[4] Paul Coll -05- (NZL) def [12] Omar Mosaad -15- (EGY)
[vector_icon icon=”fas fa-check-circle”] Round-of-16 Score: 9-11, 14-12, 11-9, 6-11, 16-14 (119m)
Match recap from Squash Announcer Andy Taylor, Voice of the 2019 PSA Mens World Championship.
In a 2-hour epic that ended in slow-motion, Superman Paul Coll earned a spot in his 3rd successive World Championship Quarterfinal. For 90-minutes, the match was physical and fair – but as is often the case when the stakes are high and anxiety spikes, both players found themselves looking to the match referee during the decider.
It got worse in the tiebreak, where nearly every point was decided by the video referee. Clearly, the anxiety wasn’t just on the court…
That said – this is squash. A sport where two athletes share space. Referees don’t have it easy — and on the sport’s biggest stage, matches packed with tough decisions are inevitable. The players understand it. For Mosaad and his fans, the result stings – especially knowing this was Mosaad’s best World Championship run since reaching the Final in 2015. But part of this game, for every player, is accepting decisions and moving forward. Omar will do just that. The big man played his best match in years against a top-5 opponent.
Meanwhile, Paul Coll continues to soar. He’s 10-3 on the season, after earning his 14th title in Nantes, and reaching the US Open Quarters and Egyptian Open Semis. With no day off tomorrow, a decent recovery is imperative before climbing into the glass with surging Zahed Salem.
Superman is now 3-1 against the Hammer of Thor
► Nov 2018 | Coll def Mosaad | R3 World Championship – Score: 9-11, 14-12, 11-9, 6-11, 16-14 (119m)
► Oct 2018 | Coll def Mosaad | R3 US Open – Score: 11-6, 11-4, 11-1 (34m)
► Feb 2018 | Coll def Mosaad | QF Swedish Open – Score: 11-4, 14-12, 11-5 (44m)
► Oct 2017 | Mosaad def Coll | R2 US Open – Score: 12-10, 11-8, 11-8 (61m)
Announcer Corner | Player Introductions
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[4] Paul Coll -05- (NZL)
Few players soar through the air like New Zealand’s top-talent. His determined dives and relentless acrobatics have earned him the nickname, Superman. Now 9-3 on the new season, he started this year’s campaign by capturing his 14th career title in Nantes. In Philly, he reached the Quarterfinals of the US Open. And just last week in Giza, he battled-through to his 4th Platinum Semifinal at the Egyptian Open. Last season, he cracked the PSA’s top-5 for the first time, winning the title at Canary Wharf – and was a Quarterfinalist or better at every single Major. Competing for the sport’s biggest purse for the 6th-time, he is 2-time World Champion Quarterfinalist and World #5, Superman Paul Coll.
► Quarterfinalist at all the Majors last year, including Semifinal-runs at the US, Black Ball, and British Opens
▲ R2 — def Borja Golan -34- (ESP) | Score: 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 (40m) | RECAP
▲ R1 — def [WC] Hamad Al-Amri -287- (QAT) | Score: 11-4, 11-4, 11-3 (20m) | RECAP
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[12] Omar Mosaad -15- (EGY)
In 2006, he made his World Championship debut in Giza as a lanky, 18-year-old Wild Card ranked outside the top-75. 13-years-later, he is now a 32-time Tour-level Finalist, owns 10 PSA titles – and in 2015, defeated Ramy Ashour, then Tarek Momen to reach the Final of the World Championship in Bellevue, Washington. A Finalist on this court last season, he reached the championship match of last year’s PSA Bronze QSF No.1 – and tonight, is appearing in the World Championship’s Round of 16 for a 5th time. Competing in his 14th PSA World Championship – he is an Egyptian National Champion, a Platinum Finalist, and has been ranked as high as World #3. From Egypt – He is the Hammer of Thor, Omar Mosaad.
► This was Omar’s first Round of 16 run at the World Championship since reaching the Final in 2015.
► Omar is now 4-4 on the season. After a 1st-Round Bye, his first win came in Round-2 of September’s China Open, where he defeated Doha’s Abdulla Al-Tamimi to reach the Quarterfinals. Marwan Elshorbagy won that match, then Mazen Hesham knocked him out of the US Open before Ali Farag eliminated him early at the Egyptian Open.
► With 2 more “W’s” on the board, on Sunday he promised to deliver his best performance tonight in the Round of 16. And that he did – this one truly could have gone either way.
▲ R2 — def [WC] Syed Azlan Amjad -159- (QAT) | Score: 11-5, 11-2, 11-6 (25m) | RECAP
▲ R1 — def Baptiste Masotti -59- (FRA) | Score: 8-11, 11-9, 11-2, 11-8 (54m) | RECAP
