Results – Qualifying Finals: Motor City Open, PSA M70
Tournament
[7] Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt Christopher Gordon (USA) 3-0: 18-16,
11-8, 11-7
[5] Diego Elias (PER) bt [3] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 3-1: 3-11, 11-7,
11-4, 11-6
[4] Nasir Iqbal (PAK) bt Farhan Zaman (PAK) 3-2: 11-3, 9-11, 11-8,
11-13, 12-10
[2] Leo Au (HKG) bt [8] Todd Harrity (USA) 3-1: 7-11, 11-6, 11-5,
11-8
REPORTS
Farag Downs Matthew To Claim Biggest Career Title In
Motor City City click images for larger view 23-year-old Egyptian Ali Farag capped the most impressive week of
his squash career to date by defeating England’s World No.3 Nick
Matthew in the final of the 2016 Motor City Open presented The
Suburban Collection to claim the PSA M70 trophy and the biggest
tournament title of his career.
Victory over 35-year-old three-time World Champion Matthew, who was
competing in the 70th PSA World Tour final of his career, came
courtesy of a 3-1 scoreline and saw World No.22 Farag complete a
remarkable hat-trick of wins over higher ranked opposition to follow
up his incredible quarter-final victory over World No.1 Mohamed
Elshorbagy and semi-final defeat of World No.10 Mathieu Castagnet.
The victory sees Farag add just a fourth PSA World Tour title to his
name with the biggest of his previous wins coming at the 2015 Irish
Open PSA M15 event.
“This is definitely the best week of my career by far,” said Farag.
“I’ve showed myself that I can compete with these guys and have the
mental toughness to do it three days in a row. Hopefully this is
going to be the beginning of a good future for me.
“If you ask any player, they would tell you that this is one of the
best tournaments on tour. We feel at home, and everyone takes care
of us. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”
Despite falling to an early deficit in the first game Farag showed
his composure and maturity on court as he fought from 2-6 down to
take the opening game 11-7 before Matthew responded in style to
level the match.
But from then on the Egyptian was in control as he added the third
game and then eventually held his composure to brush off three
wasted match balls to add the fourth and the title.
After the match Matthew said: “He was on a roll. The crowd was
feeding on him. The last few points was the first time I felt tired
all week. Credit to him for getting me to that point.”
Matthew Makes History By Reaching Motor City Final
England’s Nick Matthew will compete in the 70th PSA World Tour final
of his career – the most final appearances by any British player in
the history of squash – when he takes on Egyptian Ali Farag in the
final of the 2016 Motor City Open later today.
Matthew overtook the record previously held by Peter Nicol as he
downed Spanish challenger Borja Golan 3-1 to secure his place in the
title-decider in what is his first appearance at the PSA M70
tournament in over a decade. In a closely fought encounter it was
Matthew who narrowly edged the opening game 11-8 before Golan
responded to take the second 11-9 and level the match.
From that point onwards though it was Matthew who controlled
proceedings, enjoying the better of some high quality exchanges to
secure his place in the decider against Farag, who followed up his
shock quarter-final win over World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy with an
impressive 3-1 victory over Mathieu Castagnet.
“He got a quick lead in the second and started attacking early in
the rally,” said Matthew. “I got it back towards the end, but I was
always chasing that game. I was just determined to get a good start
in the third, and that took me through.”
After his match Farag said: “It feels awesome to win again tonight.
It’s always tough to back up a good win, especially against number
one.”
Fabulous Farag Downs Elshorbagy In Motor City
Egyptian Ali Farag, the World No.21, pulled off the biggest win of
his career and the upset of 2016 so far on the PSA World Tour as he
came through a thrilling five-game encounter to down World No.1
Mohamed Elshorbagy in the quarter-finals of the 2016 Motor City
Open, to inflict Elshorbagy’s first defeat in twelve matches.
Two-time Motor City Open champion and winner of the last three PSA
World Series tournaments, in Qatar, Hong Kong and New York,
Elshorbagy came out on form to take the opening game 11-6 but Farag
responded with style, coming from 6-3 down to take the second and
then the third games.
The man from Cairo was in the ascendency in the fourth before
Elshorbagy managed to up his levels and force a decisive fifth but
it was Farag, aged 23, who enjoyed the better of the exchanges at
the crucial points, eventually securing a huge 6-11, 11-9, 11-7,
8-11, 11-6 that will now see him line up against Mathieu Castagnet
for a place in the final.
“It’s one of the bigger wins of my career,” Farag said afterwards.
“To beat the world number one is a huge thing. He was dominating the
first game and a half. I changed my plan a bit, and thankfully it
worked.”
