Thank you San Francisco!
Thank you San Francisco!
Marwan ElShorbagy (l) against Diego Elias
The 2022 Oracle NetSuite Open finals will feature a showdown between brothers Marwan and Mohamed ElShorbagy, while tournament debutante Farida Mohamed will challenge defending champion Amanda Sobhy after upsetting two seed Joelle King in the semifinals at Pier 70’s Building 12 Monday, October 3, in San Francisco.
The semifinal session opened up with top seed Diego Elias against four seed Marwan ElShorbagy, who were both bidding to reach their first final in San Francisco.
ElShorbagy earned a 7-1 lead in the first game, at which point the ‘Peruvian Puma’ recovered to make it 9-all. Then two costly errors gave ElShorbagy a 1-0 lead. Elias, world No. 4, regained momentum in the second, which he took 11-7. Refereeing decisions and ElShorbagy’s play frustrated Elias in the third, producing more errors as the Egyptian pushed to win 11-7 after forty minutes.
“I had a good lead in the first game and Diego came back at me, even in the second game I thought that if I could have just got ahead I could have won it. But I’m happy with the way I refocused after he came back in the third game and happy that I got the match. He’s a very experienced player and I’m glad to get the win this time. I haven’t played my brother in a long time, as much as I hate playing him I would love to have a match with him in the final and I know we haven’t played in a while so I would love to be on court with him once again.”
World No. 4 and defending champion Amanda Sobhy followed on and produced the only straight games result of the day, defeating Canadian Hollie Naughton 11-9, 11-9 after fighting off a deficit in the second game.
The second men’s semifinal saw a total turn around in a streaky match up between Mohamed ElShorbagy and Mazen Hesham. After appearing to be on the brink of conceding a quick second game with a string of tins, Hesham pulled out an inspired performance to force a decisive third game. The three seed then earned a 5-1 lead in the third, but ElShorbagy then regained total control of the match, winning ten straight points to reach the final in forty minutes.
Farida Mohamed (l) celebrates reaching her first ONSO final
The final semifinal saw three seed Farida Mohamed continue her impressive Oracle NetSuite Open debut with a top ten upset over two seed and world No. 5 Joelle King. The Columbia junior defeated King 11-6, 10-12, 11-9 in thirty-five minutes to reach the biggest final of her career.
“I knew it would be very tough. It felt like a best of five match,” Mohamed said. “I’m very happy to be through, it meant a lot to me to win this one. The first game was comfortable but Joelle [King] is very smart and she completely outplayed me in the second game and she came back at me in the third and I started to panic but I’m very glad I could close it out. Amanda has been playing amazing, it’s fun to play against her. I have only played her twice and I’m looking forward to the match. It’s one last push tomorrow and I can’t wait to leave everything on the court.”
Tuesday night’s finals begin at 6:30pm local time. Select tickets are available on oraclenetsuiteopen.com/tickets.
