[3] Moustafa El Sirty (Egy) 3-1 [4] Rui Soares (Por) 7-11, 11-2, 11-5, 11-6 (45m)
Egypt’s Moutsafa El Sirty conquered this year’s edition of the Madeira International Squash Tournament. The young Egyptian showed why he is one of the most promising players of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and defeated Rui Soares by 3-1 (7-11, 11-2, 11-5, 11-6). The large audience that came to the Galo Active courts to support the Portuguese player, expecting an unprecedented Portuguese victory in this competition, ended up rendered to El Sirty’s quality.
Every little free space available was used so that someone from the crowd that completely filled the Galo Active courts could see the memorable show that the Portuguese Rui Soares and the Egyptian Moustafa El Sirty provided in the final of the Madeira International Tournament (TIM).
The result wasn’t what most of the spectators presente in Caniço were expecting, as, despite the incessant support for the Portuguese player, it was Moustafa El Sirty who ended up winning the title in the PSA Challenger 10 Tour event. The young Egyptian player presented a high level squash, with incredible shots from all sides of the court, never allowing Rui Soares to be comfortable in the match. Despite having started the match better, winning the first set (11-7), the Portuguese player couldn’t, in the rest of the match, counter the pace imposed by El Sirty.
The 11-2, 11-5 and 11-6 score in the last three sets reveal the pressure and domination that Moustafa El Sirty exerted on his opponent, forcing him to make a few mistakes, interspersed with some truly incredible “winning shots” from the young Egyptian. All those present ended up rendered to the capacities of Moustafa El Sirty, who confirmed in Madeira all the talent and potential he is known for.
Semis : Mostafa El Sirty takes out top seed Mangaonkar in the semis and will face home favourite Rui Soars for the title …
Rui Soares and Moustafa El Sirty are the finalists of the Madeira International Tournament 2021. After two hard-fought semi-finals, the Portuguese player and the young Egyptian guaranteed their passport to the match of all decisions. Rui Soares defeated Spain’s Ivan Perez (3-1) and Moustafa El Sirty got the better of India’s Mahesh Mangaonkar (3-2).
Rui Soares secured for the first time a place in the final of the Madeira International Tournament, a goal he had been pursuing for some years. His opponent in the semi-final, the Spaniard Ivan Perez, didn’t make life easy for the Portuguese player and sold his defeat very dearly. Perez forced Rui Soares to play his best squash to close the match by 3-1, with the scores of 4-11, 11-9, 11-5 and 11-4 (55m).
The match is unfortunately marked by the injury of the Spanish player during the fourth set, with a suspected fracture of one of his fingers. However, incredibly, Ivan Perez decided to continue the match after the injury timeout to which he is entitled. A clear demonstration of the fibre and mentality of these professionals. Great revelation of the tournament, Ivan Perez, surprised everything and everyone in the Region and only gave in before a very strong Rui Soares. The injury of the Spaniard, however, doesn’t take away any merit to the victory of the Portuguese player, who at that stage was already in a clear control of the match.
The semi-final between Moustafa El Sirty and Mahesh Mangaonkar was a monumental encounter, with everything that makes a crowd tick: hotly contested points, incredible shots, refereeing decisions and emotions running high.
It was the match everyone was waiting for and it didn’t disappoint the expectations of those who watched the action “in loco”.
El Sirty won this real battle with the score of 3-2 (14-12, 8-11, 11-4, 1-11 and 11-6), but Mahesh Mangaonkar was a worthy loser, forcing the young Egyptian to work hard for every point.
With a first set lasting almost 25 minutes, everything pointed to a marathon of nutritional squash, but Moustafa El Sirty had other plans. The remaining sets were of much shorter duration. The number of winning shots increased, but so did the number of unforced errors, which made each set a rollercoaster of emotions, with the players alternating greatly in the role of who was dominating.
In the end, the Egyptian youngster needed 68 minutes to impose himself to the Indian player, who was again defeated in a semi-final of the Madeira tournament. Moustafa, on the other hand, made his debut in the Region, reaching the final of the competition, scheduled for 2 pm on Sunday.
Round Two : Sam Todd and Ivan Perez join six seeds in the quarter-finals …
The Madeira International Squash Tournament (TIM) entered the second day of competition and the feeling, for those who watched the games, is that we have entered another dimension in terms of the quality of the squash played. The arrivals on the scene of the top seeds, in particular the Egyptian Moustafa El Sirty, the Portuguese Rui Soares and the Indian Mahesh Mangaonkar, who presented a very high level of squash, contributed greatly to this fact.
Rui Soares’ debut at TIM took even more spectators to the courts of the Galo Active Gym. The best Portuguese player of all time marked the beginning of his journey in what he calls “his favorite tournament in the world” with a clear 3-0 win (11-7, 11-4 and 11-5), in just 25 minutes, against the Czech David Zeman. A promising start for Rui Soares, who this year is looking to put his name in the list of winners of the TIM for the first time.
