Top Seeds Make Sky Open Summit by Howard Harding 23 November 2013
- The two top seeds will contest an all-Egyptian final of the Banque
Misr Sky Open after favourite Karim Darwish and second seed Mohamed
Elshorbagy survived close-fought five-game semi-finals in the PSA World
Tour International 50 squash event at the Sky Resort in New Cairo,
Egypt.
For the second time in
three days, world No 5 Darwish had to fight back from two games down to
survive an onslaught from an up-and-coming fellow countryman.
This time the
32-year-old from Cairo's opponent was fifth seed Marwan Elshorbagy, the
20-year-old former two-time world junior champion from Alexandria - and
younger brother of Mohamed.
The former world No 1
(pictured above, left, with Elshorbagy) was stretched for 64 minutes
before finally prevailing 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6.
"I'm not sure what's
going on with me, but I'd better figure it out soon, because it's not
going to do well at all," conceded Darwish to www.squashsite.com later.
"Maybe the court is very cold, and I'm not ready to face those young
warriors!
"I've been playing and
training with them since they were seven or eight years old, and I
probably don't see them as the threat they are now - I can't imagine
that they can play that well," added Darwish, now in the 42nd Tour
final of his career, and his third of the year.
"So from now on, I'll have to prepare myself as if I'm playing a top four player!"
Elshorbagy junior
acknowledged his opponent's greater experience: "Karim used his
experience today and played better the crucial points," said the world
No 32. "And all credit to him for coming back, again, from 2/0 down
against a young player!
"I am happy with my
performance. When you think that I nearly lost in the first round, and
today, I nearly beat the world number five! So, although I'm not
satisfied, I think this tournament will make me hungry for more."
Elshorbagy senior had
to dig deep to see off sixth seed Omar Abdel Meguid 11-6, 5-11, 6-11,
11-1, 11-7. Meguid, the world No 35 from Giza, made the semis after
upsetting No 4 seed Alister Walker.
Underdog Meguid
(pictured above, left, with Elshorbagy senior) led 2/1 before his
22-year-old opponent, ranked six in the world, reclaimed the upper hand
to close out the match 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-1, 11-7 in 60 minutes.
"He played extremely
well today - he surprised me so much with how he played and his
patience and the few errors he did," acknowledged Mohamed later.
"This match was so
important for me and it was difficult for me mentally as this match
would get me to number four in the ranking and this is huge for me and
certainly Omar made it so difficult for me with the way he played."
Elshorbagy, winner of
his first PSA World Series title last week at the Qatar Classic, is now
marking his fourth Tour final of the year - and the 15th of his career.
RESULTS: PSA International 50 Banque Misr Sky Open, Cairo, Egypt
