The Hague Open: Top Seeds Mangaonkar & Taylor To Contest Final

Top seeds Mahesh Mangaonkar and Owain Taylor have both successfully made their way through to the final at The Hague Open after defeating Joeri Hapers and Mohamed Nasser in the semi-finals of the Challenger 6 event.

Indian No.1 seed Mangaonkar was always in control in his semi-final against Belgium’s Hapers. The World No.71 never let his opponent get over five points in any of the games as he nullified all of Hapers’ weapons and inflicted his own attacking prowess on the match. He won in just 40 minutes.

He will face No.2 seed Owain Taylor of Wales in the final after the Welshman used his experience to defeat 19-year-old Egyptian Mohamed Nasser in four games to advance to the final. Taylor closed out the first two games 11-8, 11-7 by keeping the ball straight and tight and using his superior reach across the middle to pick loose balls off from the Egyptian and hit devastating, deceptive kills.

The young Egyptian clawed a game back after winning the third game 11-4 but Taylor regrouped and returned to his disciplined game, starving the 19-year-old of attacking opportunities which led to errors from him. Taylor won 11-8 to complete the 3-1 win and earn a shot at the trophy.

Results: Semi-finals
[1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt [4] Joeri Hapers (BEL) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-3 (40m
[2] Owain Taylor (WAL) bt [4] Mohamed Nasser (EGY) 3-1: 11-8, 11-7, 4-11, 11-8 (65m)