By Howard Harding
Top seed Omar Mosaad edged out unseeded Englishman Adrian Grant in Tuesday’s Macau Open final to become the third successive Egyptian to win the PSA World Tour International 50 squash event.
The competition was staged on an all-glass court at the Complex Desportivo International do Cotai in Taipa, Macau.
World No.10 Mosaad took the opening game – but Londoner Grant, a 33-year-old former world No9 currently ranked 24, used all his experience to take the next two to lead 2/1.
“Adrian held a slender lead in the fourth at 8-6 and threatened to end the match early,” said event spokesman Casper Lai.
“Omar, not ready to throw in the towel, fought back to take the lead and then the game 11-9.”
“The decider was nail-biting. Once again, at 8-8, a ‘not let’ decision against Adrian riled him up. The Englishman engaged in another heated discussion with the referee. The referee had enough of his antics and gave him a conduct stroke; 10-8 to Omar.
“The Egyptian then fired a shot into deep and beyond Adrian’s racket to claim his first title of the year.”
The 11-8, 4-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8 title triumph in 96 minutes marks the ninth Tour title of Mosaad’s career, but the 25-year-old from Cairo’s first for more than 18 months.
