World No. 33 Omar Abdel Meguid defeated fellow Egyptian Karim Ali Fathi to win his eleventh career PSA title and first $15,000 Oregon Open title Saturday night at Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland.

The twenty-seven-year-old from Giza was Oregon Open runner up for the past two years, and finally took the title 3-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7 in sixty-five minutes.

Mauricio Sanchez de la Paz reports from Portland:

“In the first game, Karim started playing very tight rails and was able to establish a quick lead at 5-0. He was making sure to go around Omar in order to keep continuous rallies. Omar was not able to find his rhythm in this first game and reserved energy for what was to come. Karim took the first blood 11-3.

But the pressure of being one love down gave Omar the focus he needed. He has the ability to hit an extra gear whenever he finds himself in difficult situations. Omar was stepping up in every rally and volleying more and more. The powerful attacks were able to break the movement of Karim and Omar took the game 11-5.

At one all, everyone in the crowd was wondering if Karim’s resistance or Omar’s finesse would prevail. The rallies were incredibly disputed and for the first time in the tournament the relaxed attitude of Karim seemed to go into lapses of tension. At 5-3 we saw the rally of the match in this game with both players reaching unbelievably difficult shots and attacking millimeters from the tin. But not surprisingly, as it is the case in some of the most disputed rallies in squash, the magnificent rally ended in a let. Karim was able to put a lot of work into Omar’s legs and he seemed to have the momentum in his favor by taking the third game 11-8.

In the fourth game, Omar was again able to go into his characteristic second gear and started dominating the rallies. Omar’s powerful physique contrasts his delicate touch but it creates a special effect that is difficult for his opponents to decipher. Even though Karim was still running for every shot Omar would found a way to finish most rallies to level the match at two-all.

In the last game, both players decided to start hitting the ball even harder and running for everything, clearly pushing themselves to the limit. It was very close all the way to five-all until Omar found some magical touches and was able to create a lead to take the match at 11-7.

The avid Squash fans received the new champion with raucous applause. In his third final in the Oregon Open, Omar was finally able to take the title. He is very popular in the Oregon circles and he graciously returned the compliment to his fans. When asked what he liked the most about Portland without hesitation he responded “the crowd”. It was an incredible week of Squash in the Pacific North West and Squash enthusiasts were treated to a great final by these Egyptian Squash magicians.”