Dubai: Egypt’s Tarek Momen may have failed to get out of the group in the PSA World Series Finals at Emirates Golf Club on Thursday but he was just happy to have ended his season with a win.
The 30-year-old beat Colombian recent British Open winner Miguel Angel Rodriguez 2-1 (11-5, 8-11, 11-8) in a dead rubber of a third and final group game, after opening defeats to Nick Matthew and Mohammad Al Shorbagy.
Neither Momen or Rodriguez, who were already on two defeats, could join Matthew and Al Shorbagy, who were on two wins, so both just played for pride.
“It’s a special treat to finish my last match of the season with a win,” said Momen, whose wife Raneem Al Welily fared better in the women’s tournament, topping Group B.
“Obviously I’m a bit disappointed with not qualifying. I was very upset after the first day, Nick played amazingly well but I had more to put into the game and couldn’t,” he added of his opening 2-0 (11-8, 11-9) defeat to the Englishman.
“It hit my confidence a bit but yesterday [Wednesday] when I came back [against Al Shorbagy 2-1: 11-8, 2-11, 11-9] it gave me a boost because I felt like I needed to see myself playing again because there have been a few rough weeks. I’m very happy with the outcome and hopefully next year I can do better.”
In Group A’s other encounter of purely academic interest, Matthew beat Dubai defending champion Al Shorbagy 2-0, (11-6, 11-6).
“Maybe it’s easier for Mohammad to turn off the tap and then turn it back on at full speed for the semis, but it’s a bit harder at my age,” said veteran Matthew, who will retire after this tournament and only made it to this event after being called up as a last-minute replacement to Mohammad’s injured brother Marwan. “I think that if I slow down, I stop; so I try to keep moving.”
Elsewhere, Simon Rosner topped Group B with three wins followed by Ali Farag, who beat Karim Abdul Jawad in their decider for second. Group A of the women’s event saw unbeaten Nour Al Sherbini top the table followed by Nour Al Tayeb, who also beat Joelle King in a decisive test. Raneem Al Welily meanwhile topped Group B followed by Camille Serme, with both cruelly ruling out defending champion Laura Massaro on percentage of games won after all three finished on two wins each.
