Doha: The PSA World Championship 2014 title match will be an all-Egyptian affair and a repeat of the 2012 final, as world number one Mohammed El Shorbagy takes on two-time world champion Ramy Ashour at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex here today.
Both the Egyptians saved enough energy for today’s final assault, winning their semi-final matches in straight games yesterday.
In the first semi-final, Ashour took 56 minutes to beat top seed Gregory Gaultier of France 17-15, 11-7, 11-5 to reach the world championship final for a fourth time.
The second match of the day saw the exit of three-time-winner Nick Matthew of England.
El Shorbagy, who leads the PSA world rankings, took exactly an hour to beat the 34-year-old Englishman 11-9, 11-5, 11-8.
The Ashour-Gaultier clash provided some incredible play and the crowd got a chance to watch a classic.
The first game set the tone. Ashour won the first one 17-15, an astonishing game that lasted 35 minutes.
Thereafter the Egyptian, backed by the partisan crowd, dominated to win the next two games and book a place in the final.
“In that first game, I thought it was going to end,” said a relieved Ashour, competing in an event for the first time since recovering from a hamstring injury.
In the second semi-final, Elshorbagy kept to his pre-semi-final promise to play a fast-paced match against Matthew.
“He (Nick Matthew) is famous for being one of the players that like to stand up a lot between games and my advice to him is that he should sit down and get that rest tomorrow (semi-final) because I’m going to play at a pace that he won’t be able to handle,” Elshorbagy had said.
“I know he (Matthew) wants to break another record and become the oldest world champion. He made a comment before the tournament that I have only been number one for a few minutes, so I think he needs to be a little bit careful,” he had warned.
The Egyptian set up uncomfortable pace which the 34-year-old defending champion could not handle.
“When you’ve got the talk, you’ve got to back it up. And he certainly did that tonight.” Matthew tweeted on his tweeter handle @nickmatthew after the semi-final loss and the fast pace.
In the end, the Egyptian put in an impressive performance with Matthew unable to knock the youngster off his stride.
El Shorbagy came from 1-4 down in the first, taking the last two points from 9-all, dominated the second and then came from 2-7 down in the third, keeping up incessant pressure and forcing Matthew into errors at the end of grueling rallies.
“I had a great night, it’s unbelievable to win that match three-nil,” said El Shorbagy. “I came here to fight for every point from start to end.”
The final El Shorbagy hopes will be a spectacular show.
“Happy to win today for sure against a great player!! Tomorrow will be another exciting match between Ramy and myself for sure!!,” El Shorbagy tweeted.
The Alexandria-born, Bristol-based, Egyptian lauded the achievement of his rival over a period of time in a PSA career, which kicked off in 1997.
“To be able to win 3 worlds and 3 British in probably the toughest generation that squash had..that’s what makes Nick the greatest of the game!,” he said in another tweet. “I told Nick at the end, if I win tomorrow it will be honour to put my name on the trophy after yours.” THE PENINSULA
