Avila beats Dessouki as Egyptian seeds fall in Colombia
By NATHAN CLARKE
Peruvian Diego Elias, the 18-year-old who last week became just the fourth player in history to win the Wold Junior Championship for a second time, produced a sublime performance to knock out number four seed Marwan Elshorbagy in the first round of the Abierto Colombiano de Squash Club el Nogal, PSA M50 tournament in Bogota.
Elshorbagy, the last player before Elias to lift the World Junior title on two occasions, began the encounter strongly by taking the opening game 11-9 but from there on in he couldn’t match the youngster, who is in the form of his life – having also claimed PanAm Games Silver during the summer.
Elias dominated the last three games, outworking Elshorbagy to frustrate the World No.13 and seal an impressive 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-2 triumph in 45 minutes.
Elias will now face Indian number one Saurav Ghosal in the quarter-finals after the 28-year-old from Kolkata wasted no time in dismissing wildcard Sebastian Laguna, taking just 18-minutes to complete a 3-0 win.
Local favourite and tournament top seed Miguel Angel Rodriguez (right), the World No.4 and 2015 PanAm Games Gold medal winner, moved into the last eight with a 3-0 win over Shaun Le Roux from South Africa.
The first game was a tight 12-10 and Le Roux Tweeted: “Not the result I wanted but definitely happy with my performance. Positives to take for the rest of the season.”
Elias wasn’t the only surprise victor during the opening day of competition, with Mexican qualifier Alfredo Avila producing one of his finest ever performances on the PSA World Tour to secure an impressive win over talented Egyptian player Fares Dessouki – utilising his on-court pace and attack to overcome the 33 places between the pairing on the World Rankings and seal a straight-games victory.
Avila will face Spanish number three seed Borja Golan in the quarter-finals with the winner set to face either World No.7 Peter Barker of England or Mexico’s World No.28 Cesar Salazar in the last four.
Abierto Colombiano de Squash Club el Nogal (PSA M50), Bogota, Colombia.
First Round Results:
[1] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) bt Shaun Le Roux (RSA) 3-0: 12-10, 11-5, 11-9 (38m)
[8] Zahed Mohamed (EGY) bt [Q] Todd Harrity (USA) 3-1: 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 (31m)
[6] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [WC] Sebastian Laguna (COL) 3-0: 11-3, 11-1, 11-3 (18m)
Diego Elias (PER) bt [4] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) 3-1: 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-2 (45m)
[3] Borja Golan (ESP) bt [Q] Karim El Hammamy (EGY) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-2 (27m)
[Q] Alfredo Avila (MEX) bt [5] Fares Dessouki (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 (39m)
[7] Cesar Salazar (MEX) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-1: 11-7, 11-5, 11-13, 11-6 (43m)
[2] Peter Barker (ENG) bt [Q] Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-3 (31m)
Quarter-final Draw:
[1] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v [8] Zahed Mohamed (EGY)
[6] Saurav Ghosal (IND) v Diego Elias (PER)
[3] Borja Golan (ESP) v [Q] Alfredo Avila (MEX)
[7] Cesar Salazar (MEX) v [2] Peter Barker (ENG)