R2: Brutal 2nd game but 3/0 Mohamed against Baptiste
[6] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) 3-0 Baptiste Masotti (FRA) 11-7, 14-12, 11-4 (39m)
Former World No.1 and World Champion Mohamed Elshorbagy closed out play on the side courts after he moved into his 12th consecutive El Gouna International quarter final, beating France’s Baptiste Masotti in straight games.
A close first two games, with a few too many chats with the ref, a lot of intensity between the players, and a French man extremely unhappy with the last rally of the second game – where he has several chances to level a 1/1. The French No.3 earned two game balls at 10-8 and after taking a tumble in at 10-9 and being given a No let, the Frenchman was rattled. He lost another game ball as Elshorbagy moved forward and took the game 14-12 to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
The third, broken mentally and in pain in the right quad, Baptiste just let go and it was a “promenade de santé” for the English at the end…
Mohamed : I thought it was a good match actually, good quality.
I made the same mistake that I did yesterday, I went 8/3 down yesterday, and today, I went 6/3 down. That’s something that I need to adjust for the next round, why I’m starting the game not the way I want to play.
After that, I think I controlled the first, 3/6 to 10/6, and then the second game, I was 7/5, playing the game I wanted to play, but with the stoppage, I lost my focus, he went 10/8, but I stayed positive, because I thought, even if I lost that game, just put some work into him, as I could see he was feeling it. I was feeling it too but it was one of those days where I felt good and I knew I could push.
The second, that second was quite exciting for the crowd too, you know…
I’m enjoying these matches, the third game, I think I stepped up more but something happened to him, I’m not sure what, I could see he couldn’t lunge on the front forehand. I had to attack more on that side, obviously, because I wanted to win but at the same time, I hope it’s not something too serious with him, because it’s a very important part of the season, with the European Teams, the British Open, and I know he moved to Prague, he is much better right now, I can see he wants to be on court.
He really, really, gave me a big challenge in that second game. If I’d lost that game, he is more of a confident player, he would have attacked me even more in the third, I was aware of that. So I didn’t want to let that game go.
Really happy to be in the quarters now, moving to the glass.
Normally, I really like playing on the glasscourt, but for 10 years, I didn’t enjoy playing El Gouna because I had to play on the glass every day at 9pm, and it was long days. But now, since I got older and became so sh*** at squash, I’m one of the lower seeds, so I get to play early, so I get to see more of El Gouna, enjoy the nice weather, I’ll have a nice rest day tomorrow. Sometimes it’s a good thing to be a player NOT under pressure at a tournament. Now I can relax a bit more and enjoy my time here…