Castagnet came through a roller-coaster five-game battle with Ryan
Cuskelly while the bottom half of the draw saw Borja Golan and Nick
Matthew come through their respective encounters with Leo Au and
Chris Simpson in straight-forward fashion, with both dominating the
court against their younger, less-experienced opponents.
Elshorbagy Leads Superb Field In Motor City Open
#PSAWorldTour
World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy heads a strong draw in the 2016 Motor
City Open, PSA M70 tournament and harbours intentions of claiming a
third title at the established event in Detroit, United States.
The Egyptian won this tournament in both 2011 and 2014 and comes
into this year’s event on the back of some superb form having taken
three successive PSA World Series titles at the J.P. Morgan
Tournament of Champions, Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong
Kong Open and Qatar Classic in recent months.
Elshorbagy suffered an injury in the opening round of last year’s
tournament which meant that he succumbed to a first round loss
against Australia’s Cameron Pilley but the man from Alexandria soon
recovered and has claimed five PSA World Tour titles since then.
The 25-year-old gets his tournament under way against England’s
Adrian Waller in a repeat of the pair’s first round clash at the
Tournament of Champions which Elshorbagy won 3-0.
Three-time World Champion Nick Matthew makes his return to the Motor
City Open after an 11-year hiatus and recaptured some of his best
form in New York at the Tournament of Champions where he narrowly
lost out to Elshorbagy in the final.
‘The Wolf’, who reached the semi-final stage at the 2005 Motor City
Open, is without a PSA World Tour title since March’s Canary Wharf
Classic – his longest title drought for three years – but remains
one of the fittest and most experienced competitors on the PSA World
Tour. Matthew lines up against Mohamed Abouelghar, the 22-year-old
Egyptian who has six PSA World Tour titles to his name, in the first
round.
Mathieu Castagnet may not have lifted any PSA World Tour silverware
since 2014 but the Frenchman looks set to come into the Motor City
Open full of confidence after reaching his first ever PSA World
Series semi-final last week at the Tournament of Champions.
The 29-year-old, who reached the last four here last year, has
firmly established himself amongst the world’s top 10 in recent
months and heads to Detroit with an outside chance of picking up a
third PSA World Tour title. Castagnet meets experienced Fin Olli
Tuominen in round one.
Max Lee was another of 2015’s semi-finalists and will be looking to
progress even further this time around. The 28-year-old from Hong
Kong started the 2015/16 season in fine fettle, capturing his 11th
PSA World Tour title at the Macau Open in addition to claiming a
huge scalp against Elshorbagy at the Stars on the Bund China Open
but his form has tailed off slightly in the last few months.
However, at his best, Lee is one of the most mobile and dangerous
players on the PSA World Tour and is one to watch in Detroit. Lee
goes head-to-head with compatriot Leo Au in the opening round and
could set up a mouth-watering quarter-final clash with 2009 winner
Borja Golan if both players win their respective first round
fixtures.
Tuominen
Halts Us Hopes In Motor City
#PSAWorldTour
Experienced Finnish campaigner Olli Tuominen celebrated his 450th
PSA World Tour match with a fine victory over American hopeful
Christopher Gordon in the final round of qualification at the 2016
Motor City Open to move into the main draw of the PSA M70 tournament
where he will now face Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet.
Tuominen came through a brutal opening game with American number two
Gordon, squandering six game ball opportunities before eventually
edging it 18-16, and he used momentum and Gordon’s waining physical
attributes to his advantage to control proceedings in the following
two games as he stormed to a straight-games victory.
“It was quite brutal,” Tuominen said. “I was a bit nervous but I’m
happy that I managed to get it back and win the first game.”
American number one Todd Harrity joined Gordon on the exit row after
he lost 3-1 to Hong Kong’s Leo Au. Harrity started strong and
managed to take the opening game but Au changed his game plan,
utilising his speed and skill to force Harrity into an excessive
amount of work and it paid dividends as he took the next three games
to move into the main draw to line up against compatriot Max Lee.
In the most entertaining match of the day it was Pakistan’s Nasir
Iqbal who won a second consecutive five-game thriller, twice
relinquishing a game advantage before eventually defeating
compatriot Farhan Zaman.
Zaman had beaten Iqbal in last month’s Pakistani National
Championship and looked like he was on course to record a second
consecutive win over the 21-year-old, Pakistan’s highest ranked
player, after levelling the match at 2-2 and played with momentum on
his side in the fifth as he found himself with match-ball in hand.
Iqbal fought back, though, and he eventually won the final game
12-10, after Zaman struck the tin attempting a drop shot, to secure
a place in the main draw.
“It was a really good match,” Iqbal said. “He’s so aggressive. In
the fifth game I was down, but I was able to concentrate and get the
game.”
