Mozart Open men: home crowd carries Aqeel Rehman into the semifinal
The quarterfinals of the Mozart Open brought four exciting matches on the glasscourt at EUROPARK Salzburg shopping mall including some upsets and a home semifinalist.
Already in the first match rookie Rhys Evans (WAL, WRL 198) kicked out a slightly handicaped Omar El Torkey (EGY, 147). But the Welshman showed another great performance and deserved to reach the semifinal.
After that eight seed Robert Downer (ENG, WRL 153) beat the number 4 seed of the tournament Valentin Rapp (GER, WRL 147). After a 25 minute first game, which the Englishmen took 14/12, the German equalized promptly with 11/1. Hower Rob Downer secured the next two games and won 3/1.
After this it went according to the seeding. Still the matches were intense and close. Second seed Khaled Labib (EGY, WRL 118) showed a solid performance and beat Jared Carter (ENG, WRL 179) 3/1 as well.
The last match on court was between local hero and topseed Aqeel Rehman (AUT, WRL 119) and last year’s runner up and seventh seed Robin Gadola (SUI WRL 164). Both players showed great fighting skills, with the Swiss beeing even more clinical with his shots. He couldn’t convert his match ball at 11/10 in the fourth game which made it possible for the 18-times Austrian National Champion Aqeel Rehman to come back and even win the deciding game.
The crowd was extatic and really pushed their home favorite to the victory.
Here are the full results of the quarterfinals:
[9/16] Rhys Evans (WAL, WRL 198) – [3] Omar El Torkey (EGY, WRL 147) 11/6, 6/11, 11/7, 11/4 42min
[8] Robert Downer (ENG, WRL 153) – [4] Valentin Rapp (GER, WRL 147) 14/12, 1/11, 11/5, 11/5, 58min
[2] Khaled Labib (EGY, WRL 118) – [9/16] Jared Carter (ENG, WRL 179) 11/7, 2/11, 11/7, 11/6 44min
[1] Aqeel Rehman (AUT, WRL 119) – [7] Robin Gadola (SUI, WRL 164) 6/11, 11/8, 4/11, 13/11, 11/7 61min
These are the semifinal line ups for Friday:
17:30: [2] Khaled Labib (EGY, WRL 118) – [9/16] Rhys Evans (WAL, WRL 198)
19:00: [1] Aqeel Rehman (AUT, WRL 119) – [8] Robert Downer (ENG, WRL 153)
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