maintain the prospect of all-Egyptian
semi-finals, which will definitely not feature Ramy Ashour, who
was forced to withdraw earlier in the day with a knee injury.
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[1]
Amr Shabana bt [15] Omar Mosaad
12/14, 11/7, 11/7, 11/8 (63m)
[6] Peter Barker bt [Q] Ali Anwar Reda
11/6, 11/7, 11/4 (43m)
[9] Adrian Grant bt [3] Ramy Ashour
w/o
[5] Wael El Hindi bt [12] Olli Tuominen
11/3, 11/5, 11/1 (34m)
Farhan Mehboob bt [7] Ong Beng Hee
9/11, 11/8, 11/9, 11/8 (85m)
[4] Karim Darwish bt [11] Laurens Jan Anjema
11/7, 11/5, 8/11, 11/4 (60m)
[8] Azlan Iskandar bt [16] Hisham Ashour 9/11, 11/8, 11/4, 11/3 (46m)
[Q] Tarek Momen bt [14] Borja Golan
11/7, 9/11, 13/11, 5/11, 11/1 (88m) |
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[6]
Peter Barker bt [Q] Ali Anwar Reda
11/6, 11/7, 11/4 (43m)
ONE TOO MANY
Framboise reports
Poor Ali was just flat as a pan cake today, and despite a big
heart, despite a large support group as ever in Egypt, nothing
worked. Peter, playing an intelligent game, lengthened the
rallies, and made it even harder for his opponent, playing a low
percentage game just to make sure…
Ali never gave up, and in the second the Englishman being up
8/3, he just played one rally a bit short. And the Egyptian just
went for the jugular. Giving it every cartridge he had left, he
hit so hard and put Peter under extreme pressure.
Feeling the danger at 8/7, Barker took the T back, went back to
the original plan, and scored the next three points. Now two
love down, the Egyptian was disheartened, and in the third,
tinned point after point, finally surrendering, but with honours
after a stunning journey…
 "I
was more confident than on Wednesday, I felt freer, but there is
still room for improvement, a long way to go, and I’ll have to
step it up a couple of notches for tomorrow.
"I felt a bit like a business man today, going to do his job.
He’s had some good wins, long matches, and here, especially with
the support of the crowd that can feel every time there is an
opening, I need to prevent this from happening, trying to keep
it as professional as possible.
"I’m extremely happy to be in the quarters…"
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"Just too too tired. I tried my
best, stretching, good warm up, to try and make my body fresh,
but after the first game, I just couldn’t do anything with my
legs.
"Peter is a very good player, he moves very well, his basic game
is so strong, I wish him good for the rest of the tournament,
and I hope that I’ll do better next time against him…"
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"I’m just too
tired, I had a stomach bug and just couldn’t do it today, he was
just too strong."
 "Not
sure what happened to Olli, maybe he expected a more physical
match, and was surprised? I don’t know. I just know that I was
very quick at the front today, I’ve just had a few weeks of
training with Joey and Jonah, and it’s starting to show.
"It didn’t pay off last week in Malaysia, but they always say
that it’s in the first tournament of the season that you get rid
of the bad stuff of the training! My movement is much better
than last week, and I’m now looking forward to the 'Big
Stages'…"
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[5]
Wael El Hindi bt [12] Olli Tuominen
11/3, 11/5, 11/1 (34m)
A NO MATCH
Framboise reports
I’ve seen Olli a lot on the court, I saw him beat Palmer and so
many others, pushing so many top players to five, but today, he
was only a shadow of himself.
Yes, he did run and hit, but his heart didn’t seem on the court
at all. Mind you, it could be due to an excellent performance
from Wael, who was moving extremely well, especially at the
front, and placing the ball wherever it pleased him it seemed.
