Fares Dessouky defeated Mohamed Abouelghar in a tightly fought all-Egyptian final to lift his second PSA World Tour title of his career on Sunday.
Egyptian World No.18 overcame his compatriot Mohamed Abouelghar in an exciting five-game battle in the 2016 CCI International JSW ISC, PSA M50 tournament staged at the CCI: Cricket Club of India.
Top seed Dessouky, whose last Tour title came back in 2013, had been in fine fettle in the build-up to the final, beating Olli Tuominen, Alan Clyne and third seed Chris Simpson to set up the clash with second seed Abouelghar, who saw off Tsz Fung Yip, Mohamed Reda and Nicolas Mueller.
Dessouky edged the opening game after coming out on top in some well-constructed rallies, but Abouelghar levelled in front of a packed crowd after controlling the ball well at the front of the court.
The third game then saw Dessouky get back in front, taking it 11-6, only to see Abouelghar restore parity once more to send the match into a nail-biting decider.
A strong start to the fifth from Dessouky saw the 22-year-old build on a 4-1 lead to close out an 11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5 victory in 70 minutes to claim a maiden PSA M50 title.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Happy to win my second title and the biggest here in Mumbai , I just want to thank everyone who really supported me.”[/perfectpullquote]
Born on 29 Sep 1994 in Alexandria, Dessouki turned professional in 2011 and amassed his first PSA World Tour title at the NSA Open after a tense final against Raphael Kandra. His performances at PSA World Series events through 2014 brought him immense recognition.
His best performances came at the British Open in May 2014 when he stunned compatriots Karim Abdel Gawad and Karim Darwish en-route to the quarter-final where he was defeated by runner-up Nick Matthew.
He broke into the top 25 after a quarter-final finish at the US Open then later made it to the third round of the World Championship in November 2014.
Dessouki made further progress up the world rankings in 2015, thanks in part to quarter-final finishes at the Canary Wharf Classic in March and the Sharm El Sheikh International Championship two months later.
In May 2015, he entered the world’s top 20 for the first time in addition to being named the PSA Men’s Young Player of the Year.
Dessouky was part of the six Egyptian players who, for the first time in the 40-year-old PSA Men’s World Squash Championship, took six quarterfinal places in the world event at Cairo.The other five were Ramy Ashour, Tarek Momen, Mohamed Elshorbagy, Karim Abdel Gawad and Ali Farag.
Featured Photo: Fares Dessouki: Seen as possible future world number one. — Picture courtesy of www.psaworldtour.com
