Elshorbagy Brothers To Face-off In Windy City Open Semis by Nathan Clarke
photos PSA
March 2, 2015
- World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy, the 24-year-old Bristol-Based Egyptian
from Alexandria, will take on younger brother Marwan, the 21-year-old
World No.14, for a place in the final of the 2015 Windy City Open
presented by Guggenheim Partners and EquiTrust Life Insurance Company
in Chicago tomorrow.
The brothers have met three times on the PSA World Tour, with Mohamed
undefeated so far, but with Marwan making his debut appearance in the
semi-finals of a PSA World Series event their showdown in the
prestigious University Club of Chicago will be the biggest of their
careers so far.
After winning January's J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions in January,
his third World Series title in six months, elder brother Mohamed will
be gunning for another trophy as he aims to continue his streak of
dominance on the PSA World Tour while Marwan will be hoping to secure a
maiden appearance in the final of one of the sport’s biggest
tournaments.
"I'm in the semi-final of a World Series event and I'm only
21-years-old, I'm very, very happy," said Marwan in the wake of his 3-2
victory over Karim Abdel Gawad in the quarter-finals.
"Before I came out here for this tournament I was relaxing with some of
my friends back home in Bristol and they said that I have nothing to
lose and I just gave it my best and I'm so happy to be in the
semi-finals - I'm speechless.
"Mohamed and I have never played each other in such a big match before
so to compete against each other on this stage will be an amazing
experience."
Mohamed booked his place in the final with an impressive 3-0 win over
Tarek Momen, the World No.7, producing his best performance of the week
so far after narrowly avoiding exits in both the first and second
rounds.
"I'm so happy to have won three-nil today because the second and third games could really have gone either way," he said.
"I had to play so well to beat Tarek and I'm happy to get through
especially because I now get to play my brother in the semi-final of a
world series event for the first time.
"Hopefully that will become something that happens a lot in the future
but one Elshorbagy is guaranteed to be in the final and it is great for
our family to have us booth reach this stage."
The second semi-final will see long-time arch rivals Nick Matthew and
Gregory Gaultier go face-to-face for the 32nd time in their PSA World
Tour careers, with the Frenchman hoping he can put a halt to Matthew's
recent two match winning streak over him.
