Simon Rosner, Daryl Selby wind up round two with wins - PSA World Series Kuwait PSA Cup
Amr Shabana, Egypt’s Fourth seed has been a finalist in his last four appearances in Kuwait cup. However, the young gun stumbled out of the inaugural Kuwait PSA by his unseeded German rival, Simon Rosner, ousting him in straight
sets of the second round of the eighth PSA World Series Squash Event of the year in Kuwait City.
The former world No.1, Shabana, was playing on the same court where he won his fourth international title, evening up his records of the former greats, Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan and Geoff Hunt. However, this time, his unseeded
rival was more of a surprise for the Egyptian. Rosner, 24-year-old from Paderborn who had never advanced beyond the opening round, seemed to be able to beat any top player as he outgunned Shabana in straight sets, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 in no more than 22 minutes.
“I’ll take a 3/0 win against Shabana any day,” said the overjoyed successor. Rosner took the win pretty special as he had been ousted by the former world No.1 many times and has been his idol since childhood, so for a person playing
and then beating his idol would certainly feel a great achievement, who distinguished a career-best world No.24 ranking this month.
Nevertheless, the standout fixture of the day rolled out on the same court when Abdullah Al Muzayen, Kuwaiti wildcard, who pulled down higher ranked Miguel Angel Rodriguez, Columbian, a day before, elongated his rival, Daryl Selby,
Brit world No.12, to 5 games before he finally went down 9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9 after sixty six minutes.
“He is such a great player, he has improved so much over the past year,” said Selby regarding the Kuwaiti, ranked 80 in the world. “He’s been playing a lot of tournaments around these areas, and has started to make his mark. And
if he keeps on playing like that, there is absolutely no reason he couldn’t reach top 20, top 10.”
Despite his defeat, 23-year-old left-hander, Al Muzayen enjoyed the experience: “I so enjoyed playing Daryl – what a great player, I really enjoyed having the opportunity to play one of the top players in the world. And I hope
that I made the Kuwait crowd happy tonight.”
The Kuwaiti intends to make a comeback and play at his optimum level. Answering to a question, Al Muzayen said that he is working hard during training sessions to improve his fitness and his playing level and, nevertheless, hopes
to play better next year.
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