Iker Pajares (ESP) 3-0 Omar Mosaad (EGY) 12-10, 11-4, 11-5 (44m)
Iker
I was a bit nervous, it’s always very difficult to play Omar, he takes so much space, he is a big guy. You’ve got to be careful with ball in the middle as he is going to attack and hit a very clean ball to the back or a sharp shot to the front, with a lot of power.
So, I was very tense, accelerating the game too much, hitting the ball with no purpose, so I calmed down a little bit and told myself ‘you are playing well, you’ve been playing well last week”. I had a good pre-season before coming here, a very good summer training, I feel physically very good, technically very good, very strong. So I went for shots in the second and third game, as I had to stop him, sending him to the front, to the back, again and again.
I was playing long rallies, and was suddenly breaking that pattern and playing a sharp shot to the front, to stop his movement, his power. And it’s worked very well I believe.
I’m playing Ng Yow tomorrow, I played him but 6, 7 years ago, we both have changed our game so much… We are both more mature, I think it’s going to be a very good game, he is a very nice guy, we have so much respect for each other…