As Olli let go of the third completely from 2/1, Wael will be
delighted to take this one quickly and stay fresh, as he now
moves on to play Adrian in the quarters, the big lucky boy, who
won’t have to play Ramy tonight… |
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[Q]
Tarek Momen bt [14] Borja Golan
11/7,
9/11, 13/11, 5/11, 11/1 (88m)
TWO COUNTERATTACKERS
AT WORK…
Framboise reports
What a joy that match was. I just enjoyed it. Maybe not from the
start, as they were both very nervous and tense, the outcome was
“only” a quarter-final in a Super Series Platinum after all…
Yes, too many unforced errors at the start, but oh Lord, how
that did change! We had so many extraordinary touch, volleying,
what those two saved is absolutely unreal, but their
counter-attacking skills are just astonishing! Now I start to
see what happened to Greg yesterday… That boy Tarek is just
transforming Gold into Platinum!!!!
 Borja
seemed to struggle at times with an audience who loved to
participate in discussions with the referee, and I understand
how frustrating it must be to hear an audience cheer every one
of your mistakes. But here, they are clapping the point won, not
the error. It’s in no way nasty… Just, supportive of their man –
or boy on this occasion… And Borja soon got back into the match,
and didn’t mind the spectators anymore….
Like Tarek himself, I thought that Borja had the match well in
hand after the third. The Egyptian looked really down and white
as a sheet during the fourth. But suddenly, after a terrible
start from the Spaniard, Tarek seemed to get a third wind – the
second had looooong expired – and all his shots just came in
perfectly. Perfect length, perfect tactic, perfect shot, and a
few winners to make it all complete.
And as little Shorbagy was taking the World Juniors in Zurich,
little Tarek was taking on Cairo… Egypt’s future seems bleeping
bright, I tell you. |
 "Just
as I walked off court, somebody told me that Shorbagy was world
champion, I was so happy for him, I want to congratulate him for
this victory, it’s a great achievement.
"I was so tired after my previous matches, and after the third,
the combined effort of yesterday and today took the better of
me. And when I saw the way he was playing in the fourth, I
thought that he would keep up with his strong pace…
"But I don’t know what happened, he seemed to stop playing, I
just don’t know, but I know that I’m just glad I come out of
that…. I’m just so pleased I got through…"
 "No,
the crowd didn’t get to me, we know that audience can be a bit
partial, and even clap your mistakes, we are professionals, we
handle that.
"No, what happened in the fifth, I think, is that the support of
the crowd may have give him that extra energy, that extra will
to win the match, and he maybe wanted it more than me.
"Physically I was fine, I just found myself a bit flat
mentally at the
end, I was trying to send the ball to the back, but it kept
coming back in the middle…
"This was a good opportunity, I’m so unhappy I lost, but he just
played better than me today…"
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"I was 2/0 up in Malaysia and In the British and I lost because
i was always losing my concentration, but today I was
concentrating all the match.
"The court was very slow and it helped me a lot. Happy with my
performance in the tournament , and happy to get through ..."
"He played very well today. I was mentally very tired from the
Malaysian Open but I didn't have any problem with my squash.
"We played four time before, he is a good player, he was very
hungry today ..."
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Farhan Mehboob bt [7] Ong Beng Hee
9/11, 11/8, 11/9, 11/8 (85m)
Revenge For Mehboob
Marwan reports
They played in the Malaysian and in the British Opens and Farhan
was 2/0 in both and Ong came back to win both. This time Farhan
was concentrating all the match ... he didn't want to lose
again.
Ong was mentally tired from the Malaysian, he tried, but
everything was working for Mehboob, It was my first time to
watch him today, but I heard he is very talented and that's what
I saw.
It's very hard to play a left hander, in the first game the
rallies were very long point by point, they both are very quick
on the court.
Farhan lost the first game with a strange mistake from the front
of the court, but he was always attacking from his backhand. The
second went 3/3 4/4 5/5 6/6, then Farhan played very well and
took the lead 9/6, At 8/9 Farhan finished the game with two
drops.
In the third Farhan was always in control, he was attacking,
keeping the pressure on Beng Hee. At 6/2 Ong started to come
back point by point, making no mistakes. 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, Farhan
hit the nick on game point - he was at his best today.
