Farhan to face Au in final today

ISLAMABAD: Farhan Mehboob beat World No 41 Mohamed Reda of Egypt in straight games to march into $25,000 President Gold Cup International Squash Tournament final at Mushaf Squash Complex, Islamabad, on Thursday.

Farhan tamed third seed Reda 12-10, 13-11, 11-9 following 40 minutes of tough fight.

While Farhan was perfect with his wrist work, Reda applied pressure on the Pakistani in an effort to take the match to fourth game. Farhan was more aggressive and was seen leading at the very outset of the match. Though he had early ascendency, Reda was quick to recover and took the first game to 10-10 when a couple of top of head drops earned Farhan two points. When Farhan was leading 2-0 in the second game, Reda took injury time out after his knee started bleeding. Reda turned out to be more aggressive of the opponents in the second and at one time was serving to take the semis 1-1 when Farhan hit a couple of cross-court winners to snatch the extended second game.

“It was really tough in the first two games,” Farhan said. “I was sure of making my presence felt and I succeeded in that. The recent title victory in the CAS Open encouraged me to do well and I am hopeful to add another feather in my cap,” he said.

Farhan never looked behind in the third where he widened the gap at 7-2 and then 9-3.

When it looked all over for Reda, the Egyptian bounced back by forcing Farhan to hit tins twice. The World No 63 Pakistani player made a couple of other mistakes to allow his opponent to narrow the gap to a level of discomfort. But the Egyptian missed a straightforward winner to give the third game to Farhan, who will take on top seed Leo Au of Hong Kong in the final on Friday (today).

Au had to work hard to beat Karim Al-Fathi of Egypt 11-6, 11-13, 11-8, 7-11 and 11-5.

The match lasted for 90 minutes. It could have been anyone’s match, when the fifth game began. Au took a firm grip at the outset to win the final game with ease.

Air Marshal Asim Zaheer, SI(M), Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (Admin), was the chief guest for the first semi-final. Federal Minister IPC Riaz Hussain Pirzada was the chief guest for the second.

The final will begin at 3pm. President Mamnoon Hussain is expected to be the chief guest on the occasion.