Injury Curtails Renewal of Rivalry Between Elias and Momen at CIB Egyptian Open Quarter-Final

Reigning world champion Diego Elias booked his spot in the last four of the 2024 CIB Egyptian Open after an injury-curtailed win over Egyptian No.6 seed Tarek Momen.

Elias, who had lost his last two matches against Momen, was the stronger player in game one, with Momen busy around court as he matched Elias with the scores at 5-5.

From here, though, Elias began to dominate, defending well and playing intelligently at the front before clinching the game following a string of Momen errors.

Towards the end of the opener, it became clear that Momen was struggling with injury.

After an injury delay between games, Momen returned to court, but it soon became clear he couldn’t carry on. With the score at 6-2 to Elias in game two, the pair shook hands.

Elias will take on reigning champion Ali Farag in the semi-final

After the match, Elias said: “I wasn’t really thinking about him to be honest. I was just thinking about my game. I knew there was something wrong when he asked for the physio but I didn’t notice anything in the first game. It’s never nice to win this way and hopefully he will be okay soon.

“He’s been on Tour for so long, you can’t really see him slowing down. He just played five games at a really high level a few days ago so he’s obviously still at the top of the game and hopefully he can get better soon.

“It’s always a battle agains Ali [Farag]. He’d beaten me so many times until I got that win on this court in the World Champs so I’m just looking forward to anther big battle against him.”

Result: CIB Egyptian Open Men’s Quarter-Final
[4] Diego Elias (PER) bt [7] Tarek Momen (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 6-2 ret. (21m)

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