El Gouna Update: Meguid No Match For Marwan ElShorbagy

Grasshopper Cup winner Marwan ElShorbagy brushed aside the challenge of qualifier Omar Abdel Meguid in their second round encounter in El Gouna to set up a quarter-final matchup with fellow Egyptian Fares Dessouki.

Meguid came through three brutal encounter, two of them in qualification, to reach the second round of a PSA World Series tournament for the first time in his career but couldn’t find enough in his locker to cause any real damage to ElShorbagy – who has underlined his recent improvement to become a fixture in the world’s top ten in recent months.

The 22-year-old’s court craft and knowledge came to the fore as he remained calm and patient against Meguid, one of the biggest men on the tour, to surge into the quarter-finals and keep alive his hopes of securing a place in the World Series Finals.

“I’ve been working hard in the last few months to get physically stronger and I can se the progress,” said ElShorbagy.

“Still not at the level i want to be but happy with how I am playing and hopefully can keep up the form.

“Last week in Zurich was the best week of my life and I just want to keep that going. Sadly Ramy pulls out with injury but right now every match I want to win – I beat the No.2 last week so I have the confidence that I can beat any player.

“Fares is a tough player and hopefully we can play better than last time in Canary Wharf and give a much better show than we did there.”

Result:
Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 (33m)