New Zealand’s World No.5 Paul Coll and Egypt’s World No.1 Ali Farag will contest the final of the 2020 Qatar Classic today after respective wins over World No.12 Fares Dessouky and World Champion Tarek Momen at the Khalifa International & Squash Complex yesterday.
Coll and Farag will lock horns in a repeat of March’s 2020 Windy City Open final, where the Egyptian came from two games down to win the title in a thrilling battle in Chicago.
Both of yesterday’s semi-final matches at the PSA Platinum event were 3-0 victories with Coll claiming an 11-9, 11-0, 11-0 victory over Egypt’s Dessouky to reach his first Qatar Classic final and second in the country after reaching the final of the PSA World Championships on the same court 12 months ago. Farag won 11-9, 11-2, 11-4.
There was no sign of fatigue from Coll following his two mammoth five-game battles in the previous days as he took a crucial first game, 11-9, taking full advantage of unforced errors from Dessouky at crucial times and finding his length well to cut off the angles for the talented Egyptian to go 1-0 up.
A lack of concentration and desire from Dessouky in the second saw Coll comfortably double his advantage with 11 successive points as the Egyptian made no attempt to contest the last few rallies of the game following a discussion with the referee.
Coll did not let Dessouky’s performance in the second affect his concentration as he remained professional, finding his shots perfectly and going 8-0 up in the third before Dessouky slipped and was received physio treatment on court.
The 26-year-old was able to see out the match but was clearly struggling and could not prevent Coll from advancing to the final in Qatar, 12 months on from reaching the PSA World Championship final on the same court.
“I thought I was hitting my targets brilliantly today,” said 28-year-old Coll.
“I really closed the court down. I know how dangerous he is across the ‘T’ line and I think everyone has seen how flat he can put the ball, how quickly he can put shots away and how skilful he is. 
“I just tried to be super accurate today and really get him stuck in the back corners. If you hit your length on this court, then you really get rewarded. I thought I could close the court down and keep him behind me, which I thought I did really well today.
“I’ve had two great years in Qatar in a row now, so hopefully I can go one further tomorrow.”
Farag, who is the defending champion after beating Germany’s Simon Rösner in 2018 to lift the Platinum title, was at his accurate best to condemn Momen to a straight-games defeat.
An evenly contested first game went the way of Farag, after he was able to fend off a two point lead following a strong start from Momen to lay the foundations for an impressive victory.
Momen, who lifted the biggest title of his career when he won the PSA World Championship on the same court last year, allowed his accuracy to go wayward in the second as Farag was able to assert his authority on the match, taking control of the middle of the court to double his lead.
A two-game deficit proved too much for Momen to be able to come back from on this occasion as the World No.1 was able to close out the victory in 37 minutes to reach his second Qatar Classic final.
“Playing another Egyptian adds a psychological aspect to it,” said Farag.
“We’re very good friends off court, we train together at least once a week and we know each other’s game inside out. It’s tough because you know what to expect, but he also knows what to expect – that’s the Egyptian aspect but then there’s so many different layers to Tarek Momen. 
“His fitness, his physique, his short balls – I don’t think any players play shorter balls than Tarek on the PSA World Tour. We neglect his straight line hitting and the deep corners as well, he hits them very well and makes it tough with the side wall boast so every single shot you are on your toes.
“The first game was crucial, started off a little too erratic which I think favours him more than me. I just tried to execute my game plan better by the end of the first game, even if you don’t win it at least you go into the second you have the momentum. I did win it and I think that made a big psychological difference.”
Farag said playing Coll in the final would be tough.
“All of our head-to-head between us is 3-2, it’s never easy. Today, he played brilliant squash and is going to be very fresh tomorrow, he had two big matches in the last 16 and the quarters but then today he didn’t have a very long match,” said Farag.
“Paul is very fit, so when’s he fresher, it’s even more scary. Thank God we’re not playing a fitness game here, I will try to execute my game plan of squash better and if I can, I will give myself a chance. 
“It will be a tough one, he has made two back-to-back finals in Qatar now, so he seems to like it. It’s always a pleasure to play against him, he is such a warrior and competitor but in the right spirit of the game, so I’m really looking forward to it.”