Egypt’s Karim Ali Fathi and Englishman Joel Hinds will meet in a surprise Madison Open final after both produced straight games’ upsets over higher-ranked opponents in the PSA World Tour Challenger 10 squash event in its fourth year at Madison Squash Workshop in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.<\/p>\n
Third seed Ali Fathi, a 20-year-old from Cairo playing only his second Tour event in the USA, faced experienced New Zealander Martin Knight, the 29-year-old No2 seed who was bidding to reach his fourth Tour final this month – and who arrived in Wisconsin fresh from winning the Charlottesville Challenger in Virginia.<\/p>\n
In a match described by Egyptian club member Ahmed Afifi as “Pure Squash; Pure entertainment” – and one in which there was “not a single decision by the ref the entire match” – Ali Fathi (pictured below, right, with Knight) brushed aside world No53 Knight 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 in 51 minutes.\n<\/p>\n
“Quite happy to be through in three games,” said Ali Fathi after reaching his first Tour final of the year, but the eighth of his career. “I knew that if I just played steady, I would lose.<\/p>\n
“I had to be aggressive and force the issue if I wanted to win,” explained the world No56. “Looking forward to the final tomorrow. It will be tough! Joel is very good.”<\/p>\n
Hinds, a 26-year-old from Birmingham, played fellow 26-year-old and fellow non-seed Peter Creed, the Welshman who ousted fourth seed Charles Sharpes in the previous round.<\/p>\n
“That was hard work,” said world No87 Hinds after the 11-8, 11-7, 11-4 victory in 65 minutes which takes him into his tenth career Tour final.<\/p>\n
“Peter seemed to play the beginning of each better, but I think I played the ends better!<\/p>\n
“Looking forward to tomorrow. I’m sure it will be hard. Karim’s a good player.”<\/p>\n
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 10 Madison Open, Madison, Wisconsin, USA<\/strong><\/p>\n Semi-finals: Egypt’s Karim Ali Fathi and Englishman Joel Hinds will meet in a surprise Madison Open final after both produced straight games’ upsets over higher-ranked opponents in the PSA World Tour Challenger 10 squash event in its fourth year at Madison Squash Workshop in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.<\/p>\n Third seed Ali Fathi, a 20-year-old from Cairo playing only his second Tour event in the USA, faced experienced New Zealander Martin Knight, the 29-year-old No2 seed who was bidding to reach his fourth Tour final this month – and who arrived in Wisconsin fresh from winning the Charlottesville Challenger in Virginia.<\/p>\n In a match described by Egyptian club member Ahmed Afifi as “Pure Squash; Pure entertainment” – and one in which there was “not a single decision by the ref the entire match” – Ali Fathi (pictured below, right, with Knight) brushed aside world No53 Knight 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 in 51 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-others"],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/strong>
Joel Hinds (ENG) bt Peter Creed (WAL) 11-8, 11-7, 11-4 (65m)
[3] Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) bt [2] Martin Knight (NZL) 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 (51m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"