Momen Makes Second Malaysian Open Final by Howard Harding 14 September 2013
- Egypt's title-holder Tarek Momen will make his second successive
appearance in the final of the CIMB Malaysian Open after prevailing in
today's semi-finals of the PSA World Tour International 50 squash event
at the Curve Shopping Mall in Petaling Jaya in Selangor.
The 25-year-old world
No10 from Cairo was taking on Chris Simpson, the unseeded Englishman
who was appearing in the semi-finals against expectation after
upsetting top seed Karim Darwish.
Momen went into the
match boasting a 1/0 career head-to-head advantage over Simpson - but
it was the 26-year-old underdog who took the lead.
Momen drew level, but again Simpson - ranked 15 places lower - regained the advantage after taking the third.
The defending champion
pulled out all the stops in his bid to return to the final - ultimately
closing out the match 6-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-5 after 69 minutes to
reach the ninth Tour final of his career, but the first since his Curve
triumph 12 months ago.
"He has improved a lot
and he was very sharp and his drives were glued to the wall," said
Momen, whose fiancée Raneem El Weleily, the women's champion, also won
her semi-final match today. "Me and Raneem really scared everyone today
so we will see what happens tomorrow!"
Simpson added: "It's
the first competition of the season, so it's a great start for me. I
would have loved to have made the final but need to take the positives
from it. I got the tactics right for four games but then I got a bit
tired and my mind went - but credit to Tarek.
"I would like to thank the crowd for their fantastic support this week."
The other semi-final pitted England's No2 seed Peter Barker against third-seeded Spaniard Borja Golan.
"The opening game was
long and hard with Barker winning it 11-9," reported event spokesman
Andrew Cross. "At the beginning of the third, with Barker leading 3-1,
Borja swung and on the follow through caught Peter on the nose causing
blood to flow, and it seems Peter has fractured his nose."
The match was suspended and has been rescheduled for 9.00am local time tomorrow (Sunday).
RESULTS: PSA International 50 CIMB Malaysian Open, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Semi-finals: [4] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Chris Simpson (ENG) 6-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-5 (69m) [2] Peter Barker (ENG) v [3] Borja Golan (ESP) (match not completed)
