Young Egyptian upsets the form book for a stunning victory against Germany’s world No.10
By NATHAN CLARKE in El Gouna
Egyptian qualifier Mazen Hesham delighted the home crowd at the 2015 El Gouna International, PSA World Series event, with a stunning 3-1 win over World No.10 Simon Rösner during the opening day of action from the Red Sea resort today (April 5).
Hesham, the maverick and unpredictable World No.30, produced a mercurial display as he out-gunned Rösner from the start, executing an array of incredible winners whilst keeping his error count low to deny the powerful man from Paderborn the opportunity to get on the front foot.
“I’m happy with how I played today because I was patient when I needed to be patient and I played the right pace when I needed to,” said Hesham.
“Since the beginning of the year I have had a lot of matches where I came very close to winning and then to lose but I’m really happy it all came together here in front of my family and my friends in Egypt.”
Hesham will now take on compatriot Mohamed Elshorbagy, the 2014 runner-up, in a mouth-watering second round encounter after the World No.1 made sure of his place in the second round with an effortless 3-0 win over Ali Farag, the Egyptian who toppled seeded Gregiore Marche in qualification, while indian Saurav Ghosal also upset the rankings as he edged a tense affair against World No.7 Tarek Momen.
Ghosal, the World No.23 from Kolkata, raced out to a two-game lead against a lacklustre looking Momen before the Egyptian began to find his form and when Ghosal squandered several match ball opportunities, the scores were level and Momen looked the dominant player.
But 28-year-old Ghosal managed to withstand some nervy exchanges in the deciding fifth game to take the match 12-10, 11-1, 7-11, 12-14, 11-9 in 85-minutes to set up a second round encounter with Omar Mosaad.
“We’re both similar players in the way we move and the amount of attacking play we instinctively like to play so it makes for an entertaining match and we tend to play well against each other,” said Ghosal.
“Tarek showed real guts to come back when I was 2-0 up today and he played unbelievable in the fourth game especially. I’m really happy to have played so well against him and to have gotten the win against a top ranked player.
“I don’t think I played badly on any of those match ball points but I was ecstatic to stick one on the wall and win the match in the fifth game.”
The first round continues tomorrow, Monday April 6, with action from the bottom half of the draw which includes defending title holder Ramy Ashour.
2015 El Gouna International (First Round):
Results – Round One, Top Half:
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Ali Farag (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 13-11, 11-5 (44m)
[Q] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt Simon Rösner (GER) 3-1: 12-10, 11-7, 11-13, 11-7 (56m)
Max Lee (HKG) bt [Q] Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 3-2: 7-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8 (75m)
[8] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-0: 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-3 (47m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [7] Tarek Momen (EGY) 3-2: 12-10, 11-1, 7-11, 12-14, 11-9 (85m)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [Q] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 13-11 (42m)
Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt [Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 3-2: 7-11, 6-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-9 (88m)
[3] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [WC] Zahed Mohamed (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-6 (47m)
Draw – Round One, Bottom Half:
[4] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY)
Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [Q] Leo Au (HKG)
Stephen Coppinger (RSA) v James Willstrop (ENG)
Chris Simpson (ENG) v [5] Amr Shabana (EGY)
[6] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v [Q] Karim Ali Fathi (EGY)
Daryl Selby (ENG) v Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [Q] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Picture courtesy of PSA