Egypt's Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry edged out fellow countryman Zahed Mohamed in a 61-minute final thriller to win the Maharashtra State PSA Open, the new PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event at the Bombay Gymkhana in Mumbai, India.
It was unexpected climax between No4 seed Ga Sabry and unseeded Mohamed, the 21-year-old from Alexandria who claimed the scalps of both top seed Ong Beng Hee and third seed Mohd Ali Anwar Reda on his way to the final.
"After dropping the first game, Zahed comes out all guns blazing in his second of five shirts on the night with some immaculate length and razor drops," explains event spokesman Raj Arora. "The consistency is super solid as he races through game two; It's 11-3 to Zahed and the capacity crowd is in for some more drama.
"There's no place to move outside the court as the packed crowd adds to the rising temperature. The players take the court with fresh shirts. The crucial third game gets underway. It's high octane stuff as the quality of squash scales a high.
"Zahed controlling it beautifully and the young Mazen playing some gems of his own. After taking Mazen all over the court Zahed rips a blinder on the forehand and leads 7-4. Two beauties from Mazen followed by a lucky shot and the game hangs in the balance. Mazen ups it a bit and rather quickly he's reeled off another four straight points to take a 2/1 lead."
Mohamed takes the fourth to force a decider - and builds up a 5-2 lead as he looks to claim his third upset.
But world No45 Ga Sabry - the 19-year-old from Cairo ranked 45 places higher than his opponent - reclaims the upper hand to survive the tense decider to win 11-5, 3-11, 11-7, 4-11, 11-8 after 61 minutes.
Presentation picture shows (L to R) PSA South East Asia Representative Ritwik Bhattacharya; Zahed Mohamed; Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry; and Raj Arora
"The crowd has been served some delectable fare," concluded Arora. "The juniors have certainly had many squash lessons all week. The Bombay Gymkhana has played host to some outstanding talents this week."
The win marks the fifth PSA World Tour title of Ga Sabry's career - and his third this year!
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 15 Maharashtra State PSA Open, Mumbai, India
Final:
[4] Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY) bt Zahed Mohamed (EGY) 11-5, 3-11, 11-7, 4-11, 11-8 (61m)
