British Open QFs: Farag Continues Title Defence After Hesham Victory

Defending champion Ali Farag put in a clinical performance to defeat Mazen Hesham in three games and advance to the British Open semi-finals. 

World No.1 Farag held off an early barrage of attacks from Hesham – who struggled increasingly with shin issues as the match progressed – to seal an 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 victory after 37 minutes of action. 

Coming into the encounter, Farag held a far superior record against the ‘Black Falcon’, having won 17 of their 19 matches on the PSA World Tour, but Farag’s two most recent victories at the Windy City Open and the Black Ball Open had both gone all the way to deciding games. 

The early signs from both players were that another classic could be on the cards, with Hesham opening the court up in exhibition style and looking to put Farag on the back foot whenever possible. However, Farag showed his world-class defensive abilities to negate these early attacks, before turning the screw in the latter stages to move one game ahead. 

Hesham began to struggle with his movement after receiving treatment from the physio in the game break , with Farag looking to extend the rallies whenever possible. This shin issue led to the No.6 seed attempting to fire the ball with regularity, and with the narrower margins, came a number of errors. 

Farag worked his way through the second and third in workmanlike fashion, taking an early lead in the final game and never letting Hesham gain parity. The 32-year-old will now play Joel Makin for a spot in the final of the PSA World Tour Platinum event. 

After the match, Farag said: “I could see that he was struggling with something, and I hope it isn’t bad because we have World Tour finals just around the corner, but yeh, I still had to play very well. Even a Mazen on one leg can come up with some outrageous shots, and I wasn’t feeling great either because of Nour’s [El Tayeb] match and the hype and the nerves. As soon as her match was over, the hype was all gone and I had to rejuvenate myself again.

“I think I started solid enough, and then I saw Mazen starting to struggle, so that encouraged me to stay even more solid. Maybe I was a little bit too passive sometimes, but I can’t be taking Mazen to the front wall that often. 

On his nose fracture, he added: “I’m feeling great, I’m not feeling any pain although it is fractured, whether it is a complete fracture and completely broken I’ll have to wait and see.”

Result: 

[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [6] Mazen Hesham (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (37m)