Mazen Hesham produced another sensational five-game performance to knock out Mohamed Elshorbagy and reach the HSC 2024 Houston Men’s Squash Open final, where he will play Ali Farag.
Hesham had spent almost 90 minutes on court in his thrilling 3-2 win over Mostafa Asal in the quarter-finals late last night, while Elshorbagy had needed just half an hour to beat Miguel Rodriguez 3-0 in a dominant display.
The opening rallies of this one suggested that Elshorbagy might put in a repeat performance, as he raced into a 6-0 lead in game one, closing it out 11-5 in just six minutes.
But if the crowd inside the Houston Squash Club were expecting another one-sided affair, they were in for a surprise, as Hesham upped the pace in game two, giving himself an 8-3 advantage.
Ever relentless, Elshorbagy battled back to 9-9, putting some serious work into Hesham’s legs, but the Egyptian held his nerve, winning the game 11-9 when an improvised flick from Elshorbagy fell short.
The English No.1 then reversed the scoreline in game three, taking it 11-9 on a soft forehand volley into the nick.
But backed by the vocal crowd, Hesham took control of the match from there, winning game four 11-5 in less than 10 minutes, even drawing applause from his opponent on a particularly sweet three-wall boast.
He then opened up a 5-1 lead in the decisive fifth, and continued to draw cheers from the audience when attacking the nick on the backhand side.
5-1 soon turned into five match balls at 10-5 up, but only one was needed, with another tin from Elshorbagy handing victory to the Egyptian.
“It was physically very tough, mentally very tough,” Hesham said after his win.
“Playing Mohamed is always a tough match. He’s a legend of the game and he pushes you to the max, so I’m very, very pleased with how I fought back.
“He didn’t give it to me easily and I had to push for it, and luckily it really went my way this time.”
Discussing what he felt was key to turning things around in games three and four, the Egyptian said: “I was just trying to dig deep, make it harder for him to win a point and wait for my opportunities better.
“If I was going to go short, I needed to be careful because he can be deadly if the ball stays a little bit up and he’s going to go for it. So, I had to be very careful and very cautious with where I was hitting the ball, I had to hit my targets to get him deep in the court and to move him around.”
Hesham’s thrilling win followed a comfortable victory for World No.1 Ali Farag, who beat a struggling Karim Abdel Gawad 3-0 in the first semi-final.
Gawad only returned from injury at last week’s Pittsburgh Open, and came into this encounter having gone to five in each of his first two matches here.
That workload appeared to have taken its toll, as he struggled to match the top seed early on, with Farag extending the rallies and pulling his compatriot around the court.
After losing game one 11-7, game two was when the No.4 seed really began to show his discomfort, but Farag was in no mood to be charitable.
He continued to dominate proceedings, soon clinching victory when Gawad hit the tin on a forehand, with Farag continuing his record of having reached the final of every PSA Tour event he’s played in this season.
“I’m very pleased,” he said after victory.
“I knew Karim was going to come in not at 100%. He’s had an injury, he was out for over a month and a half and barely had any practice matches under his belt. Then he came and won a Silver event playing four matches back-to-back, then having to back it up here and play two five-setters is not easy, so credit to him for reaching the semis in the first place.
“But I didn’t want to lose the first game quickly, because adrenaline can do wonders if you’re winning and you get going, so I tried to elongate the rallies from the very beginning and maintain my focus all the way through, which I’m very pleased I managed to do for the most part.”
The final of the HSC 2024 Houston Men’s Squash Open takes place at 16:00 (GMT-6) on Sunday, 18th February and will be available to watch live on SQUASHTV.
Results: HSC 2024 Houston Men’s Squash Open Semi-Finals
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [4] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-3, 11-5 (27m)
[5] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt [2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) 3-2: 5-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5 (62m)
Draw: HSC 2024 Houston Men’s Squash Open Final
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v [5] Mazen Hesham (EGY)
