Rodriguez Survives Clyne Challenge as Elshorbagy Eases Through in Colombia Open by Sean Reuthe photos PSA
February 17, 2016
- Colombian No.1 Miguel Angel Rodriguez came through a banana skin
fixture against Scotland’s Alan Clyne in round one of the inaugural
2016 SquashColombia Open to reach the quarter-final stage in Cartagena
and keep up local hopes of having a home winner.
The lead
changed hands multiple times throughout a frenetic 98-minute encounter
with all four corners of the court being hit with regularity during a
series of heart-pounding rallies. After seeing Clyne fight back from a
2-1 deficit to draw level, Rodriguez recovered brilliantly and
eventually prevailed with an 8-11, 13-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-2 victory.
"It was a very intense match in difficult conditions due to the humidity," said Rodriguez.
"All
credit to Alan who played very well and he gave it his best tonight.
I’m pleased to win my first round here as a local player. I’ve got a
day off tomorrow and I will battle in the next round."
World
No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy is also through to the next round after he
vanquished the other home hope, 19-year-old wildcard Andres Herrera, in
straight games.
The Egyptian has won two of his last three
PSA World Tour events and came into his encounter with Herrera full of
confidence as a barrage of attacking shots down the forehand side
quickly enabled the 25-year-old to surge into the lead.
Bogota-born
Herrera, who is ranked 261 places behind Elshorbagy in the world
rankings, put in a strong display that belied his status as the
tournament’s wildcard, but he couldn’t prevent Elshorbagy from
dictating the tempo and he eventually succumbed to an 11-6, 11-8, 11-5
defeat in the man from Alexandria’s favour.
“I felt good on court today, it’s such an amazing venue,” said Elshorbagy.
“There
are so many great players playing this tournament, it’s a little bit
humid and the conditions are hot so it’s a little bit tricky. All of
the top players are used to playing different kind of conditions and
it’s something that we all have to deal with. Hopefully I will be able
to play at my best this week and I will see how far I can go in this
tournament.”
Elsewhere, Elshorbagy’s brother, Marwan, overcame Spanish No.1 Borja Golan in a brutal 93-minute clash to reach the next stage.
After
taking the opening two games by the narrowest of margins, Elshorbagy
looked to be set for safe passage into the next round before a
tenacious Golan fought back to level proceedings. However, Elshorbagy
refocused and overturned a strong lead from Golan in the fifth to wrap
up a brutal 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 2-11, 11-8 victory and move through to
the last eight where he will meet Rodriguez.
"It was tough for both of us out there," said Marwan.
"The
most important part of that was the mental part. I had to be mentally
very strong today. We both lost out concentration in some crucial
points but I think, overall, that we both gave it everything."
The
day’s other fixture saw England’s Tom Richards dispatch World No.16
Ryan Cuskelly in an impressive 3-0 dismantling. Next up for Richards is
a tough quarter-final encounter against Mohamed Elshorbagy where he
will be looking to end his five-match losing streak against the
25-year-old Egyptian.
Results: 2016 SquashColombia Open - First Round (Top Half)
