Egyptian Open: Al Tamimi enters 3rd round

Doha: Qatar’s Abdulla Mohamed Al Tamimi yesterday prevailed over Switzerland’s Dimitri Steinmann in a five-set-thriller to advance at the 2022 CIB Egyptian Open in Cairo.

The Qatar No.1, who recently made headlines by defeating World No.2 Paul Coll on his way to the quarter-finals of the QTerminals Qatar Classic, won with an 11-6, 11-8, 11-13, 7-11, 11-9 score-line to enter third round where he will face seventh seed Mazen Hesham.

After winning the first two games, the World No.43 was once again pushed to his limits by Steinmann in the third game.

Steinmann won the fourth game 11-7 to make it even. 

The Qatari star displayed his masterclass in the fifth game to win the game at 11-9 and eliminate the Swiss World No.44 at the end of the 69-minute battle.

“I didn’t want to lose a streak of, say, 11 points in a row, because from 4-0 up I was 10-6 down so I only scored two points in 10 so I wanted to come back and let him know that I was in the fight for the long haul. I knew, even though I lost, I did well to come back and that gave me the necessary push,” Al Tamimi said.

“I train with Dimitri all the time, he knows my game, and I know his. It was a fair and clean match,” Tamimi said after the match.

Meanwhile, Hesham defeated Frenchman Baptiste Masotti 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-3. 

“I was pretty sure the match would be as fast and intense as it was, because we both like a fast and short game, and we are both good at it. We can still play a good long game but he wants to test my movement and I want to test my shots, my body. I’m really happy to be through today, as honestly, I didn’t know if I would play the tournament until Thursday. And today I beat a top 16 player, so I’m really happy,” the Egyptian said after yesterday’s win.

Joining Al Tamimi and Hesham in the third round in Cairo will be Egypt’s World No.1 Ali Farag, Frenchman Victor Crouin, Marwan ElShorbagy, Mohamed ElShorbagy, Diego Elias, Mostafa Asal, and Tarek Momen, who also won their respective matches.