Seed-Crusher Karim Wins Barcelona Title
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 5 XIV Internacional D'Squash Esportiu
Rocafort-St Antoni, Barcelona, Spain
Unseeded Egyptian teenager Karim Ali Fathi despatched three seeds
in the XIV Internacional D'Squash Esportiu Rocafort-St Antoni in
Spain en-route to winning the first PSA World Tour squash title
of his career.
After
beating fourth-seeded Frenchman Joan Lezaud in the quarter-finals
of the long-established PSA Challenger 5 event at Esportiu
Rocafort in Barcelona, Fathi went on to dismiss Germany's No2
seed Jens Schoor in the semi-finals.
The
18-year-old from Cairo faced his toughest opponent in the final.
France's Julien Balbo, the world No71, reached his 13th Tour
final after surviving a 97-minute five-game marathon against
third-seeded South African Shaun le Roux.
But
despite being ranked almost 50 places below the favourite, Ali Fathi
maintained his composure to defeat Balbo 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 in 47 minutes
- thereby coming through the entire event
without dropping a single game!
1st
round:
[1] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt Alejandro Garbi Caro (ESP) 11-5,
11-5, 9-11, 11-2 (51m)
[Q] Michael Harris (ENG) bt Kevin Moran (SCO) 11-3, 11-5,
11-7 (30m)
Piedro Schweertman (NED) bt [Q] Florent Pontiere (FRA)
9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-9 (59m)
[3] Shaun le Roux (RSA) bt Sebastiaan Weenink (NED) 11-6,
11-9, 11-5 (25m)
[4] Joan Lezaud (FRA) bt Rory Pennell (ENG) 11-8, 13-11,
11-9 (40m)
Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) bt [Q] Oriol Salvia (ESP) 11-0,
11-6, 11-2 (30m)
[Q] Antoine-Camille Petrucci (FRA) bt Ruslan Sorochinskiy
(UKR) 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 (37m)
[2] Jens Schoor (GER) bt Hugo Varela (ESP) 11-7, 11-9,
11-2 (45m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt [Q] Michael Harris (ENG) 5-11,
11-7, 11-2, 11-5 (31m)
[3] Shaun le Roux (RSA) bt Piedro Schweertman (NED) 11-2,
11-9, 13-11 (31m)
Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) bt [4] Joan Lezaud (FRA) 11-4, 11-7,
11-9 (33m)
[2] Jens Schoor (GER) bt [Q] Antoine-Camille Petrucci (FRA)
11-7, 11-9, 11-9 (47m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Julien Balbo (FRA) bt [3] Shaun le Roux (RSA) 5-11,
11-3, 9-11, 12-10, 15-13 (97m)
Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) bt [2] Jens Schoor (GER) 11-7, 11-6,
11-7 (30m)
Final:
Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) bt [1] Julien Balbo (FRA) 11-6,
11-7, 11-6 (47m)
|
