[3] Paul Coll (NZL) 2-0 [2] Tarek Momen (EGY) 11-9, 11-8 (45m)
Tarek, man, you know how much I care for you, and how much I love you. But I reallllly need to give you acting classes my friend. Body language, body attitude. Two words. NICK MATTHEW. He was the master at it. Down, dead, not able to put a foot in front of the other, Nick would straighten the shoulders, and make you believe he was as fresh as it comes, and make you doubt of your own chances.
Don’t give it away. Paul could read you. Not only your game – he counterdropped you so many time, had so much time in his hands to push you around, but also, he could see how down and frustrated you were. He was feeding off your frustration…
Paul was not the same player than yesterday. If yesterday he was just passive and reactive, not having any influence on the outcome of the match, today, he varied the pace – took the pace out of the ball, then counterdropped a lot, and hit harder when was needed.
And Tarek never enjoyed it. It looked like he KNEW his weapons would not work today and showed so much frustration…
Paul put the pressure on him at the start, 6/3, pushed a few too many errors out of him – 6 in the first game alone, and although Tarek clawed back 6/6, 8/8, he was constantly playing catch up. Tarek is not Gawad. It doesn’t suit his game or his mental strength. An opening for the Momenator at 9/8, but a tin and a ball out of court, and it’s 11/9 for Paul in 17m.
Same story in the 2nd, Tarek played catch up throughout, 4/1 down, back to 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, Two no lets and a stroke for Paul, and match to the Kiwi, 26m game, 11/8….
Paul
“Credit to Marwan yesterday, he played well, but I just didn’t enjoy myself out there. I was super tense and I hate that, I didn’t mind if I lost as long as I enjoyed it and played well. Today I was much more relaxed out there but aggressive at the same time, so I’m very happy today has kept me alive in these finals.
“It’s like a sauna on there, my shorts are dripping and there’s always sweat on the floor no matter how much you clean it. You saw in the first game that I got two lucky nicks, but that’s the way it is, I got the roll of the dice today and that’s all that matters.
“I’m just going to watch tonight and watch the fourth American Pie. I watched the other three today, so I’ll watch the rest of that. Hopefully they [Makin and ElShorbagy] will battle it out, I’ve got a late one tomorrow night, so I’ll have a long sleep in, prepare the same as I did today, enjoy it as much as possible and hopefully get the W tomorrow.”