[5] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 3-0 Rory Stewart (SCO) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 (28m)
Next opponent: Dimitri Steinmann
Karim : Playing in Egypt is different from anywhere else for me. Family is around, I feel like I’m going ot a practice match. It’s a good pressure. Of course, I always have goals in my head, and I try to achieve them. Playing in Egypt is good, it’s always fun.
It’s always difficult for me I never played with, I can’t read them easily. I was under pressure today like I played Brownell in Houston, I found myself 2 games down, because I couldn’t read him at all. This time I played better, because I studied the match really well and I knew what to expect.
So today a bit the same I was under pressure because I didn’t know what to expect, I tried to focus on every point, I didn’t want to have a slow start, and then tried to come back, especially as in the next round, Dimi played a very hard tense match today, so I wanted to keep some fuel in the tank for our next match.
Different conditions of course, glass court, another venue, it’s like you are going to another tournament. Dimi is a very very good friend, he came to Egypt a couple of months ago, we had 5 good days of training, we stayed and played together. He is a very nice guy, not on court, though! He is getting better, he is playing and training every where in the world, he never rests. He always had the physicality, and I knew that one day, he would get the skills as well, he is improving all the time, and he has a great future ahead of him in the next few years, but hopefully, not on this tournament tough, maybe the next one…
