DOHA (Qatar): Qatar’s Abdulla Mohamed Al Tamimi earned his place in the last 32 of 2020 Qatar Classic after he overcame England’s Patrick Rooney in a five-game battle here on Sunday.
Al Tamimi is the highest-ranked Qatari squash player of all time, but a sloppy start saw the world No.30 make seven unforced errors to hand his opponent a one-game lead.
“It’s tough playing here at home,” Al Tamimi said after the match.
“I need to raise my level always, I just want to make the whole country proud. I had some great performances last year, so I had a lot of pressure on me coming into this first round, especially with the lockdown we’ve been having because of COVID-19. I haven’t had any matches since February in Chicago.”
In the end, he wrapped up a 10-12, 11-3, 11-8, 8-11, 11-3 in 54 minutes to earn his second round spot against Peru’s Diego Elias.
“I only played one match against Tarek (Momen) in Manchester and when I came back I had to do two weeks quarantine, so all that work went for nothing. I think its [the errors] just from a lack of matches and I’m really glad I got through this one. I’m sure against Diego I’ll be a lot sharper,” added Al Tamimi.
Khan upsets Malhotra
USA’s Shahjahan Khan upset higher-ranked Vikram Malhotra of India to reach the last 32 for the first time in a PSA World Tour Platinum in his career.
World no.45 Malhotra had won all four of their previous matches on the PSA Tour, but the short rallies appeared to favour Khan, who won 11-9, 3-11, 11-4, 11-3.
The Pakistan-born world No.62 will line up against Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez for a place in the third round.
