R” : [6] Miguel Rodriguez (Col) 3-2 [16] Zahed Salem (Egy) 5-11, 9-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-6 (83m)
Going from strength to strength, looking pretty slow to react and not completely on the ball, Miguel displayed a superb determination, turning tables and fighting incredibly hard against a Zahed who made the error of becoming very defensive in the 4th, 24m game, when he got to match ball, 10/8, making his only errors of that game, 4 of them… 13/11 to Miguel.
That was the turning point of the match…
Miguel
I never gave up.
I think I was three match balls down and it happened the same time when I played him in Switzerland, I had match ball and he beat me. With him, it’s always tough matches – it was a mental game, my short game wasn’t there today and I was a bit edgy on the shots. I was trying to go too short to finish the rallies and I had to keep the same strategy as the day before – they like to play short rallies, so I was focusing on playing a lengthy game with a little bit of pace and it worked.
The good thing is that I’m in shape, I’m injury free and I’m enjoying this last tournament – sometimes it’s tough to enjoy when you are losing in the match with that pressure and you want to give more. It’s difficult to adapt to the game and you have to play your ‘A’ game plan, I managed to dig in and finally did it.
I think it’s going to be a great match for the audience between Mostafa v Paul , they played at the Pyramids and had a fantastic match – I’m going to sit back at the hotel and enjoy the match.
