"I'm very happy to be in the World Series Finals. I guess I have to go on court at Christmas as I would like to be very competitive," said Rosner (photo: Jordan Mansfield) Simon Rosner, the world No15 from Paderborn, will replace Egypt’s world champion Ramy Ashour in next week’s ATCO PSA World Series Finals to become the 1st German to earn a place in the flagship PSA World Tour championship.
A hamstring injury sustained by Ashour in the Qatar PSA World Championship in Doha earlier this month has led to the withdrawal of the 25-year-old from Cairo who will reclaim the World No1 ranking in January.
“I am so happy to be in the World Series Finals – something that no one from Germany has achieved before. I guess I have to keep the Christmas food and sweets to the minimum now – not easy in a baker’s family,” said Rosner on hearing the news.
“I hope Ramy is not injured too badly and that he will be back for the next tournaments in January,” added the six-time German national champion.
Action will take place on a special, state-of-the-art, ASB Z-Court – leading to an action-packed weekend featuring the semi-finals and final. Sky Sports will be televising the semi-finals and finals live.
Revised 1st pool round (Wednesday 2nd January):
Pool A
[4] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) v [7] Peter Barker (ENG)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [5] Amr Shabana (EGY)
Pool B
[1] James Willstrop (ENG) v [6] Karim Darwish (EGY)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [8] Simon Rosner (GER)
2nd pool round (Thursday 3rd January):
Pool A
[5] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [7] Peter Barker (ENG)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [4] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
Pool B
[1] James Willstrop (ENG) v [3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
[6] Karim Darwish (EGY) v [8] Simon Rosner (GER)
3rd & final pool round (Friday 4th January):
Pool A
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [7] Peter Barker (ENG)
[4] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) v [5] Amr Shabana (EGY)
Pool B
[1] James Willstrop (ENG) v [8] Simon Rosner (GER)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [6] Karim Darwish (EGY)
