R3: Clever Marwan imposes his accurate short game against Leonel

[8] Marwan ElShorbagy (Eng) 3-2 [12] Leonel Cardenas (Mex) 11-8, 6-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-6 (68m)

World No.9 Marwan ElShorbagy prevails following a hard-fought 68-minute battle against Leonel Cardenas.

A contentious affair with plenty of stoppages in the latter stages, it’s the Englishman’s streetwise experience which proves critical as he moves away in the mid stages of the fifth to seal his quarter-final berth. Please bow to Junior, as he celebrated his 600 PSA match today!!!!

Marwan : “Obviously I expected a tough match, Leo has been playing amazing, fantastic squash and we only played one time and it was a close three games. But today obviously I knew things would be different, he improved so much since then, he’s more solid, very patient and he just stays with it.

“I’m glad that I managed to get that win after being 2-1 down, I thought I found a good tactic, changed my tactics a bit and I’m glad it worked.

“I thought I just needed to slow it down a little bit, I feel like I was just hitting more and without any purpose than the first couple of games, that kind of suits his game so I thought I need to slow it down a bit and I thought that suited me a bit more, play more straight and I’m glad it worked.

“I haven’t played at he Pyramids in such a long time so I’m really looking forward to going back and playing in one of the best venues ever. Egypt always hosts a great event, always had spectacular venues so yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. I don’t know how many matches I have left to be able to play at the Pyramids so I’m going to enjoy every bit of it.

“Yeah, I mean 600 PSA matches is a good number, it’s a big number, I don’t take it for granted obviously, I’m very blessed with everything I’ve had in my career. It’s been a good start to the season as you said and I’m really enjoying it, I enjoy those battles. I’m really happy to get through today.”