R2: Borja Golan 3-1 Omar Mosaad

The World No. 26 Borja Golan of Spain posted an emphatic 3-1 (11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 13-11) win against Egypt’s Omar Mosaad, ranked 16, in 68 minutes to advance into the third round of the Qatar Classic on Monday.

With the victory, the former World No.5 Spaniard extended his head-to-head lead over the 32-year-old Cairo-resident to 6-4 as he reached the last 16 of a Platinum event for the first time since the 2018 Qatar Classic.

“It was really tough. We are coming here to play the best players in the world and Omar is such a good player, a dangerous player and on this kind of court where it is so cold there are a lot of accurate shots, and he hit the ball so hard,” Golan said. “It’s so difficult to read his game and to play against him, but I was focused, and I got to practice on this court, so maybe that was a little bit of an advantage. It’s my first match on the glass, and I felt pretty confident today, and I’m happy,” he added.

Despite the match witnessing a lot of video referee decisions, it was Golan who made the difference as he held on in the fourth after seeing his first match ball saved to put the match to bed 13-11 on the tie-break.