Omar Mosaad edged out unseeded Englishman Adrian Grant in a punishing 96-minute Macau Open final to become the third successive Egyptian to win the PSA World Tour International 50 event .
World No10 and top seed Mosaad took the opening game – but Londoner Grant, a 33-year-old former world No 9 currently ranked 24 (pictured above, foreground, with Mosaad), used all his experience to take the next two to lead 2/1.
“Adrian held a slender lead in the fourth at 8-6 and threatened to end the match early,” said event spokesman Casper Lai. “Omar, not ready to throw in the towel, fought back to take the lead and then the game 11-9.
“The decider was nail-biting. Once again, at 8-8, a ‘not let’ decision against Adrian riled him up. The Englishman engaged in another heated discussion with the referee. The referee had enough of his antics and gave him a conduct stroke; 10-8 to Omar.
“The Egyptian then fired a shot into deep and beyond Adrian’s racket to claim his first title of the year.”
The 11-8, 4-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8 title triumph in 96 minutes marks the ninth Tour title of Mosaad’s career, but the 25-year-old from Cairo’s first for more than 18 months.
Final:
[1] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Adrian Grant (ENG) 11-8, 4-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8 (96m)
SEMI FINAL REPORT
England’s unseeded Adrian Grant will face top-seeded Egyptian Omar Mosaad in the final of the Macau Open after both players survived four-game semi-finals of the PSA World Tour International 50 squash event staged on an all-glass court at the Complex Desportivo International do Cotai in Taipa, Macau.
Londoner Grant, ranked 24 in the world, ended the brave run of qualifier Omar Abdel Meguid – beating the 25-year-old Egyptian 11-4, 8-11, 11-2, 11-6 in 52 minutes to deny the event a second successive all-Egyptian final.
“Adrian ran riot and dominated the third,” said event spokesman Lim Chee Ming, the Macau National Head Coach. “Adrian was in no mood to let it slip and maintained the pressure to quickly go 6-2 up in the fourth.
“Omar managed to halve the gap at 5-7 but was only allowed to collect another point before Adrian regained control and wrapped up the game 11-6 to progress to the final.”
Mosaad, the world No10 from Cairo also dropped the second game of his match against top-ranked Indian Saurav Ghosalbefore beating the No4 seed 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7 in 81 minutes.
“Omar began strongly to lead the opening game 3-1, when a contributed injury to Saurav stopped the game temporarily,” explained Lim. “After a quick treatment, Saurav returned to the court to level the score at 6-6. He was clearly still struggling though, as Omar wrapped up the first set 11-8.
“Both players played with better variations in the second, exploring all four corners of the court. The score was once again tied at six-all, when Saurav injected more speed into his game to lead 10-8 and then won it at 11-9.”
Mosaad regained the lead after winning the third from 8-8.
“From 3-3 in the fourth, Omar moved ahead to a 9-6 lead after a few amazing shots from the Egyptian and mistakes from his opponent. Omar won the next two points to finally wrap up the match, but not before he was made to run all over the court by Saurav,” added Lim.
Both players are celebrating their second Tour finals of the year: 25-year-old Mosaad is marking the 21st of his career, while 33-year-old left-hander Grant is through to his 31st.
20 October 2013
RESULTS: PSA International 50 Macau Open, Taipa, Macau
Semi-finals:
[1] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [4] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7 (81m)
Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 11-4, 8-11, 11-2, 11-6 (52m)
