World Men’s Day Five: El Shorbagy Junior Sinks Selby In Rotterdam
by Howard Harding
Ashour-Mueller, photos courtesy Steve Cubbins
Darwish-El Hindi
1 November 2011 - World junior champion Marwan El Shorbagy, at 18, the youngest player in the championships, caused the biggest upset in today's second round of the PSA World Open in Rotterdam when he overcame England's 11th seed Daryl Selby in a bitterly-contested 94-minute marathon to reach the last 16 of the premier PSA World Tour squash event of the year at Victoria Squash in the Dutch City of Sport.
Marwan, younger brother of ninth seed Mohamed El Shorbagy, took the opening two games against the world No12. But British champion Selby fought back to draw level - then move 9-6 ahead in the decider.
Both had match-balls - indeed Selby thought he had clinched victory at 11-10 - but it was teenager El Shorbagy who ultimately prevailed, winning 11-8, 11-7, 4-11, 4-11, 14-12 after 92 minutes.
"I'm so pleased to have got the result here today," said the ecstatic youngster from Alexandria. "It's a massive thing for me to get to the third round in my first World Open. I can't describe it. I feel I played very well tonight in the first two games, but my concentration maybe dropped in the next two and he got back into it.
"My brother was telling me to stay focussed and not listen to him [Daryl] as he talks a lot on court and I tried not to get distracted. I managed to get back on track and hold him off in the last game."
Marwan goes on to meet Selby's England team-mate James Willstrop, the new world No3 who took just 13 minutes to reach the last 16 after his Canadian opponent Shahier Razik retired with an ankle injury with the score standing at 11-1, 4-1.
"Making it through to play James in round three on the glass court will be amazing," continued the UK-based 18-year-old. "My preparation for the Open has been fantastic and I just want to thank everyone who's supported me and helped me get here."
Meanwhile defending champion Nick Matthew made up for his shock defeat by Tarek Momen in last month's Qatar Classic by beating the 23-year-old Egyptian 11-4, 11-9, 11-4.
"There was a little bit of nervous anticipation today as Qatar was at the forefront of my mind," admitted England's world number one afterwards. "It was the last PSA match I'd had before this week and he beat me fair and square, convincingly, so I had to go away and do some research on him and come out with a plan to beat him on this court.
"I was ready for a big match - I knew it was going to be tough. He's very hard to play and he moves like lightning. But I was ready for him, pleased and relieved to get off court with a 3/0 - but even though it's a good win, it's only one round and we're only in round three so there's still a long way to go.
"A little bit of time at home maybe helped rejuvenate me," added the 31-year-old from Sheffield. "Some extra time with my coach to get me motivated. But I'm ready now and feel that whatever happens, someone will have to work very hard to beat me."
Momen took to the court less than an hour after discovering that he had leapt into the world top 20, to a career-high 19. "I'm really pleased to have got into the top 20 in the world," said the Cairo-based Egyptian. "It's quite an achievement for me and I really hope I can keep it up. I never really think about the rankings. I don't set myself ranking targets, I just try to do my best in every tournament and the rankings just reflect your performance."
Of his match, Momen added: "I think I played well today. I made a few more errors than I wanted but overall I think I played well and Nick was just onto everything I played today. He's playing so well. He was alert because of last time. Not an impossible task, but I think i could have sneaked the second game. I'm pleased with my performance and I hope that next time I will be better."
Unseeded Spaniard Borja Golan pulled off another notable upset later in the day when he beat Omar Mosaad, the 14th seed from Egypt, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 in 76 minutes. The 28-year-old former world No10 is fighting back after major knee surgery - and is now celebrating his first appearance in the third round.
In one of the final results of the day, unseeded Alister Walker added a further surprise name to the last 16 line-up when he recovered from a game down to upset Mohd Azlan Iskandar, the No13 seed from Malaysia, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5.
Former England international Walker, now flying the flag of his country of birth, Botswana, will next face Ramy Ashour, the second seed. But the 2008 world champion from Egypt had a significant scare when he found himself 2/0 down to rising Swiss star Nicolas Mueller.
Ashour dug deep however and after exactly one hour clinched the 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-5 win which takes the 24-year-old from Cairo into the third round for the fourth time since 2006.
RESULTS: PSA World Open, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Men's 2nd round:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Tarek Momen (EGY) 11-4, 11-9, 11-4 (47m)
[9] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) bt Simon Rosner (GER) 12-10, 11-7, 12-10 (49m)
[16] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Chris Ryder (ENG) 11-9, 11-3, 11-5 (46m)
[7] Peter Barker (ENG) bt Stephen Coppinger (RSA) 9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 (57m)
[8] David Palmer (AUS) bt Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 11-6, 11-13, 11-5, 11-5 (70m)
[10] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Stewart Boswell (AUS) 11-5, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 (66m)
Borja Golan (ESP) bt [14] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 (76m)
[3] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Wael El Hindi (EGY) 11-9, 11-3, 11-4 (52m)
[4] James Willstrop (ENG) bt Shahier Razik (CAN) 11-1, 4-1 ret. (13m)
[Q] Marwan El Shorbagy (EGY) bt [11] Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-8, 11-7, 4-11, 4-11, 14-12 (92m)
[15] Hisham Mohamed Ashour (EGY) bt Martin Knight (NZL) 11-3, 11-8, 16-14 (38m)
[5] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 5-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9 (50m)
[6] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [Q] Cesar Salazar (MEX) 11-3, 11-9, 11-5 (49m)
[12] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5 (65m)
Alister Walker (BOT) bt [13] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) 10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5 (68m)
[2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-5 (60m)
3rd round line-up:
[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [9] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
[7] Peter Barker (ENG) v [16] Cameron Pilley (AUS)
[8] David Palmer (AUS) v [10] Thierry Lincou (FRA)
[3] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Borja Golan (ESP)
[4] James Willstrop (ENG) v [Q] Marwan El Shorbagy (EGY)
[5] Amr Shabana (EGY) v [15] Hisham Mohamed Ashour (EGY)
[6] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [12] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED)
[2] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v Alister Walker (BOT)
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