ISLAMABAD: Magnificent semi-final victories by Farhan Mehboob and Tayyab Aslam against their respective higher-ranked opponents on Wednesday ensured the men’s final of the Serena Hotels-Huawei Pakistan International Squash Champ­ionship remains an all-Pakistan contest here at the Mushaf Squash Complex.

It is the first time after 2016 that both contestants of the final in this PSA event are Pakistanis. Last time, Farhan Mehboob and Farhan Zaman featured in the decider here at the same venue with former winning the championship.

Seasoned Farhan Mehboob stunned top seed Youssef Ibrahim of Egypt in an interesting five-game semi-final encounter lasting 50 minutes.

Both the players exhibited quality squash in the first two games which were won by Youssef, world No.43. However, after losing the two games 8-11 and 14-16, Farhan Mehboob, world No.91, made a superb comeback to win the third game 11-2.

In the fourth game, Farhan maintained the supremacy winning the game 11-5 to push the battle into the decisive game in which both the players impressed with their quality show. Amid home crowd support, Farhan eventually won the game 12-10 and with it the match.

“After losing the first two games, I changed my strategy. I started playing attacking game in the third game, which paid off. My opponent was strong in volleys and I did not give him much chance in the last three games to play his game,” Farhan told Dawn after the match.

In the final, Farhan faces world No.60 Tayyab who also recorded an upset victory against second seed and world No.51, Egypt’s Mohamed ElSherbini, in a four-game semi-final lasting 46 minutes.

The 23-year-old Tayyab won 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9.

Farhan Mehboob recently defeated Tayyab at the National Games while in the last PSA event staged in Karachi, before the National Games, the latter beat the former.

Meanwhile, in the women semi-finals, world No.101 Hana Moataz of Egypt beat compatriot and world No.56 Farida Mohamed 11-7, 11-2, 9-11, 3-11, 14-12 in 36 minutes.

In the second semi-final, world No.52 Sabrina Sobhy of the US overpowered Egypt’s Meena Hamed, world No.58, 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 in 23 minutes.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2019