Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 3-1 Melvil Scianimanico (FRA)3-1: 13-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8 (54m)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) 3-1 Samuel Osborne – Wylde (ENG)3-1: 6-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 (50m)
Grégoire
“Yeah, I’m just relieved now. But I was a good match.
“I knew, well, I don’t know Sam a lot, but I watched some videos and I knew he was a good upcoming player.
“I haven’t played any PSA matches since the beginning of February in Houston, and I was a bit sick 10 days ago, so I just didn’t know how I was going to be today, physically. But I’m okay, I’m happy the way I fought my way back. I think I was 8-6 down in the fourth and came back.
“Overall, happy to get a good match on this court and happy to be through to tomorrow.”
What a pleasure to see my Ali Farag in Optasia, even for a few minutes. He was not here for the event at all, just visiting his cousin who is having a baby, and just bumped into the Egyptian players on the plane. And unfortunately, is off tomorrow!
So, as Connor, my PSA Media partner, stated: “2 world champions as coaches haha – couldn’t lose!
Still, it was an excellent match from Abou, who showed his experience in the first game, fighting off 2 game balls, 9/10, and 10/11, to finally grab the opener 13/11. That is the turning point of the match.
The young Frenchman needed a whole game to recover from the disappointement of losing 2 game balls, and was not himself during that game, losing the second in 7m, chatting to the ref, “wheel’s off” coming to mind.
But all credit to him for finally getting back in the match in the third, managing to keep the Egyptian at the back of the court, making his attack slightly less lethal, not a point between them till the last rally!
And to be fair, I expected Melvil to force a decider. He managed to really push his opponent to breaking point, but by doing so, left just a bit too much on there, and from 8/7 up, he just didn’t have enough left in the tank to contain the incredible talent of Abou…
It’s just fine lines at that level… But Melvil is learning, and is more and more dangerous match after match…
Abouelghar : I had Ali (Farag) and Karim (Abdel Gawad) in my corner, so I couldn’t have hoped for better coaches!
He’s been playing so well recently, I actually played him in the Leagues about a year ago and I knew what to expect.
I had a good start, I let him in a little bit in the begining of the third, which was a mistake, but all credit to him for sticking in, he is good!
I’m training in Sodic with Hesham El Attar, along with Aly Abou, Karim El Hammamy, Fares Dessouky and another junior who is very good, we have a good group.
Hesham told me to stop training like an old man! Which I was doing to be fair, for a few years, protecting my injuries, blah blah, blah. He challenge me and if I want to have a chance against these guys, who will challenge me physically, that’s what I’ve got to do.
Youssef Ibrahim tomorrow. This year, I beat him once, and he beat me once, so it will be open. We had a kind of similar game, we like to attack, so hopefully, we’ll put a good show for tomorrow.
More to follow about Gregoire’s match…
