Mohamed Elshorbagy retains his 2013 Qatar title and Laura Massaro took her first Qatar trophy in five thrilling games (pic: Steve Cubbins) It was England’s Laura Massaro and Egypt’s Mohamed Elshorbagy who have been successful in the finals of the Qatar Classic 2015 to take their big trophies at the winners presentation.
First on court it was Massaro, the World No3 against the 20-year-old World No.8 Nour El Sherbini from Egypt. After triumphing at the the Delaware Investments U.S. Open, just two weeks ago, Massaro, the 32-year-old, continued to enjoy the form-of-her life as she came through a breath-taking five-game 73 minute battle with Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini to take the 11-8, 12-14, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9 victory. “There’s a lot of great names on that trophy so it’s a great feeling to know that my name will go along side them now,” said Massaro.
Afterwards Egyptian Men’s World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy took on French World No3 Greg Gaultier. The 24-year-old Elshorbagy took revenge of his defeat at the U.S. Open semi-final and assured a 11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10 the 8-years-elder Gaultier.
Elshorbagy reached the final without dropping a single game all tournament and capitalized on his freshness to pounce on a tired looking Gaultier, who had tough times with Karim Abdel Gawad in the quarter-final, recovering from a 0-2 deficit, and against Mazen Hesham in the semi-finals. “I’m just glad I was able to play the whole week here and I’m glad I could win the title just one week before the World Championship. It’s an important win and for sure it’s a confidence boost for me for that tournament”, Elshorbagy said.
