Indian squash ace Mahesh Mangaonkar’s seven-match winning streak came to an end at the PSA $10,000 North of Scotland Open in Aberdeen as he went down fighting to qualifier Youssef Soliman in the semi-finals on Saturday. The Egyptian won the hard-fought match, 15-13, 11-7, 12-14, 11-7 in a marathon 100 minute-battle.
Both players dominated the front corners in the opening game of the match. Soliman won the British Junior U19 Open in January and he fought admirably despite two stroke decisions going against him. Even a knee cut at 10-10 could not deter him.
He sealed the first game 15-13 after 40 minutes.
After the tight first game, the third-seeded Mahesh’s exploits over the last few days caught up with him as he looked jaded and seemed a tad slow-footed. The 19-year-old Egyptian forced him to move all over the court which did not help Mahesh’s cause.
Soliman closed out the second game 11-7.
The pace of the rallies slowed down in the third game and that put the World No. 58 at a slight advantage. However, the Egyptian youngster still came back to make it 9-9. But Mangaonkar, who won the Sekisui Open in March, was not ready to give up as he saved a match ball and stormed back to clinch the third game 14-12.
He was the aggressor at the beginning of the fourth game and it looked to be heading Mahesh’ way. But Soliman soon changed the course of the match as he started going all out with his power and deftness. Keeping the rallies shorter, the Egyptian eventually gained the upper hand in this game and wrapped up the match soon after.
The other semi-final too witnessed an upset as unseeded Jamaican Chris Binnie stunned the second seed Eddie Charlton of England.
