QF: [9/16] Marwan ElShorbagy (Eng) 3-1 [2] Paul Coll (Nzl)

[9/16] Marwan ElShorbagy (Eng) 3-1 [2] Paul Coll (Nzl) 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8 (86m)

Fram’s Thoughts

Oh boy. Not sure how to report about that match of “two halves”.

Paul might have been the loser when the match was interrupted, as I feel the hard work the Kiwi imposed in the first game (23m in very hot conditions) paid dividends in the second and onwards.

And soudain, patatra… which suddenly all goes down in flames. It’s a big interruption. Marwan has all the time in the world to recover, and an air-conditioned court suits his game better. Add to that Paul not being able to slow the pace down and falling into a shootout at OK Corral, and that really doesn’t suit his game, I feel. Marwan is the KING of fast pace!!!

Add to the mix a ref, God love him, who was overruled as his vision of what was happening on the court seemed a bit blurry. And unfortunately, once we got on the traditional court, no more reviews, and I feel the very streetwise Marwan took full advantage of an inexperienced ref…

But I guess it is what it is. Tonight, Paul couldn’t find solutions to those problems, and Marwan was flying…

The best moment I feel – or the most significant – will be that rally where Paul actually stepped on a glassboard that went up under his foot -needless to say Paul was surprised/unsettled/affected in his squash. And he lost that rally.

Both players then went to the glass board standing up and realised the court was now impractical. The who’s who of squash then stepped on court. While all were in effervescence on court, when we didn’t know what was going to happen, were we going to have to move back, or wait for repair, Paul asked the ref what the score was. 2/0 replied the ref, when in all logic, a let should have been played and a let been given, hence 1/0.

“the problem with the floor didn’t have any incident on the outcome of the rally.”

“I lunged, and the board went weeeeeeeeee up” states Paul. Surely that has an incidence on the rally???”

While I agree entirely with Paul’s reasoning, that’s not the funny part. What is, is Marwan’s face looking at Paul going “you are asking for a let right now, with what’s happening at the moment? We have bigger things to worry about???!!!”

And as we started the match, 2/0 announced the ref. When Paul, without saying a word, just looked at the ref in disbelief – so was I – he continues “as the VR is not available, my decision stands, 2/0”.

Sigh.

PSA reports

In a chaotic quarter-final clash, unseeded Englishman Marwan ElShorbagy shocked New Zealand’s No.2 seed Paul Coll to progress to the last four of the CIB Egyptian Open in a match interrupted by a change of court at Club O West.

Play began on the all-glass court, and in the opening game both players played predominantly to the back. As the ball softened on the warm court, the Englishman looked to go on the attack more than his opponent, which proved effective as he took the opener 12-10.

In a scrappy second game, Coll took advantage as ElShorbagy opened the court, striking back 11-8 to bring the scores to 1-1. Early in game three, a floor panel issue forced a return to Court 6 at Club O West.

It was ElShorbagy, who impressed in a win over Victor Crouin on the traditional courts earlier in the competition, who dealt with the disruption better, rediscovering his rhythm quickly to take game three 11-9 to reclaim the lead.

The Englishman continued to look strong as he built a 7-5 lead in game four, before Coll finally found his footing, with the New Zealand No.1 taking the scores to 8-8.

ElShorbagy, who returned to Egypt to train this year, never let the pressure slip, though, and in an emotionally charged conclusion it was the unseeded World No.10 who emerged victorious as he clinched the fourth game 11-8 to complete the upset

Marwan

“To be honest I was a little bit worried because I thought the court was suiting me more on the glass court. I was finding my length, finding everything, but for some reason I was still relaxed with the whole situation. I don’t know why but I played two matches here [at the side courts] and I’ve beaten top players – I’ve beaten [Karim Abdel] Gawad and Victor [Crouin] and now I know how to play with this court. I had a practice here in the morning and when we got going I was thinking actually the court is suiting me more. With my short game I can actually finish the rally faster, so overall I’m happy It didn’t really matter to me.

“I thought over there [the glass court] was good and here was good as well. But it is what it is – when we play in Egypt they always keep us on our toes! There is always something happening.

“I wasn’t worried with my physicality at all – I’ve trained really hard in the summer. My coach Ahmed [Effat] was telling me after the third it’s what we’ve done all summer and to be honest when I was playing with Paul, I thought the pace of my training during the summer was higher than his so I was able to play at that level.

“I came back to Egypt to create a good environment here, I’ve stayed in England and I’ve always tried to create an environment of training in England but I’ve never been able to create that in England In Bristol. We’ve had so many players but unfortunately after COVID not a lot of players came back.

“I’ve tried to go elsewhere in England but in Egypt it’s different – the pace, the intensity of the training, Ahmed as well. I’m so happy we’re back training together because we have very good chemistry and we’ve worked together before. I’m happy to have him in my corner and have someone supporting me this way.”

Tagged with ,

Related News