PSA Day 5 Round Up – 11 June 2022
FLAWLESS DIEGO ELIAS TRIUMPHS AT THE INAUGURAL NECKER MAURITIUS OPEN
Diego Elias won the inaugural Necker Mauritius Open (Men’s Gold, $110,000) on Saturday night at the RMClub Mauritius, capping an incredible week with a straight game victory over Mohamed ElShorbagy in the final. In the $30,000 women’s tournament, number 1 seed Tinne Gilis came back twice but it wasn’t enough to stop young Egyptian Farida Mohamed to grab her biggest title.
Diego Elias capped an incredible week, beating Mohamed ElShorbagy in straight games in the final of the Necker Mauritius Open 2022 Presented by Beachcomber Resorts & Hotels last night. It’s the Peruvian Puma’s 11th PSA title and the third of the season. After having beaten #1 seed Paul Coll in emphatic manner on Friday, World No.5 Diego Elias picked up things where he left off at the start of the final. He even went up to 10-0 before ElShorbagy put his name on the board and shouted ‘yes’ as a sign or relief. As we could expect, the World No.3 got his teeth into the match and rallies started to extend, but a boast error cost him the second game. Elias has a slight dip at the beginning of the third, but quickly regained his focus to start dominating again. At 9-6 up, ElShorbagy was surprised by a shot in the middle from his opponent. Called into action, the video ref agreed with Elias who viewed this a ‘super no let’ and soon converted his third match ball to end an incredible week. In the space of two days, the Peruvian Puma beat World No.2 and World No.3 and wins the inaugural Necker Mauritius Open without dropping a game, meaning he’ll go to the World Tour Finals full of confidence.
Diego Elias (on the right) capped an incredible week in Mauritius, beating Mohamed ElShorbagy in straight games in the final
Diego Elias’s reaction: “I want to thank everyone for coming here today and [Tournament Promoter] Rémy [Mabillon] for organising this amazing event. I love being in this atmosphere, it feels like home. Thanks to all the team, the club and Greg [Gaultier] for helping to putting this together, as well as PSA for having a tournament here. I’m really happy to be the first winner of an event like this. Hopefully, this keeps happening and I can come back next year to try and win it again. I also want to say thanks to Mohamed. He has been one of the best ever in squash, and I hope one day I can achieve what he has achieved and be like him when he loses. It’s like he is a winner too, I appreciate it a lot, you don’t see it very often.”
Source: PSA World Tour
Mohamed ElShorbagy and Diego Elias, runner-up and wonner of the inaugural Necker Mauritius Open
FARIDA MOHAMED BEAT TINNE GILIS TO CLINCH RMCLUB WOMEN’S OPEN 2022
20-year old Farida Mohamed won her 5th PSA title, and her biggest to date, after a rollercoaster of a match in the final of the RMClub Women’s Open 2022 Presented by Expression Networks (Challenger 30, $30,000) against World No.15 Tinne Gilis. With her usual mix of forehand low kills and volley drops, the World No.18 took the lead, 11-7, but the Belgian managed to twist and turn the Egyptian to level at 1-all (11-6). Things got very close in the third, the #1 seed saving two game balls before having one of her own, but that’s Mohamed who got in front, 13-11. Helped by the support of the crowd who were very much in her favour last night, Gilis got to a flying start in the fourth game and equalized once again. Mohamed took a 3-minute break to be treated by the physio – she’s been playing with her thigh heavily strapped for a few weeks – and it seemed to do her some good as she built a cushion early in the fifth and final game. At this stage, the referee was getting more and more involved, to the frustration of Tinne Gilis who would not be able to come back. Farida Mohamed ended the match in style, wrong-footing her opponent with a nice flick and we could see by her huge celebration how much this title meant to her.
Farida Mohamed (foreground) overcame Tinne Gilis after a see-saw affair
Farida Mohamed’s reaction – “Everyone wanted me to pull out of this tournament because of my leg. I’ve been injured for a month and a half now, my hamstring and my hip. I finally found a way to fix it in the past two days. It was feeling better, but at the end my deep heat was done. I managed to make it and it is such a relief, to be honest, because Tinne has been playing amazing squash lately and she’s improved so much. My coach knows very well that I wanted to win this tournament badly, now it’s over and I’m going into the break with a win. It feels amazing to win my biggest title at the end of the season and finish this way. It’s going to give me confidence because I haven’t been in top form today and this week because of my leg as I wasn’t able train very well.”
Source: PSA World Tour
Farida Mohamed (second from the left) is the winner of the inaugural RMClub Women’s 2022 Presented by Expression Networks
Results – finals, Saturday the 11th of June
Necker Mauritius Open 2022 Presented by Beachcomber Resorts & Hotels (Gold, $110,000)
[3] Diego Elías (PER) bt [2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG):3-0 (11-2, 11-9, 11-8)
RMClub Women’s Open 2022 Presented by Expression Networks LLC (Challenger 30, $30,000)
[3] Farida Mohamed (EGY) bt [1] Tinne Gilis (BEL): 3-2 (11-7, 6-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-5)
