[2] Karim Gawad (EGY) 3-0 [5] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) 11-4, 11-5, 13-11 (54m)
To be honest, I was hoping for Youssef that he was going to lose in three today… I’m NOT mean. I could see that Youssef was protecting his shoulder and was not putting too much weight/speed on his shots, although the pace and accuracy was sublime from both.
But from some reason, in the third, at 2/0 for Karim, he got upset with both Karim and the ref, when the video ref called one of Karim’s shot good. He saw it down, and that angered him, and seemed to make him throw caution to the wind. He started hitting harder, faster, and no longer protecting at all.
If the first game was short, 11/4 8m, a bit longer for the second, 12m for 11/5, the third went 30m!
Youssef didn’t want to die tonight. So, here we are, 4/0 to Karim. Looking like it’s going to be finished quickly. But as Youssef picks up the pace – if that was possible!!! – and makes his shots deeper and heavier, Karim, a bit taken back, starts to make errors, and in the match Youssef is again!
4/4, 5/5. The crowd is loving it. They want more. 8/6 Yous, 8/8, 9/9. The atmosphere is hot, very hot, and the rallies are getting more intense, faster, more inventive than the previous one. The ultimate ridiculous squash.
10/9, match ball Karim. Youssef saves it. 11/10, match ball Karim. Another save.
A lot of calls, court cleaning as both players are sweating, well, more than others apparently: “I don’t sweat as much as him” goes cheeky Karim to the ref. Youssef is NOT amused. At 11 all, it’s all possible for the lefthander, but a tin and a winner from Karim, and those two finally get to rest, after a great little chat and embrace at the end…
Fair, intense, incredible fast pace, mix of shots, height and weight in the ball. Why don’t you have a little look at the replay on SquashTV…
Karim : “While warming up today, I saw the head-to-head record, and I just tried not to think about it. Youssef is one of the toughest players to play against on tour. He’s very stubborn, as you see, injuring his shoulder two days ago and still playing with this quality.
“Even myself, I was really scared to see his shoulder dislocated again, especially with a good friend like Youssef. I just wish him all the best of luck and a very quick recovery to be able to perform in the next tournament with his level. All credit to him.
“I wouldn’t say it was a 100% fair match between us today as he was injured for sure. But I still had to play at 100% against an opponent like him.”
