Egypt’s former World No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad sent Qatari No.1 Abdulla Mohd Al-Tamimi out of his home event earlier today as he booked his spot in the quarter-finals of the QTerminals Qatar Classic.
Gawad, the 2016 Qatar Classic champion, was in fine form at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex as he took the opening game, but Al-Tamimi grew into the match in the second to draw level, much to delight of the home crowd.
READ MORE: Features and interviews from Doha
However, Gawad was quickly able to get back on top in the third and took the next two games without reply to earn his last eight spot.
“The Qatari audience is very aware of good shots,” said Gawad. “Abdulla was on fire today and he can hit winners out of nowhere, so it was hard to read him today. Thanks to the Qatari crowd who supported him but also cheered for my good shots.
“It will be a hard match, Mostafa is in good form and won the last two tournaments. I’m playing better squash now too and I’m moving better on court, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Gawad will play World No.2 Mostafa Asal next, with Asal making it 12 wins in a row on the PSA Squash Tour after getting the better of World Junior Champion Mohamad Zakaria.
Welshman Joel Makin followed up his first round upset of No.2 seed Paul Coll with victory over France’s Auguste Dussourd, and he will go up against Egypt’s Fares Dessouky for a place in the last four.
In the women’s event, World No.2 Nouran Gohar continued her attempts to win a first Qatar Classic trophy as she stormed to victory against fellow Egyptian Nada Abbas.
Gohar and Abbas were meeting for the third time in as many tournaments this season, with Gohar taking 3-0 wins at both the CIB Egyptian Open and Paris Squash. It was a similar story in Doha as Gohar won 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 to set up a meeting with unseeded 17-year-old Amina Orfi.
“That’s the third time I’ve played her this season and she reached the semis of the first ever Diamond event, which shows the calibre of player she is,” said Gohar.
“I knew she was going to make it tough today. I was up for it and it’s never easy. From the very first match you get a tough match and you can see that from the upsets, we have top seeds going out of the tournament in the first round.
“That was unusual in the past, but especially in the women’s game it has been happening. You have to be careful. You can’t relax because there are so many players who are improving and chasing you. One thing I learned from being World No.1 is that everyone is chasing you. It’s good to feel like the underdog, but you have to enjoy the challenge.”
Orfi dispatched England’s Lucy Turmel to reach the last eight of this tournament for the first time. There were also wins for Belgium’s Nele Coll and USA’s Olivia Weaver, who beat Emily Whitlock and Fayrouz Aboelkheir, respectively.