Simpson beats World No. 8
CHRIS SIMPSON pulled off a huge upset in the CIB Men’s Egyptian Open over the weekend, but could not come through another marathon outing the following day.
The Guernsey professional was given easy passage to the second round when his opponent Edmon Lopez retired early on in their round-one clash, which gave no indication of what he would produce when up against sixth seed Mohamed Abouelghar on Saturday.
As it turned out, on a day of upsets when only three of the eight seeds progressed in the PSA Tour Platinum event, Simpson pulled off one of the biggest against the odds as he overcame the Egyptian world No. 8 12-10, 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-5 in 73min.
‘The most unexpected win of my career,’ said Simpson.
‘I’ve had an awful summer – injuries, literally almost no squash and that’s sometimes just the way it goes.
‘I was relaxed, I went on and knew he had been injured as well and after having such a good end to the season maybe he put a bit of pressure on himself, but I just wanted to do myself justice and, to be honest, I didn’t have any considerations about winning.
‘I just wanted to have a nice game and feel like I’d played some good squash again because I hadn’t felt like I’d done that in a long time.
‘Without a doubt I played some of the best squash I have played since 2016, before I got injured. I’m over the moon.’
His subsequent last-16 match against Daryl Selby, played less than 24 hours later, turned out to be a strange contest in that the players did not play well at the same time – one always seemed in total control as momentum kept shifting game by game.
Once again, the match lasted 73min. but this time it was Selby who emerged victorious 11-5, 6-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-2.
More in Tuesday's Guernsey Press.
