[4] Marwan ElShorbagy (Egy) 2-1 [1] Ali Farag (Egy) 10-12, 11-4, 13-11 (64m)
After seeing his brother win the opening match of Group A, Marwan followed his lead, by defeating World No.1 Ali Farag in a final game tie-break to secure three points as he starts his defence of the title he won last October.
Marwan found himself a game down after losing the first on a tie-break, but bounced back strongly in the second to win it 11-4. The third became a very scrappy affair, littered with stoppages for court cleaning and refereeing decisions. It was Marwan who eventually got over the line, winning the deciding game 13-11 on his 4th match ball – Ali not having a shot at it – to move joint-top of Group A alongside older brother Mohamed.
Marwan : “If you look at how tough our group is, having my brother and Asal, it’s really tough. All the matches are 50/50, tomorrow I play Mostafa and it’s going to be the same as today,” he said.
“Playing Ali is always tough. He is the toughest to play on Tour, him and my brother. They are World No.1 and World No.2. Every session I practice, I always visualise competing against them because they are the best in the world and I want to try and beat both of them on a consistent basis because they are the most experienced players on Tour at the moment and I respect both of them. They have done so much for our sport and they are role models for our sport.
“The pressure is always there, it is just about enjoying the pressure. You cannot escape the pressure. Even if you don’t fell the pressure today, you might feel it tomorrow. I think it is very important to feel the pressure and if I don’t feel nervous before a match then I worry so it is good to feel the pressure. Coming here, I put the pressure on myself to beat him, even though he is the favourite seeding-wise. For me, I want to beat everyone. I enjoyed today, but it is only going to get tougher.”
