Wed 27th April, Day
SEVEN, QUARTER-FINALS:
We
started the quarter-finals with five Egyptians and a real
prospect of all-Egyptian semis, but after a long - and windy
- evening at the Abu Tig Marina the home fans had to settle
for one player in each of the semi-finals as top seeds
Mohamed Elshorbagy and Gregory Gaultier were joined by
upset winners Miguel Rodriguez and Fares Dessouki.
[7] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Col)
3-1 [3] Omar Mosaad (Egy)
9/11, 11/6, 11/7, 12/10 (80m)
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egy) 3-1 [8] Simon Rosner
(Ger)
11/8, 11/6, 7/11, 11/4 (47m)
Fares Dessouki (Egy) 3-2 Marwan Elshorbagy (Egy)
10/12, 11/13, 11/3, 14/12, 12/10 (91m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 3-2 Ali Farag (Egy)
4/11, 11/6, 6/11, 11/4, 11/4 (50m) |
Full Reports and
Quotes
Gaultier
foils Farag
The
final match, which finished after midnight, saw world
champion Gregory Gaultier come through a see-saw five-setter
with Ali Farag to keep alive his hopes of making a first El
Gouna final.
After a well-contested opening Gaultier seemed to let the
first game go, but struck back immediately. Farag retook the
lead but it was the Frenchman in control for the last two
games in front of an impressively large crowd.
Report & Quotes: Greg in a
better state of mind
Fares
forces his way into last four
The
third match of the night was always going to produce an
Egyptian winner, and an unseeded one at that after Marwan
Elshorbagy and Fares Dessouki's upset wins in the first
round.
It turned out to be a marathon, taking 91 minutes and
requiring 72 decisions of the referees. Four of the games
went to extra points, Marwan taking the first two and
Dessouki, after racing through the fourth, got the better of
the tail end of a decision riddled fifth game which
finished, unsurprisingly, on a video appeal on a no let
decision. Dessouki was ecstatic, Marwan gutted.
Report & Quotes: Fearless Fares saves
5 match balls
Top seed
through to semis
Having
taken the first game with something to spare, top seed
Mohamed Elshorbagy had to recover from a second game
deficit to double his lead over Simon Rosner, was unable to
repeat the trick in the third, but proceeded to dominate the
final game to reach a third successive El Gouna semi-final.
Report & Quotes:
Mohamed in and out again
Rodriguez
downs Mosaad
The
first quarter-final produced a big upset and disappointment
for the home crowd as Colombia's Miguel Rodriguez
came from a game down to beat third seed Omar Mosaad to
reach the semis for the first time.
Down 0-6 in the first Rodriguez settled but too late in that
game, took the next two and then came from 8-10 down to take
the fourth.
Report & Quotes: Miguel slows the
Hammer to Halt
