[6] Diego Elias (Per) 2-1 [4] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 9-11, 11-3, 11-5 (54m)
If only Karim had lost the first game, he would have been in known territory. Instead of that, what happens. He wins. Now what….
Joke apart, it was a great start of the match from both, close the whole way, with a few errors from the BFA, but not much between them: 3/3, 7/7, 8/8, 9/9, and strangely enough, it’s Diego that makes the error on game ball – he hardly made any before, 11/9 Karim, 23 minutes.
Diego looks tired in that second but in fact, it’s the Egyptian that strings mistake after mistake, it’s a short affair, 11/3 in 12m for the Peruvian.
The third sees a close game up to 6/5 for Diego, who then takes the control of the T, rewarded by two strokes at a crucial 7/5. 9.5, Karim still fights, 17m game, but it’s Diego 11/5….
“I am really happy to be back on court. It has been a long time since I last played a tournament and it is great to be back. I am feeling pretty good and I knew after all the training I had a chance today, so I was confident.
“The people who know me know that I do that. I got a bit tired at one point. He plays really fast and covers a lot of angle, so I had to take some time to recover to be ready.
“I am feeling good. I am not the kid I was before, now I am ready to win tournaments. I trained really hard for this. I am confident and I want to win as many matches as possible.”
