"I am just very happy I could back up after my Qatar Classic victory and the performance at the worlds in Manchester", new Sky Open champion Mohamed El Shorbagy said after the final. Mohamed El Shorbagy (le) collected his 2nd PSA World Tour title in 8 days when he upset top-seeded Egyptian compatriot Karim Darwish (ri) in the final of the Sky Open in New Cairo, Egypt.
El Shorbagy went into the final 3-9 down to Darwish on a career head-to-head tally over the past four years – but had only dropped a single game in his three wins over the former world No 1 from Cairo.
Ranked 6 in the world, El Shorbagy is enjoying the form of his life: Last week in Doha, the 22-year-old from Alexandria captured his 1st PSA World Series title at the Qatar Classic – again defying the world rankings by beating world No 5 Darwish en-route to the final.
The young pretender clearly took full advantage of Darwish’s demanding route to the final, which had included 2 5-game marathons in which the 32-year-old had had to recover from 2 games down. Darwish had no answer to the youngster’s pressure as El Shorbagy romped to an 11-2, 11-7, 11-8 victory in 43 minutes to win the 7th Tour title of his career.
“I had to be very focused from the very first point today as I knew if this gets very tough I could be in trouble mentally as I could feel last night I was tired mentally. After winning the first game I knew he would give it a big push in the second as we both know there was no way today he could come back from 2/0 down as physically it would have been close to impossible after the amount of hard matches he had,” El Shorbagy told www.squashsite.com later.
Final:
[2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [1] Karim Darwish (EGY) 11-2, 11-7, 11-8 (43m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [5] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 (64m)
[2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [6] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-1, 11-7 (60m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Zahed Mohamed (EGY) 11-7, 11-3, 11-3 (31m)
[5] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Fares Mohamed Dessouki (EGY) 11-6, 11-9, 11-5 (45m)
[6] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt [4] Alister Walker (BOT) 11-7, 13-11, 9-11, 11-5 (45m)
[2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [7] Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY) 11-3, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9 (50m)
2nd round:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 11-13, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 (75m)
Zahed Mohamed (EGY) bt [8] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) 13-11, 6-11, 11-7, 2-11, 11-9 (94m)
[5] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Shaun le Roux (RSA) 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 (29m)
[Q] Fares Mohamed Dessouki (EGY) bt [3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 6-11, 11-7 (83m)
[4] Alister Walker (BOT) bt Eddie Charlton (ENG) 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-2 (44m)
[6] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) 11-9, 12-10, 11-8 (53m)
[7] Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY) bt Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) 7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10 (60m)
[2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Joel Hinds (ENG) 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 (39m)
1st round:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt [Q] Youssef Abdalla (ENG) 11-3, 11-3, 11-5 (20m)
Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt Gonzalo Miranda (ARG) 11-7, 11-8, 11-2 (21m)
Zahed Mohamed (EGY) bt Jens Schoor (GER) 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 (45m)
[8] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) bt Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) 11-7, 5-11, 11-2, 9-11, 12-10 (106m)
[5] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [LL] Ahmad Al-Saraj (JOR) 9-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9 (83m)
Shaun le Roux (RSA) bt [Q] Khawaja Adil Maqbool (PAK) 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 (30m)
[Q] Fares Mohamed Dessouki (EGY) bt Raphael Kandra (GER) 11-8, 11-4, 11-5 (45m)
[3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt [WC] Karim El Hammamy (EGY) 11-5, 11-2, 11-5 (35m)
[4] Alister Walker (BOT) bt [Q] Mohamed El Tabaa (EGY) 11-8, 11-2, 11-5 (30m)
Eddie Charlton (ENG) bt [Q] Shehab Essam Hosny (EGY) 11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8 (50m)
Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) bt Aqeel Rehman (AUT) 13-11, 11-9, 11-7 (55m)
[6] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) 7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9 (110m)
[7] Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY) bt [Q] Ahmed Atef (EGY) 11-1, 11-6, 11-9 (30m)
Omar Abdel Aziz (EGY) bt [Q] Ahmed Hosny (EGY) 11-6, 11-3, 11-3 (33m)
Joel Hinds (ENG) bt Nathan Lake (ENG) 11-7, 11-7, 3-0 ret. (35m)
[2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Ahmed Hussein (EGY) 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 (22m)
