Egyptian world number one Mohamed El Shorbagy (left) in action against England’s Adrian Waller during their third round match of the Qatar Classic yesterday.
Doha: Egyptian Mohamed El Shorbagy will face Diego Elias of Peru while German Simon Rösner will take on Paul Coll of New Zealand, in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Classic here today.
Also making it to the last eight were three other Egyptians Tarek Momen, Ali Farag and Karim Abdel Gawad while Welshman Joel Makin continued his impressive run in Qatar.
At the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, top seed and World No.1 Shorbagy’s march towards the retention of the PSA World Tour Platinum Qatar Classic title continued unabated yesterday as he dispatched England’s Adrian Waller in straight-games to cruise into the quarter-finals.
The Egyptian took just 31 minutes to end the challenge of Englishman Adrian Waller in straight games 11-8, 11-5, 11-7.
Waller had ruthlessly dispatched former World No.3 Omar Mosaad in the previous round for the loss of just seven points in total, but he was unable to deal with the pace and power of ElShorbagy as the Egyptian, based in Bristol, England, showed why he’s the favourite to triumph again in Doha this week.
“The way he played against Mosaad was unbelievable – you don’t beat Mosaad like that if you aren’t a great player and he showed that he is a great player with the way he played this week,” said ElShorbagy.
“He put me under a lot of pressure throughout the whole match but the most important thing is that you don’t let it get to you. I feel like I had good preparation for this event – I feel good, physically strong and mentally fresh.” Peruvian former World Junior Champion Elias, the Lima-based World No.13, sailed into the quarter-finals with a straight-game demolition of Egypt’s Mazen Hesham.
Elias, a quarter-finalist here last year, endured an injury-ravaged start to 2018 but has begun to find his form again in recent months and showed signs of returning to his best as he swept aside Hesham – one of the most gifted players on the PSA World Tour – with ease, prevailing 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 in just 36-minutes.
“The key today was the warm-up – I had to be ready for him from the start because he’s the kind of player who can send you five directions in one rally,” said Elias, who will play World No.1 El Shorbagy in the next round.
“Last season, I got injured and lost in the first round of nearly every tournament. But now, I’m feeling fine and it is always good to play the World No.1 and challenge yourself so I’ll be ready for it.” Rösner, the World No.5, saw off the threat of England’s Tom Richards to book his place in the quarter-finals.
Rösner, who reached the semi-final stage here twelve months ago in what was a breakthrough result for him, was at time sluggish on the court, but managed to find enough in his locker to prevail 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7 and set up a last eight encounter with Paul Coll of New Zealand.
Coll breezed into the last eight at the 2018 Qatar Classic for the first time in his career following the withdrawal of his third round opponent Borja Golan of Spain.
Coll had been in complete control of their clash, taking a two-game lead against little resistance, but an injury forced Golan to concede the match in the early stages of the third game, gifting Coll safe passage through to the quarter-finals to face Rösner.
In the other matches, Momen defeated James Willstrop of England while Mathieu Castagnet of France retired hurt going down 11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 8-3 to Makin.
Gawad managed to win the cliffhanger against Declan James of England 3-2 (8-11, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-2), while second seed Farag ended the challenge of India’s Saurav Ghosal in straight-games.
