QF: Paul 3-2 Marwan

[2] Paul Coll (NZL) 3-2 [6] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 12-10 (79m)

A great atmosphere in the venue tonight, with a few friends from the NZ making sure the balance was respected as for the noise level, against the English crowd support…

First two games, 15 and 14m. That set the pace, doesn’t it. Marwan stayed with Superman throughout the whole match. I never saw him going for shortcuts, or easy shots. Strangely enough, quick errors came from Paul’s racquet, and he probably won’t be happy with those errors, so uncharacteristic of him. That fourth, three errors to start the game, setting up Marwan for a comeback in the match, 7/0, 11/4 in 9m.

There were a lot, and I mean A LOT of decisions, some looking fair, some maybe not that fair, but what do I know… For example, a no let against Marwan at 10/8 in the 2nd… Bit harsh maybe?

Still, here we are in the 5th after a sublime game from Marwan. Both camps must have had their heart in their mouth, as the win seemed to go from one player to the other. Boom Boom, Boom Boom.

3/3, 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, 8/8, 9/9. Stroke for Paul, 10/9 match ball Superman… Marwan seem to be controlling the rally but after a Paul’s dive, the ref had to stop the rally for safety. Marwan NOT HAPPY. Still, no let against Paul in the next rally, and we are back at 10/10.

At that point, Paul wins a little volley drop shot from the front of the court, so casual, a shot he must have practiced for hours, to be able to play it at such a crucial time, setting up the second match ball, 11/10.

C’est la bonne, it’s the good one, and it’s 12/10 for Paul, to the great disappointment of our main sponsor, Bassim Aidar, who’s been sponsoring the Bagies Brothers for years…

Marwan

Great game.

The spectators loved it. They enjoyed it. We both gave it everything, we both enjoyed it. When we shook hands at the end, we said we both enjoyed it, enjoyed the fair battle.

Paul is a great player, of course, I’m disappointed with the result, especially as I lost three times in one month. But each time I’m getting closer each time we play, I was just unlucky today, he could have won, I could have won, all credit to him, he played the big points better than me in the 5th game, but I enjoyed the battle. I really did.

It was a great match. He came out firing. It was such a high pace and I found myself getting caught a little bit deeper in the court sometimes. I felt I was playing well though but he was just chucking in short so well, I felt like I was getting caught off guard.

 

Paul

β€œCredit to him. It’s the third time we have played in the last three events, so credit to him.

β€œA massive shoutout to my boys in the front row there. I was a bit flat and the energy they gave me was unreal, so thank you boys. I asked them to come today because I definitely felt a little flat yesterday. I needed someone in my corner so thanks to them for helping me out.”

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