Tayyab falls to Leo Au from Hong Kong as Youssef Soliman of Egypt upsets No. 2 seed to reach final of CAS Squash Championship 2018
Leo Au dominated Tayyab Aslam with straight games win while Youssef Soliman defeated Nafizwan Adnan in a tough 3-1 battle to setup final clash of Chief of Air Staff Mens Squash Championship.
World # 21 Leo Au of Hong Kong asserted his dominance as the top seed in the tournament when he crushed Pakistans' hope by beating un-seeded Tayyab Aslam in straight games (3-0) in 43 minutes.
The first men's semifinal between world ranked 95 Tayyab and Leo Au started with long rallies as both the players tested each others reach on the court. Leo AU managed to stay ahead from the start and kept Tayyab in persuit. The first 2-points lead for Leo came at 8-6 but Tayyab was quick to catch up and level the score at 8-All. A crucial Tin at this stage from Tayyab helped Leo's cause who also found a lucky nick at the back of the court as he won the first game 11-9 in 22 minutes.
Against expectations of the local crowd, Tayyab had a sluggish start to the second game as he twice failed to pick easy balls close to the wall. Leo was quick to respond and got early lead of 5-1 against Tayyab who looked a different player in this game and gave away the game without any resistance for 11-2 in just 8 minutes.
Leo Au continued to display a visibly superior game compared to Tayyab's as he precisely hit the corners to which Tayyab could only return loose balls. The #1 seed from Hong Kong comfortably raced to 5-0 and later winning the 3rd game by 11-5 in 13 minutes.
The second semifinal was also played on the Center Court at Mushaf Squash Complex between 2nd seed Nafizwan Adnan and 5th seed Youssef Soliman. The seeding appeared to prevail in this match also as Nafizwan demolished world #47 Youssef in the opening game with a score of 4-11 in 10 minutes. But the Egyptian had some other plans as he reappeared on court for the second game with a different game plan and engaged Malaysian Nafizwan in long grueling rallies. The new strategy was clearly working as Youssef stayed narrowly ahead throughout the 20 minute long game and won it 11-9.
The 3rd game started on the same explosive tempo as both the players tested each other with hard hitting rallies. Nafizwan maintained one point lead throughout and reached first game-point at 9-10 and second one at 10-11 but failed to convert them as the signs of fatigue started to appear in the game when the Malaysian could not clear the ball properly on 3 occasions which resulted in 3 Stroke points that led to 13-11 win in 23 minute game.
The Egyptian kept his firm grip on the 4th game and gave away no easy points as he booked his place in the final with 11-6 win in 13 minutes.
The Men's Final will be played at 1600 Hours on 14 September, 2018 between Leo Au from Hong Kong and Youssef Soliman from Egypt.
