(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Second seed Mohamed Reda of Egypt made a spirited fightback from 2-9 down, forcing a tie-break and sealing the game 12-10 to beat top-seeded German Jens Schoor 3-1 and win the Qatar Circuit title, at the Khalifa Tennis & Squash Complex yesterday.
Reda, who ended the challenge of Qatar's No. 1 player Abdulla al-Tamimi in a close five-setter in Monday's semi-finals, looked like cruising easily when he took the first game 11-8 against an error-prone Schoor. The German returned the favour in the following game by the same margin to draw level, but Reda again took the lead when he sped through the third game 11-3, thanks to some unusually erratic play from Schoor.
He recovered well to shoot to a 9-2 lead in the fourth, and it looked like another five-setter was looming large for the Egyptian. He changed his game at that stage, slowing down the pace with long rallies against the all-out attacking game of his German opponent. The ploy worked, with an impatient Schoor banging the tin with regular intervals, and in the resulting tie-break, when a calm head was the need of the hour, Reda emerged the calmer of the two.
The Egyptian had lost to Schoor by the same margin in their only clash before this, and it was sweet revenge for Reda. "I was lucky with some shots, and he was clearly unlucky with his. He was leading 9-2 and was playing really well, so I decided to change the strategy a bit. I am happy it paid off for me. He beat me last time, it was my turn today," said Reda, who left for Athens the same night to play in the World Open.
Schoor blamed himself for the loss. "It happens sometimes, I should have been a bit more patient. He changed his game, he hit a nice length and I found it a bit difficult to adjust to that for some time. He was also lucky with some shots. It's been a nice experience playing here, and I will be back for the second leg of the Qatar Circuit in December to win the title that I lost so closely this time," said the German.
Result (Final): Mohamed Reda beat Jens Schoor 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-3, 12-10)
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