Elshorbagy Is US Open Champion by Nathan Clarke
photo US Open Squash
October 18, 2014
- 23-year-old Egyptian Mohamed Elshorbagy, the powerhouse from
Alexandria who will top the PSA World Rankings for the first time on
November 1st, capped of the most successful week of his career by
claiming the 2014 Delaware Investments US Open at Philadelphia's Drexel
University.
Elshorbagy, who is
based out of Bristol, England, saw off compatriot and four-time World
Champion Amr Shabana to win the 2014 event and extend his
winning-streak to 18-matches, a run that has seen him win back-to-back
PSA World Series titles in Hong Kong and Philadelphia either side of
further victories in Malaysia and Mexico.
After going down one
game to nil early on to an in-form Shabana, Elshorbagy ramped up his
play to storm to an 8-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-3 victory and claim his 199th
match victory on the PSA World Tour.
"I'm feeling so happy right now," said an elated Elshorbagy.
"I just can't believe
what has happened. It's just been such an unbelievable week for me - I
knew I could become number one coming into this tournament but I didn't
think both things would happen.
"I had a tough draw to
get to the final, I had to beat World No.1 Gregory Gaultier and a
legend like Amr Shabana to win so not only did I get to number one, I
feel like I have proved it as well."
Elshorbagy will now go
into next month's 2014 Qatar PSA World Series Championship in the form
of his life and he'll be hoping to maximise on his momentum to take the
tittle away from current holder Nick Matthew.
"It's been a great
season until now but there's the World Championships in three weeks so
I'm hopefully going to make it very hard for the other players and keep
my momentum going," he said.
"I'm feeling confident right now but that's not fooling me, I know I still need to work very hard.
"For me becoming World No.1 is just the first step on the ladder."
