Egyptians Ali Farag (right) and Tarek Momen in action during their semi-final.
DOHA: Germany’s Simon Rosner and Egypt’s Ali Farag will be vying for their first Qatar Classic title at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex when they meet in the final here today.
Both Rosner and Farag registered contrasting semi-final wins yesterday to make it to the title clash.
Rosner, a semi-finalist here last year, eased past Peru’s Diego Elias, who simply couldn’t summon up the play that saw him beat three-time champion Mohamed ElShorbagy in the semi-finals. The first half of the first game was well contested, but thereafter it was Rosner all the way as he wrapped up the win in half an hour 11-6, 11-3, 11-3.
“He had a tough match on Wednesday, and it’s very hard to pick it up the next day. He just beat Mohamed yesterday, world number 1, first ever platinum semi.. it’s a lot to take in. I sort of know what he is feeling, last year, my first semi against Tarek, and I literally got chopped. So I feel a bit for him,” Rosner after the match.
“I’m playing my second semi of a platinum of the season, if you had told me that about two months ago, I would probably have laughed, so I’m very happy,” the German added.
Rosner is looking forward to the final “I will try and enjoy the moment, play the best squash I can and put no pressure on myself. And I really looking forward to it.”
In the other semi-final, Farag met compatriot Tarek Momen, last year’s runner-up, in a repeat of their marathon Channel VAS final in England just a few days ago, which Momen won 11-9 in the fifth to claim his biggest career title, but this time it was Farag’s turn to triumph.
Farag edged a point for point first game, and although Momen levelled, the second seed was in charge for the next two games, gaining a measure of revenge and reaching his first Doha final in a touch over an hour winning 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-4.
“My shots were very accurate all week, but today, they just didn’t work at all. I was fine physically, but I needed my weapons, I needed my shots, and they were just not there,” said Momen who was looking for a second successive final in Qatar, having lost to Mohammed Elshorbagy in last years’ edition.
“Momen is so smart at moving you around the court… It definitely wasn’t easy at any point tonight, Tarek has been playing some of his best squash recently. Today I had a different plan and I think I executed it well, especially in the third and fourth,” said Farag.
Farag said his final match opponent is playing the best of his life.
“Simon is playing the best squash of his career at the moment. He is a very good friend, we play together in the German league and he beat me at the US Open. Simon has a lot of variety in his game and a lot of weapons and he beat me in four last time out. Hopefully this time I can work on the plan and execute it.
“Even though I won in San Fransisco and feel like I’ve been playing better at every event. I’ll give it my very best in the final. I feel fresh and I’ll do all the recovery that I need to and hopefully I’ll be ready to fire it up in the final,” he said.