The fourth game had lots of lets, and they changed the ball
which was very quick. At 9/8 Farhan hit another nick which gave
him the advantage to win the match and to take his revenge from
Ong, and get through to the quarters of a Super Series event for
his first time in his life.
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[8]
Azlan Iskandar bt [16] Hisham Ashour
9/11, 11/8, 11/4, 11/3 (46m)
Azlan takes tired Ashour
Marwan reports
 I
didn't watch the whole of this match because I was watching El
Shorbagy and Aamir the final of the world juniors!
Ashour was a bit tired from his yesterday match against
Coppinger, but still had enough to win the first game and was up
in the second 8/6. Then he started to make lots of strange
mistakes, he had a chance to be 2/0 up , then 1/1 7/5 to Azlan
Ashour hit a nick, then Azlan hit another nick to give him the
confident to win this game, and was in control after that.
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"I didn't play my game yesterday so it killed me today. I think
I could win it if was fit today, so next time I have to play the
right game from the start."
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 "We
had some good rallies in the first game and I was playing very
well - he had a game point but I managed to win it.
"In the second I completely lost my concentration and he played
some good shots. In the third I was up 5/1 then I don't know
what happened after that, I lost 11/7.
"The last game we had lots of rallies, it was very close but he
played well, i wish to him good luck for the next matches.
"I want to congratulate Mohamed El Shorbagy who won the world
junior title, he deserves it ..."
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[1]
Amr Shabana bt [15] Omar Mosaad
12/14, 11/7, 11/7, 11/8
THE PRINCE IS HOME…
Framboise reports
It’s so nice to see that somebody is still standing up…after the
defeat yesterday of Greg against stunning Tarek, and the
withdrawals of Lee Beachill, Mohamed Abbas and today Legend Ramy
for injury – he just can’t push out from the front of the court,
knee problem again - I started to wonder if I would have to
play!!!!
Joke apart, Shabana played a good match, a bit of wobbling about
at the start of the games, you know him, in and out a bit, and
God does Omar knows how to use his height to perfection, finding
some angled nicks that are just breathtaking.
Both attacking and retrieving in turn, they gave us an excellent
match, with a first game very disputed where both got two game
balls each, Omar taking it 14/12. After that, bad starts from
the Prince of Egypt, but he was able to tighten the game when
needed, re-establishing his territory predominance, and wrong
footing his opponent a few times. A solid and promising
performance from the youngster, but a logical victory for the
Three Times World Champion…
"Good to get to
the quarters here in Cairo. I’m in the middle of my summer
preparation, and also enjoying my family…
"Omar Mosaad is one of those young players coming up fast, he is
the same age as Ramy, and will be in the top 20 soon. I knew
this was going to be tough, and I’m happy to get a win…
"Omar just goes for his shots, he reminds me of me at his age!
And because he feels confident, the shots usually come in… He is
very tough to beat…"
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[4]
Karim Darwish bt [11] Laurens Jan Anjema
11/7, 11/5, 8/11,
11/4 (60m)
KARIM VERY CALM
Framboise reports
LJ has nothing to blame himself for.
He played a good game, was very present mentally and physically,
although I thought that his movement was maybe not as good as
I’ve seen it – summer training I bet – but he still found some
lovely lobs, you know the 'run-after-that' kind, that forced
Karim out of his comfort zone several times. And he also found a
good short game, both drop shots and redrops.
But Karim was never really threatened I thought, never did I
think, mmmm, he’s going to lose that one, like I did at some
point with Shabana the match before…
Karim was composed, well in control of the situation,
despatching his shots all around the courts with his usual
maestria, and wrong footed the Dutchman a few times, especially
at the end of the match.
A few errors here and there, but nothing bad for either of them.
LJ got a good sense of the crowd, was able to communicate well
with them, he made them laugh, the atmosphere was excellent. I
fully enjoyed the match, and I’m sure that the crowd did too.
And we could still have all-Egyptian semis…
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 "Karim
is more experienced than me on the glass court, he played very
well. I played my best I gave it all today, 100%.
"We are at the start of the season so I am looking forward to
the rest of the season, I am going to train very hard for the
next weeks ..."
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