DOHA (Qatar): World No.1 and defending champion Ali Farag will hope to book semifinal place when he faces either Peru’s Diego Elias in the quarterfinal on Thursday.
The match comes up at 4.30pm at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
The defending champion continued his title defence at the Qatar Classic with a 3-0 victory over Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng on Wednesday.
Farag is the defending champion in Qatar after beating Germany’s Simon Rösner at the 2018 tournament and needs to reach the final in Doha this week to be certain of retaining the World no.1 spot which is under threat from three-time champion Mohamed ElShorbagy.
“At the tournament I don’t think about it [the No.1 ranking], you just take it one match at a time. Yesterday was a tough match, today was a very tough one as well and tomorrow, whether it’s Miguel [Rodriguez] or Diego [Elias] that’s going to be tough as well, if not even tougher – so I just have to focus on that,” said Farag.
Farag was in full flow and forced Eain Yow to do a lot of heavy work, which took its toll on the 22-year-old Malaysian and Farag was able to see out the victory by an 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 margin.
“It doesn’t end there though, if you don’t improve when you’re there, you’re not going to sustain it for long. You enjoy it for a moment and then you have to get on with your business, train even harder because you know everyone is aiming for that spot,” he added.
Just eight players remain in Doha, and there will be an unseeded star in the semi-finals, as the final match of the evening sees World No.41 Youssef Ibrahim, the man who knocked out three-time champion and top seed Mohamed ElShorbagy, take on fellow countryman Fares Dessouky.
