[2] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 [6] Diego Elias (Per) 11-6, 13-11, 11-6 (37m)
Tarek beats Diego in three to return to the semi-finals …
A remarkable match from Tarek, who despite making a few too many errors – hold the press – displayed remarkable “sang-froid” today in front of a Diego that seemed at the end to run out of solutions.
A superb start from the Momenator in the opener, 6/2, 8/4, and despite 4 errors, he will play 9 winners and takes the game 11/6 in 9 short minutes.
Epic retrieving from @diegoelias96!
And what a finish! 👌#PSAWorldChamps pic.twitter.com/hkNLUFFeBY
— PSA World Championships (@PSAWorldChamps) November 13, 2019
Bit of the same story in the second, superb start again, 5/0, but this time, the errors give the Peruvian a life line and he levels nicely at 6/6, 7/7, taking the lead actually 9/7.
Two huge crucial rallies at that point, again, going side to side to front to back but a stroke for Tarek and a no let against Diego, we are back level at 9/9.
The Peruvian will have a game ball at 10/9, but a long volley drop shot from Tarek takes care of that, and it’s the Egyptian that will break through on his second attempt, 13/11. Despite making 5 errors, against none for the Peruvian… 9 winners for Tarek, 2 strokes, 6 winners for Diego.
A much better start for Diego in the third, close, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, but tired errors finally creep in for the young man, and it’s 7/4, 11/6, thanks to 3 errors in the last part of the game from Diego…
Tarek ecstatic to take it in three. You bet….
World No.3 @TkMomen is through to the semi finals of the @PSAWorldChamps again!
Hear his reaction to his victory over @diegoelias96 here 👇 pic.twitter.com/s204rsa0Kj
— PSA World Championships (@PSAWorldChamps) November 13, 2019
Tarek:
It was a really good match for me, and I had the memory of my last match, and if you want to win the event, you cannot afford to play 5 setters every match. So I was aiming to win the match first and foremost, but also, winning in three is a bonus.
I was trying to get the best start as possible, and I couldn’t dreamt of having a better start in the first two matches. In the second, he came back strong at me but I’m lucky I managed to stay on tom in that one.
The one day off made a big difference, and today, it felt like a normal day at the office, and I’m happy to be fresh for tomorrow!
I know that Diego has been into a few semi finals before but maybe the World Championship is a little bit different. He has the experience of making it to the latter rounds, but maybe the good start that I had made the difference.
He came back really strong in the second game and it was very close. If he had snatched that second game, then I don’t think he would have been phased by the occasion. I managed to get a good start which helped a lot towards the end.
I was really keen on trying to get as explosive and as tight as possible. I tried to cut down on the errors as much as I could because it makes a big difference. A match could go to five games and 120 minutes or it could be over in just 40 depending on the start. I tried to learn from the few things that I have done wrong in previous matches, and today was a good day at the office for sure.
I am really looking forward to playing Simon again, and I am hoping for another win to make it to another final at the World Championships. It would be unbelievable for me to make two finals in a row at the Worlds, so I am really looking forward to it.
