Farhan lone Pakistani survivor in Serena Huawei Int’l Squash

ISLAMABAD: Tayyab Aslam was beaten fair and square by a lower-ranked Egyptian with Farhan Mehboob emerging as the only local survivor in the $ 20,000 Serena-Huawei International Squash Tournament that entered the semis stage at the Mushaf Ali Mir Complex.

In Monday’s quarterfinals, second seed and world ranked 53 Tayyab let down local fans by providing all opportunities to 20 places lower ranked Mohamed ElShirbini to stage an upset. Egyptian beat Tayyab 11-13, 11-9, 11-2, 6-11, 13-11 in a match that lasted for more than ninety minutes. After winning the extended first game, Tayyab took full control of the second by racing to 6-2 and then 8-3 lead, when he started showing signs of complacency and raw hitting. While ElShirbini stayed firm and kept on playing consistent game, Tayyab started making one after another error, hitting tin, missing easy opportunities to kill the ball and on top of all that never trying to wait for the loose ball. ElShirbini not only narrowed the gap but went on to win the second to turn the tide of the match to his favour. From there on, Tayyab started playing to liking of Egyptian rather than making his own game plan to keep his inexperience opponent under pressure.

“Victory against a higher ranked player always helps in boosting your morale. I hope that win here would go a long way in strengthen my ranking further,” Mohamed ElShirbini said.

Tayyab was conceded the third rather easily but was seen bouncing back in the fourth to make the score 2-2. At the end the Egyptian stamina and game plan turned out to be the difference in the extended fifth. Considering ranking and experience of Tayyab, he should have finished the match in four games. He looked well set to do that when he was 8-3 ahead in second after winning the first game.

In third quarter-finals, local player Amaad Fareed ranked outside 100 had his chances against Spaniard Carlos Cornes Ribadas only to bow down at the end.World No 81 Carlos Cornes Ribadas (ESP) beat Amaad Fareed 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 4-11, 11-4. Pakistani played too easy a game to even think of victory, making numerous unforced errors in the process.

World No 72 Farhan Mehboob turned out to be the only local survivor as he defeated ranked 110 Ammar Altamimi (Kuw) 11-5, 11-4, 12-10 in a one-sided match.

Farhan will now meet top seed Egyptian World No 46 Karim Ali Fathi who had to work hard to beat Asim Khan 11-9, 12-10 and 11-6 in the first quarter-finals lasted for 42 minutes. Both the semis will be played on Wednesday.