[1] Ali Farag (Egy) 2-0 [8] Simon Rosner (Ger) 12-10, 11-6 (31m)
Simon, far too many errors
If the H2H are quite close (PSA and WSF), 7/6 in favour of Ali, last time they played was during the world teams in December 2019, and it was Simon that won the encounter, 11/8 in the 5th after 73m of hard battle.
And today, the German controlled both start of the games: 4/1 in the first, 6/3 in the second. He won’t be happy having nothing to show for at the end of the match: he lost the opener in 19 long minutes, 12/10, from 9/6 up…. Ali’s slow-ish pace in that game seemed to take the sting out of Simon’s game. And I feel maybe it took the German’s confidence too…
In the second, as I mentionned, Simon was in control 6/3, only to lose the next 8 points, 11 minute game, 11/6 to the Egyptian…
Ali lost a bit his game plan in the second I thought but heck, did it really matter…
Ali
“We’ve been waiting for so long to play squash again, let alone in our home town here in Cairo. We’re super excited, thanks to CIB, the sponsor, and also Wadi Degla and Karim Darwish for putting on the event. It feels amazing to play in front of such an amazing crowd again.
“I think it was a bit tentative from both of us. The court is a bit tricky and it’s a little too bouncy. The wind affects the ball quite a bit, so you have to be wary of both things. Simon is a very attacking player as well, so it’s never easy to settle on the ’T’.
“I don’t think I hit my peak performance yet, but it’s obviously the beginning of the season and hopefully match by match I can get better.”
