QF : Momen 3-0 Marche

QF : [2] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 [9/16] Gregoire Marche (Fra)                 11-5, 11-5, 11-4 (41m)

[2] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 [9/16] Gregoire Marche (Fra) 

On fire. There is no other way to describe how amazing good, free and relaxed Tarek was today. Having finally realised that it would be a good idea for him to work on his physicality at 33 and during Ramadan – I kid you not, read his quote from his first match at the squash centre – he just wasn’t in a hurry of ending the rallies, and made 5 errors the whole match.

Yes, 5. The whole match. Tarek.

Whatever Greg was doing, Tarek would find the front corners and left the ball to die there. It’s not that the French did anything wrong… Tarek was just unplayable tonight.

Was it the “gazouillis”, the joyful tweeting from his son Shahir in the crowd that did the trick? No, I know, it’s the hair and the beard. That’s the secret…. 😊

Greg:  A lesson. A  squash lesson. We can safely say that.

At the start, I just couldn’t feel my shots at all, I was late on the ball, never comfortable, no marks, first match on the glass, and against such a player – he is not world number 3 for NOTHING – and especially on fire, no errors.. He has an answer for all my questions…

So I got a bit frustrated as I couldn’t find any solutions. I was trying, I started lifting the ball, it got worse! So I was hoping he would drop a bit, but he just never did.

No, heat was fine, yes ball a bit bouncy, maybe that’s why I was struggling with my length especially at the start, but no, it was fine really.

He was just playing so well, and I was making sure I was making his life as easy as possible.. So disappointed with my performance tonight, I thought I was doing ok in this event, but Tarek, just too good… I can sometimes cause a few problems to him but not when he is flying at that height..

Tarek : It’s unusual territory for me! I’m not used to getting through 3-0 in successive matches,”

“Today it must have been one of those days where I felt relaxed on court – it’s the most I’ve been relaxed in a very long time. I played a game I’m not used to, I played in a relatively slower pace than I’m used to and it paid off.

“I went for it at the beginning, not knowing exactly how it would pan out, but it worked perfectly and then I got the feel of everything. The dropshots, the length, everything just kept working and getting better, so I stuck to that plan the entire time and it worked.

“Against Paul, it’s going to be interesting and I’m looking forward to it.”