Meguid & Kobayashi Win Japan Titles
28 Sep 2010
Egyptian Omar Abdel Meguid and local star Misaki Kobayashi emerged victorious in the Japan Pro Kansai Squash Open in the first year of a joint men's and women's event at the XIST Sports Club in Wakayama, Japan.
It was an all-Japan final that brought the maiden women's $4,000 WISPA World Tour event to a climax.
While top-seeded Tokyo-born Misaki Kobayashi reached the second Tour final of her career without dropping a game, her experienced opponent Chinatsu Matsui, the No2 seed, battled for five games in her semi-final against Hong Kong's fourth seed Liu Tsz-Ling before surviving in 52 minutes.
But 20-year-old Kobayashi maintained her straight games run in the event by recording her first Tour triumph over her 33-year-old compatriot, beating Matsui 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 in just 21 minutes to earn the second title of her short career.
The final of the men's $4,000 PSA World Tour event was also a battle between two fellow countrymen.
But second seed Omar Abdel Meguid was the underdog - facing favourite Karim AGA Samy.
Despite ranked exactly 50 places below 21-year-old Samy, 22-year-old Meguid recovered from a game down to upset his Cairo compatriot 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-1 to secure the third Tour title of his career.
Men's final:
[2] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt [1] Karim AGA Samy (EGY) 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-1 (35m)
Women's final:
[1] Misaki Kobayashi (JPN) bt [2] Chinatsu Matsui (JPN) 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 (21m)