Another match that generated a lot of expectations was the one that marked the debut of Moustafa El Sirty in the competition. The Egyptian player had in Tom Walsh a very valuable opponent and both played incredible points, presenting a level of squash far superior to what we had seen so far. In the end, the young talent from the land of the pharaohs ended up imposing his most aggressive game and triumphed in 4 sets (3-1), with partials of 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7 (55m) in what was the game with the most spectacular plays on the second day of competition.
Indian Mahesh Mangaonkar, another candidate to reach the final, confirmed his favoritism with an authoritarian 3-0 victory over Frenchman Edwin Clain, with 11-8, 11-7, 11-2, in 37 minutes..
Ivan Perez (141 in the PSA ranking) was responsible for the big surprise of the day, when he defeated Colombian Juan Camilo Vargas, who presently occupies a position 63 places higher on the PSA rankings, by 3-1(9-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-9). Ivan Perez fought hard and forced his opponent to make mistakes, winning after 66 minutes of great intensity.
In the remaining matches there were no surprises, with the favorites confirming their presence in the quarter-finals of the TIM.
Sam Todd overcame Austrian Aqeel Rehman by the maximum margin, 3-0, with partials of 13-11, 11-3, 11-8, in just 35 minutes.
Another Englishman who confirmed his passage to the next round was Robert Downer, who needed 45 minutes to defeat Austrian Jakob Dirnberger, by 3-1, with partials of 7-11, 11-5, 11-8 and 11 -6.
Emyr Evans showed, in his game against the Spaniard Sergio Garcia Pollan, that he is in Madeira to cause an impact. In this return to the Atlantic Island, the Welsh player proved to be in great shape and convinced in the victory over his Spanish opponent, who did everything to try to reverse the imminent defeat. The final result was 3-1, with partials of 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6 (67m) for the player from Wales.
The English armada in Madeira saw Joshua Masters defeat Hugo Varela by 3-2, with partials of 11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 6-11, 11-5 (58m) in a very intense and physical match. The English player seemed to have the edge over his Spanish rival during most of the match. However, Hugo Varela fought for every point in an amazing way, forcing Joshua Masters to play his best squash to close the match.
Round One : Favourites go through with ease
The first day of the Madeira International Tournament in squash ended without surprises, with the favourites of the event confirming why they occupy a higher ranking on the professional circuit and moving on to the next round without any major difficulties.
The law of the fittest prevailed on the first day of competition at the Madeira International Squash Tournament. The pre-designated favourites of the event did not leave their credits in someone else’s hand and imposed their game, not allowing any kind of pretension to their opponents.
In the most even match of the day, the Austrian Jakob Dirnberger defeated the Ukrainian Valeriy Fedoruk by 3-1, in 44 minutes, with a 9-11, 11-4, 11-2 and 11-5 score. A match that was decided by the stronger physical condition of the Austrian player who imposed a very high pace from the start and to which Valeriy Fedoruk only managed to respond in the first set.
The match that generated the most expectation among the many people present at the Galo Active courts was the one between young Englishman Sam Todd and the Spaniard Augusto Ortigosa. Sam Todd proved to be on a different level from his opponent and confirmed everything that was expected from one of the most promising talents of the new generation of English players, triumphing in just 32 minutes, with partials of 11-9, 11-5 and 11- 7.
Also noteworthy for the young Portuguese Simão Neves, to whom the organization awarded a Wild Card, who faced the Czech David Zeman and, despite a good effort, ended up defeated by 3-0 (11-5,11-5 and 11-3).
11 different nations represented on court
Preview from Rui Catanho (via google translate)
The Madeira 2021 International Tournament starts on September 8th at 5 pm, on the courts of the Galo Active gym. The dimension of the main squash tournament in the country is evident in the fact that there are, in Madeira, athletes from 11 different nationalities, expanding geographically from Columbia to Egypt. The event, which will score for the Challenger Tour 10 of the Professional Squash Association (PSA), has been highlighted on the sport’s main websites and international media for the quality of the list of entries, reinforcing the positive image that the event organized in Madeira has been showing , over the past few years, across borders
In the games scheduled for today, there are many reasons for interest, with younger athletes trying to surprise the more established players. The pandemic situation that affected sport around the world, where most sporting events were cancelled, created a competitive gap of about a year, so it is very difficult to assess the true current potential of players, especially the younger ones. , which despite being unable to compete continued their evolution.
In this way, it is not surprising that there are surprises in today’s matches that put some of the younger players face to face with the main seeded players. The highlight, in this regard, goes to the matches between Englishman Sam Todd and Spaniard Augusto Ortigosa (17 hours), Ukrainian Valeriy fedoruk and Austrian Jakob Weggen (18 hours) and also the meeting between Englishman Tom Walsh and the young man German Tobias Weggen (18 hours). Note also for the match between the young Portuguese Simão Neves, to whom the organization awarded a Wild Card, and the Czech David Zeman (19 hours).
