Bremer Schlüssel QFs: Enriquez Edges Out Labib to Join Egyptian Trio in Final Four

Alejandro Enriquez ensured there would be no Egyptian clean sweep in the Bremer Schlüssel semi-finals, battling to a 3-2 win over Khaled Labib at the Fitness & Squash Center Achim-Baden. 

The Guatemalan – seeded No.4 seed here – stepped on court for the second match, having watched crowd favourite Yassin Elshafei beat Owain Taylor 3-1 to open proceedings on quarter-finals day. 

Despite being ranked almost 30 places above Labib in the world rankings, Enriquez found himself on the back foot early on, dropping game one 11-8, but found his feet in the second, taking it 11-3. 

Long, punishing rallies were not in short supply, with one exchange lasting almost two minutes, ending with Enriquez sprawling across the court in a desperate dive. 

The Guatemalan picked himself up and soon had a 2-1 lead, clinching game three 11-8, but Labib was not about to throw in the towel, forcing a decider by edging a tense game four 11-9. 

Completing the comeback would prove to be beyond his reach, though, as Enriquez continued to show impressive speed and stamina until the end, crunching a forehand drive down the line to end a 21-shot rally on match ball in the fifth.

Victory for the Guatemalan – who is the highest ever ranked player from his country – sets up a semi-final clash with No.2 seed Mazen Gamal, who came through a dramatic four-game counter of his own later in the day.

The 38-year-old Egyptian was facing former world junior champion Rowan Damming, a player exactly half his age at 19, but charged into a one-game lead, dropping only three points along the way. 

Game two was almost as one-sided, finishing 11-6 to Gamal, but Damming fought his way back into contention, winning game three 11-9, just as he had done in his impressive comeback yesterday. 

At 9-9 in the fourth, the young Dutchman would have been sensing a repeat of yesterday’s heroics, but he lost the following point to face match ball, when drama occurred.

There had been plenty of contact between the two players throughout with referee Nicolas Barbeau heavily involved, and the players came together once again following a backhand drive down the line from Gamal.

The experienced Egyptian thought he’d won the match, letting out a huge roar before grabbing his towel and heading towards the door, only to be ordered back on court by Barbeau. 

The decision was in fact a a yes-let, with the score remaining 10-9, but Gamal regained his composure and closed it out on the next rally nonetheless. 

His win completed the semi-final line-up following a 3-1 win for Ibrahim Elkabbani, who beat fellow Egyptian Hazem Hossam in the third semi-final. 

Hossam is almost 100 places below the No.1 seed in the world rankings, but threatened an upset for much of their back-and-forth encounter, only to fall agonisingly short in both games three and four, losing them 12-10, 11-9. 

The semi-finals of the Bremer Schlüssel start at 5:15pm local time (4:15pm BST) on Friday, July 26, streaming live on the SQUASHTV Live Streaming YouTube channel.

Results: 
[3] Yassin Elshafei (EGY) bt [5] Owain Taylor (WAL) 3-1: 11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4 (44m) 
[4] Alejandro Enriquez (GUA) bt Khaled Labib (EGY) 3-2: 8-11, 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5 (60m) 
[1] Ibrahim Elkabbani (EGY) bt Hazem Hossam (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9 (59m) 
[2] Mazen Gamal (EGY) bt [8] Rowan Damming (NED) 3-1: 11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9 (65m)