[3] Diego Elias (Per) 3-0 [9/16] Noor Zaman (Pak) 11-2, 11-7, 11-5 (28m)
I missed the first game as I was writing the quotes from Amanda’s match, but looking at the score and length (11/2, 6m), I probably didn’t miss much.
His uncle told me he was nervous. Well, he was only playing a world champion, former world number one, nothing to be worried about, now, was there.
The second game was very intense, and we started to see how impressive Noor was going to be once he gets a bit more of those matches in the legs/head. He was finding some accurate drives, allowing him to take any opportunity (not many) Diego might offer.
If Diego was comfortable up toe 7/2, the young man started to claw back, and at 7/8, it was anybody’s match, but Diego managed to regain the T position, and finished the job, 11m, 11/7.
A few words from the Peruvian to the young man at the end, not sure what it was about, but I don’t think there will be a Christmas card exchange this year… Still, not sure why it was as I didn’t notice anything in the Pakistani movement.
Last game, very intense up to 5/5, but the lack of experience at that level of squash, the speed of Diego, his changes of height and sides, too much for Noor, 11/5 in 6m.
Diego is in fine form, so nice to see him move that well, and being hungry again. But remember the name, Noor Zaman… Maybe one day, they’ll say, Qamar Zaman, the Grand-Father of Noor?
Diego : “I’m very happy with my performance today. Noor is a very dangerous player, so I had to be at my 100% since the first point of the match. I’m very happy that I did that.
“Noor is very exciting to watch and it’s great to have another Pakistani player near the top of the rankings. I’m happy I could control the pace of the game – my lines were working really well.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been playing at this level. I’m very happy to be slowly getting back to my level and hopefully I can keep getting better.”
