Egypt’s Omar Abdel Meguid won the title beating Germany’s Jens Schoor (left) in the final yesterday.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
It was second time unlucky for Jens Schoor in the final of the Qatar Circuit II, a PSA M15 squash tournament, at the Khalifa Tennis & Squash Complex here.
The 28-year-old German had lost to Mohamed Reda of Egypt in a closely-fought five-gamer in the final of Qatar Circuit I in November. Yesterday, in his second final on the trot in as many months at the same venue, another Egyptian proved to be his nemesis. The title match lasted just 30 minutes with the scoreline reading 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 in favour of Omar Abdel Meguid.
The top-seeded Egyptian was simply too good for the German, who had fought his way to the final by quelling the challenge of two higher-ranked players, second seed Ivan Yuen of Malaysia in Tuesday’s semi-finals and fourth-seeded Martin Knight of New Zealand in the quarters.
Both were closely-fought four-setters, and that perhaps had a say in his slightly tired-looking movement on court yesterday, as against the fresh legs of his opponent who virtually bulldozed his way to the final with one-sided wins, before ending the year on a high. It was World No. 35 Meguid’s first PSA World Tour title of the year in what was the last PSA Tour tournament of 2015.
Meguid was helped along the way by an injury to his semi-final opponent, Iker Pajares Bernabeu, which meant that he could get off the court before two games had elapsed, ensuring he had fresh legs for the final encounter.
Meguid started the match on the front foot and dictated the tempo of the fixture, moving Schoor around the court cleverly and attacking whenever he was presented with some space. This approach paid immediate dividends and the 27-year-old Egyptian quickly rose into a two-game advantage to put himself on the cusp of victory.
Despite a resurgence from Schoor in the third and final game, Meguid had too much for his opponent to lift his ninth career title and leave Schoor ruing a second successive final defeat in this season’s Qatar Circuit.
“No regrets, he played great. No, I don’t think I was tired or exhausted; it’s just that it was his day today. He had an answer to everything I tried. Nothing worked for me,” said Schoor. “It’s not been a good year for me, and I am glad we now have time to take some well-deserved rest and start afresh next year.”
Meguid was elated with his first title in Qatar. “I have come here a few times before, but never managed to win a title. Making the second round of the 2013 Qatar Classic was my best performance here till today’s win. It feels great to sign off the year with a title. It augurs well for the coming year,” he said.
Result (Final)
[1] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt [5] Jens Schoor (GER) 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-8)
