R2: Youssef Ibrahim (Egy) 3-2 Lucas Serme (Fra) 4-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-3, 11-6 (61m)
Youssef Ibrahim wins a second five setter in a row as he denies France’s Lucas Serme.
Report to follow
Lucas: The ball went very dead in the 4th and 5th, and he took better advantage than I. I tried to change it after the fourth, but of course, I was too late, only after the third.
I thought I was going to be able to get him physically maybe in the 5th, but he shortened the rallies too well, both in the 4th and 5th… I thought I was able to pick his shots up, kept getting no lets, again, the ball was pretty dead and staying short… He played great shots in the last two games…
Youssef: “I didn’t enjoy it all.
“It was a tough game, Lucas is a very physically fit guy, and I knew today I would have to work for this one. I tried not to give him any freebies, he doesn’t give any and he makes you earn your points. I know I’m not at the best of my physical abilities at this tournament, so I had to play it smart a little bit.
“It’s hard for me to mentally focus, I’m always mentally a little bit shaky and inconsistent. But at this tournament I have to rely on a strong mentality because the physical ability is not there yet. That is another challenge at this tournament and I’m happy I pulled it off today.
“I hate to play against left handers. I train with right handers all the time, so for me it’s not as hard as playing a left hander. We need more left handers on tour, they’re a rarity in the men’s and women’s game, but I don’t find it difficult to read right handers because I play with them all the time.
“I guess for them it makes sense that they can’t read left handers because aren’t many of them on tour.”
🗣 "Lucas is a physically fit guy and I knew today that I had to work for this win!"@Yousseefibrahim took a five-game win over @LucasSerme and he knew that he had to put himself through it to reach the last 16!#BlackBallOpen pic.twitter.com/r63qNOMOdA
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) March 21, 2021
