RESULTS: Motor City Squash Open, Detroit, USA
Quarter-finals:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Mark Krajcsak (HUN) 11-7, 11-3, 11-2
[7] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt [4] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-3, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6
[3] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Chris Ryder (ENG) 11-4, 11-5, 11-1
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt [Q] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6
Egypt's Omar Abdel Aziz claimed an unexpected place in the semi-finals of the Motor City Open after upsetting fourth seed Olli Tuominen in the quarter-finals of the $40,000 PSA World Tour squash event at the Birmingham Athletic Club in Detroit, Michigan.
The 26-year-old seventh seed from Cairo defeated Tuominen, runner-up in the championship in 2004, 11-3, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6 - and will now face fellow countryman Karim Darwish for a place in the final.
Darwish, the event favourite and former world number one who is making his first appearance in the Detroit event since 2004, beat top-ranked Hungarian Mark Krajcsak 11-7, 11-3, 11-2.
Aziz considers Darwish an older brother. The duo train together while also maintaining a close relationship outside squash. "I’m going to play my big brother, Karim," Aziz said of his semi-final match. "And I want to play a good match."
That brotherhood paid dividends in Aziz’s quarter-final bout against Tuominen. Darwish warned Aziz of the Finn's volleying skills and advised him to work his backhand.
"I had to bring it to the back because Olli likes to volley it. Karim told me: ‘You have to push the ball to the back of the court, and his mistakes will start to appear',” said Aziz of his strategy afterwards.
"So, I put the ball a lot to the back corner – one time, two times, three times. After that I started to volley."
The other semi-final will see France's No2 seed Thierry Lincou take on Mohd Azlan Iskandar, the third seed from Malaysia. Iskandar despatched unseeded Englishman Chris Ryder 11-4, 11-5, 11-1, while former world champion Lincou needed four games to see off Australian qualifier Ryan Cuskelly 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6.
"He’s a strong player - he’s really improved a lot," said Lincou of Cuskelly. "He gave me a hard time on the court, and it’s good I won in four. It’s pretty tough to play on these courts because it’s really bouncy. So it’s hard to be offensive too much, and you have to mix between patience and offence.
"You need to be precise, very accurate and save your energy as much as you can," added the 33-year-old from Marseille.
Semi-final line-up:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) v [7] Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY)
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v [3] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS)