InternationalSquashMagazine-December2018

2018 QATAR SQUASH CLASSIC
“The atmosphere was beyond my
imagination. Nothing I’ve played before
was like that but midway through the
first game I managed to settle and get
into my game plan.
“I tried to make sure that first game
was long and that I wasn’t giving away
any cheap points. I was behind and I
didn’t think I would win that game, but
coming through to win it made a huge
psychological difference I think.
“At the U.S. Open against Simon I
became too passive, and if you do that
he will kill you on court. You have to find
that balance and I was able to do that
from the second half of the first game
all the way to the end today. So I am
very happy.
“I’m very happy with the win and really
proud with the way I handled the whole
week.”
Whilst Diego Elias produced the
performance of his career to defeat
World No.1 and World Champion Mohamed
ElShorbagy in a thrilling 76-minute fivegame
quarter-final, the 2018 Qatar Classic
was equally notable for the emergence of
Welshman Joel Makin.
Having shocked Mohamed ElShorbagy
with a straight-games triumph at
the Channel VAS Championships,
Makin defeated reigning British Open
Champion Miguel Angel Rodriguez and
former World No.6 Mathieu Castagnet
to reach the quarter-finals where he
found himself one game up against
Tarek Momen before eventually losing
to the in-form Egyptian in a thrilling
51-minutes.
2018 Qatar Squash Classic, Dohar
Final
[2] Ali Farag (EGY) bt
[4] Simon Rösner 11-9, 11-7, 11-5
INTERNATIONALSQUASHMAGAZINE December 2018 | 11
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