[5] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egy) 3-0 [4] Karim Darwish (Egy)
           11/7, 11/5, 11/6 (35m)

Mohamed Spotless

Their recent meeting in Philadelphia was a bit, shall I say, volcanic. And we were expecting/dreading a repeat. And I have to say that after all yesterday's trauma with Borja/Greg, I really, really, REALLY didn't want to see another shoot out at OK Qatar.

But today, none of that. For one reason. Mohamed was in his "World Open" mode on this freezing court and plainly I can only say, just soared the encounter. The young man did drop a bit "once the job was done" kind of feel, at 10/2 in the first - letting Karim play his fantastic short game to come back at 7/10, and pretty much the same at 10/3 in the second - only letting his compatriot take 2 points this time to take it 10/5.

Karim didn't bow that easily. "Bring it on" he seemed to say while coming back on court pretty quickly after losing the second one. And he did blasted for a bit in the third, 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4 but it was the youngster who surged ahead to close the match in 35m, 11/6.

Just in passing, a pretty spotless performance error wise, 2 unforced errors for Mohamed, 5 for Karim. Karim took the beating like a man, and Mohamed won like one as well. No over joy, no over aggression, just the satisfaction of a win having lost to Darwish in their previous two outings in Philadelphia and Manchester.

Today I think I played the best I've played the whole tournament.

I was really looking forward to playing the semi today. I was confident I could do it - and that was very important to me.

I had a game plan against him and I had to try to maintain it the whole match, which normally you can't but I did it for most of the match, and I am really happy about that.,.

I started getting really nervous - thinking 'oh my god I'm going to lose this game'. If I had lost that game, I'm not sure how I would have handled it. But luckily he made the error at 7-10.

Karim has actually been playing this year better than last year I think and he surprised me at the US Open ....but well I win this time! Maybe he'will win next time. It's always close with him and I am happy I just got that one.

Very happy to win today...and winning 3/0 as well is a big bonus as I know I will be fresh now for tomorrow...

[3] Nick Matthew (Eng) 3-0 [7] Borja Golan (Esp)
    11/8, 11/6, 11/5 (47m)

Clean and Clear

You could feel today that Nick and Borja were thinking of the whoa that the quarters between the Spanish and the Frenchman created over the social media. Not going to dwell on it. Simply to say how good it was to have the players play the ball, not asking for unnecessary lets every ten seconds and the refs encouraging that fact by giving a few no lets that we desperately lacked yesterday.

A biiiiig improvement. Thanks to all involved.

Nick was the boss on there. It sort of reminded me in 2011 back when Nick got ousted from this same tournament by Tarek – not in the same condition at all of course, not controversy there. No, it’s just that Tarek played Greg the next round – who he beat in Sky Cairo in 2008 I think – the Frenchman was waiting for him with a bazooka. As in, you got me once, you got Nick once, you ain’t doing it again, not tonight Josephine! Bit that feel on there tonight.

To Borja’s credit, his attitude was impeccable tonight, and Nick was too! It was a bit strange to see both of them being as polite as two Englishmen at a door: please after you, I wouldn’t dream of it, please it’s a pleasure, etc. A bit incongruous after the madness of yesterday. Incongruous, but nice….

As far as the game itself, try as he might the Spanish could never quite get on terms as Nick forged ahead in each of the three games, finishing each game off in style.

Funny moment, in the second game at 6/6, Golan was penalised a point when some of the taping around his neck fell off. “is that yours” said he to Nick, with a cheeky smile, showing some pink taping (we could see some blue bits popping off his shirt near his neck.

“Can I remove it?” he asked the ref “well, not now!” said quite rightly the official. But completely obvious to the refusal, Borja just pealed off the remainder! It was so funny, he kept peeling himself off! Was expecting him to just get the shirt off! But no. The crowd – much more people than the previous days, as the roads reopened – enjoyed the moment, and chucked…

But Nick wanted to go back to the changing room asa, and to compensate the fact he served out at 1/0 in the 2nd, the Englishman served an ace to finish the match. Like Nick said in his post match chat, “unfortunately for him, I was fresher than he was…”

I’m truly looking for that unexpected final tomorrow…Who is your money on… Mine is on #{{™® sorry, breaking down ^\\™]}@\[ tunnel…..

Borja played very well today, It was 3/0 - but it was tougher than the score suggests, and really can be proud of the way he backed up his performance yesterday. His boast is a killer, especially on this court, but unfortunately for him, I was a bit fresher than he was.

I don’t have the racquet skills other players have, I’m not half the player other’s are, the likes of Shorbagy, Shabana, James, Ramy, the list is long isn’t it?! And last year, I lost that hunger, that will to win. And if I don’t have that will to win, I have no chance. I'm glad I got that back this year.

I was a bit surprised to get a conduct warning for just saying “thank you” to a ref! I guess I was making a bit of a joke, but it was not well received! And that’s the first time I get a warning for saying thank you!! Only joking….

I guess yesterday’s match was playing a bit on my mind in the first game. For example, when he got a let, I made a point of asking for a review, I wouldn’t do that normally, not at 0/2 in the first game! I just wanted to make sure that he would play the ball. And I guess we both were a bit conscious at the start of the match. But after that, we just played normal squash.

I was a bit p.o. for that not up call, because I really played as fair as possible, I really gave him everything, got some pretty difficult shots, and he just didn’t give me that one.

I also made sure that I was creating enough space with him, playing good height, and funny, isn’t it, when you play the right shot, your opponent doesn’t get in your way, and there is very little contact!!

I think his heavy match yesterday crept on him in the middle of each game, and once I was up 2/0, he was not going to come back, not after what he produced yesterday, both mentally and physically.

He has improved immensely, and he has such an unorthodox squash, I couldn’t read him at all in the first game, he’s got such a way to accelerate his shots, just with his writs. But that was a good practice, because tomorrow, Mohamed is going to volley a heck of a lot and I’ll have to start, continue and finish very strong!!!

I'm really proud of my efforts this week - I'm pleased with how I've backed up. I could easily have come here and lost first round. But I want to go all the way.