"Playing James is never easy," said Ramy Ashour. "When you play such an accurate player you have to be 100 per cent. Today James was playing some immaculate squash (pic: Marian Kraus)." Egypt’s two-time World Champion Ramy Ashour (le) was back to his sublime best at the 2014 Windy City Open when he came through an enthralling 76-minute quarter-final encounter against England’s James Willstrop (ri) in 4 games (8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8).
“He really came out firing and took the first game and I had to really dig in to win the match”, said the World No3 from Cairo. The 26-year-old Egyptian, who has been plagued by injury in recent months, will now face current World No1 Nick Matthew in the semis, as Matthew beat fellow countryman Peter Barker 11-2, 11-6, 11-3.
The 2nd semi-final will see World No4 Mohamed El Shorbagy take on French World No2 Greg Gaultier after they came through their respective quarter-finals against India’s Saurav Ghosal (11-6, 13-11, 11-7) and Germany’s Simon Rosner. Gaultier was given a stern test by the German, coming from 1 game down to secure his 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 victory.
Semi-final line-up (head-to-heads):
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) – (9:20)
[2] Greg Gaultier (FRA) v [4] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) – (8:0)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [8] Peter Barker (ENG) 11-2, 11-6, 11-3 (44m)
[3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [5] James Willstrop (ENG) 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 (76m)
[4] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-6, 13-11, 11-7 (52m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Simon Rosner (GER) 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 (75m)
2nd round:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 (58m)
[8] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 11-3, 3-11, 11-6, 11-3 (54m)
[5] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-4, 11-8, 11-1 (37m)
[3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) 13-11, 11-7, 11-4 (36m)
[4] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Omar Mosaad (EGY) 11-4, 11-6, 11-3 (45m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Tarek Momen (EGY) 11-9, 3-11, 11-4, 11-7 (50m)
Simon Rosner (GER) bt [7] Borja Golan (ESP) 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (45m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 11-1, 11-6, 11-7 (39m)
1st round:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [Q] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 11-6, 12-10, 11-9 (56m)
Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt [Q] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) 11-4, 11-6, 11-4 (31m)
Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt Alister Walker (BOT) 12-10, 11-6, 11-9 (57m)
[8] Peter Barker (ENG) bt [LL] Christopher Gordon (USA) 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 (47m)
[5] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [Q] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 11-4, 11-7, 11-4 (41m)
Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [Q] Adrian Waller (ENG) 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 (35m)
Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Tom Richards (ENG) 5-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-3 (48m)
[3] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Cameron Pilley (AUS) 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-3 (43m)
[4] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 (50m)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [Q] Shawn Delierre (CAN) 11-6, 11-4, 11-3 (34m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [WC] Peter Creed (WAL) 11-6, 12-10, 11-7 (52m)
Tarek Momen (EGY) bt [6] Karim Darwish (EGY) 6-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7 (67m)
[7] Borja Golan (ESP) bt Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) 11-5, 13-11, 11-13, 11-6 (86m)
Simon Rosner (GER) bt [Q] Chris Simpson (ENG) 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5 (69m)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt [Q] Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) 11-5, 11-5, 14-12 (37m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [Q] Joe Lee (ENG) 11-5, 11-1, 11-0 (27m)
