Egyptians Rule In World Semis In Doha
13 Dec 12
The final of the Qatar PSA World Squash Championship will be an all-Egyptian affair for the third time in the last five years after underdogs Mohamed El Shorbagy and Ramy Ashour triumphed against higher-ranked Englishmen in today's semi-finals of the premier PSA World Tour championship in Doha.
Boasting a $325,000 prize-fund, the second biggest in the sport's history, the Qatar PSA World Championship is being hosted by Qatar for the third time and being held at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex.
El Shorbagy, aged 21 and the youngest player in the world top 25, faced top seed James Willstrop in the opening semi-final. The 29-year-old world number one from Leeds boasted a 7/1 career head-to-head record over the young Alexandrian - but had been stretched to five games in a 90-minute US Open clash only two months ago.
It was one-all after 46 minutes - and it took a further 34 minutes to resolve the third game, El Shorbagy taking it 14-12 after his third game-ball.
But the experienced Willstrop, eager to win the title for the first time, battled back from 2-4 down in the fourth to draw level.
The favourite led up to 8-7 in the decider, but it was El Shorbagy who then held his nerve to win the next four points in a row to clinch the match 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 4-11, 11-8 after 112 minutes - and earn his maiden appearance in a world final.
"Before anything I want to hug my mother," the eighth seed Shorbagy (le) told event MC Robert Edwards (in Arabic) before charging off the court and into the arms of his weeping mother. The first semi-final of the Qatar PSA World Championship in Doha was a brutal match as Mohamed El Shorbagy fought for 114 minutes to down No1 seed James Willstrop 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 4-
11, 11-8.
After sharing 4 games, the 21-year-old Egyptian was behind in the decider, coming back to level at 7-all and beating the Englishman on the 1st match ball to take the 1st place in tomorrow’s the World Championship final.
