Tribune News Network
Doha
Egyptian veteran Tarek Momen booked his place in the quarter-finals of this year’s QTerminals Qatar Classic at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex on Tuesday after halting dangerous Frenchman Sebastien Bonmalais in straight games.
The 36-year-old from Cairo – making his 16th appearance at the Qatar Classic – made the most of his racket skills in the opening game as he fired the ball in short from unorthodox positions in the back of the court to catch Bonmalais off guard.
After taking a one-game lead, Momen’s rhythm was stopped in his tracks temporarily after being caught in the leg by Bonmalais’ hip as the Frenchman ran in to the front of the court to chase down a Momen drop.
Momen was leading 4-3 at that point and, while he returned to the court after some treatment from the physio, Bonmalais pushed hard to go 8-6 ahead. Momen recovered coming up with the winners when he needed them to double his lead.
Bonmalais tested the movement of Momen in the third, but the Egyptian was more than equal to the task, grinding his opponent down to win in straight games.
Momen – a former World Champion – will play either the current World Champion Diego Elias or Germany’s Raphael Kandra in the next round.
Reigning women’s champion Hania El Hammamy continued her title challenge with a comfortable 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 win over wildcard Salma Eltayeb.
Results (Rd 2)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt. [5] Mazen Hesham (EGY)3-1: 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6 (47m); [6] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt. Tesni Murphy (WAL)3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-3 (24m); [1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt. Youssef Soliman (EGY)3-1: 6-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 (55m); [1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt. Sana Ibrahim (EGY)3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 11-8 (29m); [4] Diego Elias (PER) bt. Raphael Kandra (GER)3-0: 11-3, 11-5, 11-2; (25m)
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt. Salma Eltayeb (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 (29m); [7] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt. Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA)3-0: 11-7, 11-9, 11-9 (50m); [7] Tinne Gilis (BEL) bt. Jasmine Hutton (ENG)3-1: 4-11, 11-6, 14-12, 11-5 (50m).