PSA: Two top seeds crash in Malaysia

September 12, 2012 - 11:11am
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12 September 2012

RESULTS: PSA International 50 CIMB Malaysian Open, Selangor, Malaysia

1st round:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [Q] Siddharth Suchde (IND) 11-3, 11-4, 11-6 (32m)
Borja Golan (ESP) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-9, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7 (73m)
Tarek Momen (EGY) bt [Q] Max Lee (HKG) 11-4, 11-8, 4-11, 13-11 (43m)
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) bt [4] Adrian Grant (ENG) 9-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4, 13-11 (96m)
[Q] Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW) bt [3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 6-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 (39m)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 11-2, 11-5, 11-2 (25m)
Olli Tuominen (FIN) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 8-11, 11-6, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5 (74m)
[2] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 11-6, 6-1 ret. (17m)

Third and fourth seeds Omar Mosaad and Adrian Grant crashed out of the CIMB Malaysian Open first round.

Kuwaiti qualifier Abdullah Al Muzayen stole the headlines on the opening day in Kuala Lumpur when he defeated third-seeded Egyptian Mosaad to claim an unexpected place in the quarter-finals of the PSA World Tour International 50 squash event at the city’s National Squash Centre.

Another seed fell later in the day when local star Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan fought back from two games down against England’s world No15 Grant to beat the fourth seed and 2006 champion 9-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4, 13-11 in a 96-minute marathon.

The London-based Malaysian now faces Egypt’s Tarek Momen, the 2010 runner-up who beat Hong Kong qualifier Max Lee 11-4, 11-8, 4-11, 13-11.

But there was big disappointment for veteran Malaysian Ong Beng Hee when the former world No7 suffered his earliest exit in the event since 2004. Champion in 2000, 2005 and 2008, Beng Hee bowed out to Nicolas Mueller, losing 11-2, 11-5, 11-2 to the rising Swiss star.

Winner of the KL Open in March this year, world No10 Mosaad was looking for back-to-back titles in Malaysia. The 24-year-old from Cairo started well against the gifted Al Muzayen and was looking to dominate from the outset.

“But the Kuwaiti had different ideas and started firing in shots from everywhere,” said event spokesman Andrew Cross. “He came back to win the second, holding the ball and flicking the ball – and all of a sudden he was two games to one up.”

In the fourth, Al Muzayen was on fire, going quickly from love-all to five-love. Mosaad was not going to give up though and came back to five-all. The 24-year-old world No51 – the lowest-ranked player in the draw – recovered the advantage and soon closed out the match 6-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 in 39 minutes.

The win immediately prompted a rave review by Australian number one Cameron Pilley on Twitter: “Kuwaiti dude Abdullah is one of the most naturally gifted players I’ve ever seen!! Easily one of the smoothest movers on tour!!”

Naturally Al Muzayen was delighted with his breakthrough win: “Sooo happy 2 beat world no.10 omar mosaad 3/1 looking forward to play well tomorrow against mueller switzerland player world no.20,” tweeted the left-hander from Kuwait City.

Pilley himself was unable to reproduce the Kuwaiti dude’s winning ways later when the world No16 from New South Wales went down 11-9, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7 in 73 minutes to Spain’s Borja Golan, ranked just a single place lower.

Golan progresses to face top seed Karim Darwish, the world No4 from Egypt competing in his first Tour event since the birth of his first-born son Omar in May.

Darwish defeated Indian qualifier Siddharth Suchde 11-3, 11-4, 11-6.

Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Borja Golan (ESP)
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) v Tarek Momen (EGY)
[Q] Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW) v Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
[2] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) v Olli Tuominen (FIN)

For all the latest Tour news: www.psaworldtour.com

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