[2] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [11] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) 3-0 11-3, 11-1, 11-2 (29m)
Fram reports
Youssef Ibrahim played in my opinion one of the best matches of the season against Abdulla in the previous, coming back from 2/0 down against all odds, and had mentioned the problems he has with his knee. So it was no surprise today to see him not moving at his best and asking from for the Physio after the first game.
Derek tried to relax the left quad but it was just not enough and although Lefthanded Prince Charming kept trying, he just couldn’t put Ali under any kind of pressure, and despite some lovely attacks/retrieving, the Princeton graduate had to bow in 3 under 30m.
PSA reports
Defending champion Ali Farag made short work of third round opponent Youssef Ibrahim to book his place in the last eight of the PSA World Championships for the sixth time.
Ibrahim battled to a 3-2 victory over Qatar’s Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi in the previous round and wasn’t at his best physically against a dominant Farag, requiring treatment on his quad between matches.
World No.2 Farag – a two-time World Champion – cut a composed figure and remained focused on his task to complete the win in just 29 minutes.
Ali
“We always want everyone to be fully fit, we saw a couple yesterday and Youssef here. I think it is the heaviness of the season so far and obviously with it being the World Champs. You saw the five-game battle he played in the last round, maybe it hurt his quad. It was a shame really because I was ready for a big battle, but even Youssef with one leg can be extremely dangerous.
“I knew if I had given him a sniff in the beginning of any of the games, he would have gotten into his groove. Sometimes with the adrenaline you can forget about any injuries, so I had to be very focused, I had a clear game plan from the very beginning and I think I was very disciplined to execute it well.
“The pressure is gone, I’ve already won it, so anything from here is a bonus. There is pressure in terms of that I want to win every tournament I play in, but I’m not desperate anymore, thankfully, so I can enjoy my time. This venue and this crowd, it doesn’t get any better than this.
“Thanks to CIB as always, I know we say it enough but it’s not enough. Thanks to Karim Darwish again, the promoter and my own mentor as well.”
Farag will play either 2017 runner-up Marwan ElShorbagy or Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller in the next round and gave his thoughts on the upcoming fixture between the pair.
“They’re very different players. Nicolas is very attacking, likes to take the ball early and doesn’t really have any rhythm. Marwan is the extreme opposite, he likes to play in a rhythm, he’s very astute tactically. It’s going to be a brilliant match later this evening, I’m going to be watching, and hopefully I’ll be ready for whoever wins.”
