El Gouna Update: Mammoth Win For Meguid

Qualifier Omar Abdel Meguid came through a mammoth battle with Hong Kong’s Max Lee to secure his place in the second round of the 2016 El Gouna International, in what will be the towering Egyptian’s first ever second round appearance at a PSA World Series tournament.

After coming through two tough qualification encounters just to reach the first round the effort looked to be telling on Meguid, one of the biggest players on Tour, as he went down 2-11 in the first game, but he roared back into the contest in the second game as he dug deep to play some of his best squash of the season and hold off the man from Hong Kong to level the scoreboard.

But the man from Giza found himself behind again in rapid time as Lee dominated the third before another gargantuan game ensued, in which Meguid saved four match-balls amid high intensity and drama that had both men pushing beyond the limits in the intense heat of the Red Sea resort.

After levelling at 14-14 two errors from Lee granted Meguid a chance in an all-or-nothing fifth game and his tenacity and efforts were rewarded as Lee, beginning to show signs that the intense heat and pressure was getting to him, dropped his levels to allow Meguid, who is also a qualified dentist, to sink his teeth into a second round berth.

Result:
[Q] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt Max Lee (HKG) 3-2: 2-11, 12-10, 4-11, 16-14, 11-6 (75m)