[8] Youssef Soliman (Egy) 3-0 [WC] Charlie Lee (Eng) 11-4, 11-9, 11-3 (43m)
I think Charlie summarised the match perfectly in his aftermatch interview: one step too far.
Mentally, it was very hard to find the energy today, although he fought harder than the score suggests it: first game might have been 11/4, but was 13m, which proves that they both worked pretty hard for not many points.
The second is about the same length, for an 11/9, down 6/1 and 8/3, a good string of points for the Local Favourite, 5 points to 8/8. At 9/9, it’s still possible to believe, but one of Charlie rare errors this week and it’s 11/9 for the Egyptian.
Again, the 3rd might look onesided, 11/3, but against 12m game, some very long and intense rallies at the end. Charlie can’t be unhappy with his week, and the crowd wasn’t either, saluting the young English player as he deserved.
Youssef
“It feels great, we have a big opportunity, me and Mazen tomorrow and then to play the final. I think Mazen did it before. For me, it’s a big opportunity.
“And just for now, I’m happy with the way I’m playing, the way I played the first round. Even the way I played the second one, and just thinking about my performance and hopefully I will perform better than today, tomorrow.
“Charlie, he’s showing character. Even just to believe that he’s showing that he has a character, that has that belief, the belief to go through someone like Mohamed ElShorbagy. So yeah, I had just to be on it.
“At the beginning I started to play the kind of fast and long rallies just to show him it’ll be a tough one. And he had the crowd behind him, had nothing to lose. So for sure, I’m so happy that the way I managed this one.”
Charlie
It’s a new experience for me going deep into these events and that was obviously my expectation this week.
The first night was the best win of my career. And the second night was an even bigger win, the biggest win of my career again.
I really thought I could do well tonight, I know I had it in me but it’s the step too far this week. But I’ve learned so much and I proved to myself I belong in the World Tour events. So many positives.
Youss was exceptional tonight, and that show you have to do to win three match in a row. You can’t just win twice, I know how hard it is to win three matches in a 10K, and going 4 matches in a row. And this is a level up.
So many positives from tonight and I’ll learn a lot from tonight.
