31-Oct, Round TWO: Rosner downs Gawad
Rosner downs defending champion Gawad in Doha
Round two of the second PSA World Series event of the season at the Khlaifa Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha produced a hug upset as Germany’s unseeded Simon Rosner beat defending Qatar Classic and World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad in a tense four game encounter.
Rosner took the first two games but Gawad seemed to be recovering from his traditional slow start as he took the third and led in the fourth. Rosner recovered though, and in a tense, frantic finish took the win win the video referee awarded a stroke at the end of a final scrambling rally.
“I had to be like a man possessed,” said a delighted Rosner. “I had to put out my best squash – I’m so happy was able to play the way I can. I’ve struggled to get these wins against top four guys but today I managed to keep my head and I’m just so, so happy.”
The preceding morning session gave no indication of the coming upset as Ali Farag, Mohamed Elshorbagy, Diego Elias and Gregory Gaultier all won in straight games. Farag and Elshorbagy meet in the quarters after playing the U.S. Open and Channel VAS finals in the last weeks, while top seed and world #1 Gaultier takes on the upcoming and in-form Peruvian Elias.
The evening session started another Egyptian winner as eighth seed Tarek Momen came from a game down to beat Cameron Pilley, reachign his first Qatar quarter-final since 2012. Nick Matthew continued to impress as he beat Mathieu Castagnet in straight games, easing through the third, then came the Rosner upset.
The final match was an all-Egyptian affair which saw Marwan Elshorbagy join his brother in the last eight as he beaty last night’s marathon winner Omar Mosaad in four games.
Quarter-finals start at 5pm on Tuesday.
Lots of updates on our “NOW in Doha“ twitter feed, plus match reports and more on the Qatar Classic BLOG
ROUND TWO
[5] Ali Farag (Egy) 3-0 [Q] Leo Au (Hkg) 11/2, 11/6, 11/6 (26m)
[3] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egy) 3-0 Fares Dessouky (Egy) 11/9, 14/12, 11/8 (51m)
Diego Elias (Per) 3-0 [Q] Saurav Ghosal (Ind) 11/8, 11/6, 11/9 (38m)
[1] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 3-0 Zahed Mohamed (Egy) 11/5, 11/6, 11/8 (47m)
[8] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-2 Cameron Pilley (Aus) 8/11, 11/6, 11/5, 10/12, 11/7 (82m)
[4] Nick Matthew (Eng) 3-0 Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) 13/11, 11/9, 11/3 (47m)
Simon Rosner (Ger) 3-1 [2] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 11/7, 11/8, 3/11, 11/9 (57m)
[6] Marwan Elshorbagy (Egy) 3-1 Omar Mosaad (Egy) 11/6, 11/8, 7/11, 11/4 (45m)
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