Final Master Class from Marwan

[5] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) 3-0 [4] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)  11-6, 11-5, 11-3 (47m)

Basically, this will  be a very short report.

Marwan. Too good. The end.

More seriously, he took Karim by the throat from the first rally, kept the pace slow, accurate at the back, lethal and incisive at the front. He made, wait for it, two errors the whole match. I rest my case.

The opener was tight, 1/1, 2/2/, 4/4, 5/5. Then Marwan took control to take the game in 17m, 11/6. Second, Karim never had the chance to come into the game, 6/1, 9/4, 11/5 in 16m of hard work but nothing to show for the BabyFace Assassin. And the third, score says it all, 11/3 in 11m.

Karim never threw the towel, but seriously, there was only going to be a winner today.

As they say over here: Chapeau.

“My performance couldn’t have gone any better today,”

“Tactically, mentally – I was really looking forward to today. I think this is the best I’ve played since the beginning of the season, I knew that I could play at this level, I was just waiting for the moment and it couldn’t have come at a better moment. I’m really happy with the win tonight and I’m already looking forward to next week.

“Karim is a great player. I was joking with Ali [Farag] yesterday because we played last night in the semi-finals, we said that last night was our final because Karim never loses in Cairo, but of course as soon as I got inside the match I didn’t think about that. I was really happy with my performance, it’s been a really tough two years for me. The last time I played a World Tour Finals was after El Gouna in 2018, so to go through those two years and come back here and win, it means a lot to me and family – this is for them.

“Mohamed better be worried! He’s the current No.1, he isn’t here and I’m being realistic, I would have loved to have played and beaten him here but I still have a lot of work to do. He is the greatest player of our generation and he’s been there for a long time for a reason. I hope I will be giving him a hard time this year.

“Thanks to my team, I want to thank Haitham Effat for being more than a coach for me. He’s been always there for me and he’s the reason why I’m playing how I’m playing, I really want to thank him so much for this. I also want to thank Mark Campbell, who has improved me physically so much and he’s a great guy, I trust the work he gives me and trust in him.

“I also want to thank Danny Massaro, Nick Matthew – who I speak to before every match tactically and Hadrian Stiff. These guys have been great for me. My parents, I  have given them a hard time and I love them so much, this is for them.

“Thanks to CIB for supporting our sport and Hussein Abaza, who isn’t here. I want to thank all the sponsors and Karim Darwish for this event. Lee Beachill and Tim Garner, who are protecting the players this week and last week and are doing such a great job and everyone who came out to watch us.”