Mazen Takes Out Marwan To Make Maiden Gold Semi At Houston Open

Mazen Hesham celebrated reaching his first PSA World Tour Gold semi after defeating fellow Egyptian Marwan Elshorbagy on day four at the Houston Open in Texas.

It was the sole quarter-final upset at Houston Squash Club as he defeated the No.4 seed to record his first Tour semi since making it into the last four of the Malaysian Open in October 2017.

The odds were stacked heavily against Hesham coming into the contest, as he had never beaten 'the Jackal' in their previous five meetings, while he also had to come through a five-game battle in his second round match with Nicolas Mueller 24 hours earlier.

However, 'the Falcon' made an electric start, hitting winner after winner as Elshorbagy struggled to find his feet in the first game. But the former world No.3 fought back to win the next two games to take a 2/1 lead.

Hesham did what he does best though and unleashed some scintillating winners in the fourth game to unsettle Elshorbagy and send the match into a decider, where the 27-year-old kept his focus to seal his landmark win.

"These are the ones that stick with you forever," said Hesham.

"I always feel that it's my second home here, as it's just a 15 minute walk from my house. I think I should have done much better today, but my shins hurt me again. I'm not sure what's happening, I kept saying to myself that it's not going to come easy to me.

"I've fought so many things during my career and I'm still fighting every day. Something is always happening with my body as soon as I come close to winning. I've come a long way with my mental toughness and I've been working on myself."

Hesham will now face Gregoire Marche after the Frenchman also made his maiden Gold semi when he recovered from two games down to defeat England's Nathan Lake in a gripping five-game contest to end the evening's action.

The 'Acrobat' found himself two games behind in quick fashion, as the Englishman - a 'lucky loser' - was able to hit perfect line and length throughout the opening exchanges, while Marche struggled to find his rhythm.

However, the momentum swung back in the world No.12's favour in the third game, and he was able to ride that wave throughout the rest of the contest. Taking a fourth game tie-break was pivotal, before going on to win the fifth to secure his spot in Saturday's semi-finals.

"Actually, I can't believe it for now. I think I thought a bit too much about this semi-final," Marche said.

"I wasn't moving well in the first two games, I was struggling to see the ball, and all credit to Nathan, he played almost perfectly, controlling every rally, pulling out some amazing shots, so obviously, I just want to send congratulations to him, he deserved to win today. I played with my head today, to play point-by-point and see how it goes, find a little bit of rhythm and find my length.

"It was not the best squash of my career, of course, but I have been working a lot mentally over the last few years and reaching the semis of a Gold event, for me. Of course, the draw was different and helped me a little bit but it is never easy to play these players, they all know how to put the ball away. Every day is a new day and I am just glad I managed to win this one 3/2."

The other semi-final will see Egypt's Ali Farag and Mostafa Asal go head-to-head for a place in Sunday's final after they defeated Egypt's Youssef Soliman and Colombia's Miguel Rodriguez, respectively.