R1: Nathan dominates, Marwan loses his calm …

Nathan Lake (ENG) 3-1 [9] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG)  14-16, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 (45m)

Well, don’t ask me if the decision was correct or not, I just heard a roar from Marwan, “this is a joke, this is pretty much the match over, who is your supervisor”… to PSA full time and world ref Andrea Santamaria. Marwan was not happy.

At 9/7 to Nathan, I guess it was a conduct stroke on top of the original decision, which meant that Marwan lost the match, Nathan – 11/7.

The ranting went on for a little longer, despite Omar Mosaad trying to quietly calm his player. Andrea kept her calm and composure and just announced the end of the match. Not sure if Andrea’s husband, a rather tall and strong man who could have been a rugbyman, standing next to his wife, was that much impressed…

Eventually, it all calmed down, and Marwan left the venue, calmly and composed, it seemed. If it was the end of the first session and I was feeling a bit sleepy, I was right awake after that..

Nathan

“I think it’s the best result of my career, actually, and I’m an old man, so that’s a long time!

“I’m overjoyed and sad the way it ended a bit, but on the whole, it was a good competitive match.
“Marwan and his brother, Mohamed, went to school in Bristol, so I spent a lot of time with them. Living in Cheltenham is only 40 minutes away and they’ve been great to me during my career and always enjoy the battles.
“They’re hard and fair, they play a practice match pretty intensely as well and it’s no different in a tournament match obviously. I’m very pleased for it to go my way. I’d hate to think about the breakdown heads ahead, but there’s a one, not a zero anymore, which is good.
“It’s my FA Cup final to use that analogy against Marwan. It’s maybe a bit more difficult for him, and he played Europeans last week, and I’ve done that once before, and that mentally is really quite tiring. So I felt like I had a chance and really pleased, a little bit surprised at the level I put out there, but I’ll take it.
“I was talking to myself, so there’s all sorts going on in there, but yeah, first game obviously not ideal. I hate to think of the chances of me winning a match if I lose the first game, probably not too high. But I was playing some decent squash and I came out well in the second, got a good lead and I just felt like I’m still in this and managed to keep pushing myself, kept ignoring my head, which all of us players struggle with and happy to get a great win.”

 

 

 

 

 

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