[3/4] Salman Sherif Khalil (Egy) 3-2 [3/4] Belal Mohamed Kadry (Egy) 10-12, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7
That one was a long one, and it seemed that nobody wanted to win it! Long rallies, not much attacking going on although played at a very fast pace, and a lot of work produced. The quality was a bit inconsistent at time.
To be honest, Belal had a great opportunity in the second at 9/6, to go 2/0 up. But he made a few errors and the loss of that game was very crucial in my opinion. Had he gone 2/0 up… different match altogether.
Huge effort from Salman though, who never gave up and kept clawing back 1/0 down then 2/1 down. He managed to force a decider, and looked very good at 4/1. But errors crept in, 4/4, and errors from his opponent too! Like nobody wanted to take that one!
5/5, 6/6, but the more consistent of the two finally prevails 8/6, 11/7, in a long 13m last game, the longest of the match (1st: 9m, 2nd: 10, 3rd: 12m, 4th: 7m)