Round three of the DPSL had some possible small upsets and an absolute thriller. This is what happened … Daniel Lagewaard reports
Group One : Van Herk 2-1 Frans Otten (6-6) | Houtrust 3-0 Utrecht (9-0)
Group Two : MeerSquash 3-0 Almere (9-0) | Apeldoorn 2-1 Drachten (7-4)
Wooncompany Houtrust 3-0 Dxfferent Squash Utrecht (9-0)
In Group Two Houtrust took it all against Utrecht and took it big. First match between Arno Diekman and Nico Piek started off with two promising tiebreaks, won by Diekman, but from there it was one way traffic as teamleader Iván Perez and Dutch U23 champion Sam Gerrits overcame Roshan Bharos and Niels Hoevenaars with ease. Watch back here
Squash Apeldoorn 2-1 Centre Squash Drachten (7-4)
The Match between Apeldoorn and Drachten had a different face. Apeldoorn was set to win to strengthen their hold on third position in the poule, but was vulnerable at position #3. And indeed young Egyptian Christophe Moawad defeated Andre Igelbrink to give Drachten a 3-1 advantage.
After this Thijs Roukens very unexpectedly took the first game of Omar Mosaad and an upset was in the making. But Mosaad was able to set everything straight winning 3-1, equalling the score.
Decider of the evening between Curtis Malik and Lowie Delbeke was very entertaining but overall just a formality, giving Apeldoorn a 10-4 win. Watch back here
RIXAX Squash Almere 3-0 ‘Meersquash (9-0)
In Goule one Almere travelled light to ‘Meersuash, but on paper would still had some chances.
Evening started off with the Match between Nele Gilis and Romanian Radu Pena. Pena (PSA-360) came close but Nele proved the insane level of todays female top players winning in 3 close games.
After that Bart Ravelli and Dutch talent Hjalmer Mols secured the 12-0 win in straight and easy games against Robert Lindner and Ishmael Mubure. Watch back here
Van Herk/Squash Ridderkerk 3-0 Frans Otten Stadion (6-6)
Fixture of the evening was of course between Ridderkerk and Frans Otten Stadion.
Sebastiaan Hofman gave Frans Otten a 3-0 lead beating Rene Mijs. After this it was time the absolute highlight of the third round: The ElShorbagy Showdown.
Stands were full and the crowd was continuously awed seeing Mohamed eventually overtake his brother Marwan 3-1.
Last match of the evening was between Valentin Rapp and Omar Abdel Meguid and that turned out to be a dramatic battle. Meguid took a 2-0 lead and even got to several matchballs in the third. But Rapp overcame Meguid’s power and presence to eventually ‘steal’ the win 3-2. Watch back here
The tension in Group 1 is already reaching a boiling point with Victoria, Frans Otten Stadion, ‘Meersquash and Ridderkerk being in a range of just 5 points. Almere will have a very hard time catching up, but this year is all about Almere’s talent development…
