Elshorbagy Marks Motor City Double by Howard Harding 29 January 2014
- Egypt's Mohamed Elshorbagy outlasted Englishman Peter Barker in a
marathon Motor City Open final to become only the second player after
Canadian legend Jonathon Power to win the established Detroit squash
title twice.
Top seed Elshorbagy,
the 2011 champion, reached the final of the PSA World Tour
International 70 event at Birmingham Athletic Club in Bloomfield Hills
after an emotional first-ever victory over compatriot Amr Shabana, the
defending champion, in the semi-finals.
Londoner Barker, the
third seed back in Tour action after a two-month calf injury lay-off,
leapt to a two-game lead in the final.
But Elshorbagy, the
23-year-old World No.4 from Alexandria enjoying the best period of his
career to date, established significant early leads in the next three
games before ultimately closing out the 92-minute match 8-11, 12-14,
11-4, 11-6, 11-7 to win the second biggest PSA World Tour title of his
career.
For his efforts,
Elshorbagy won $11,000 in prize money and a $9,000 Rolex Oyster
Perpetual watch, courtesy of Greenstone's Jewelers.
"I'm happy to win my
second Rolex now," said UK-based Elshorbagy. "It's an amazing feeling
knowing the only other player who has won this tournament twice is
Jonathon Power. It's such an honour to put my name up there with him.
"Peter played so well
in the beginning of the match," the champion continued. "It wasn't his
length game that surprised me, but his short game. His short game has
improved a lot.
"Losing the second
game that way was really tough, but I came back and told myself I have
to find a way to win. It doesn't matter how, I'm going to find it. I
just had to be strong mentally and that's what all the top players do.
That's what I learned from players like (Gregory) Gaultier, (Amr)
Shabana and Nick (Matthew). I thought 'Okay, I'm going to cut the
errors, be really patient and if he's one of the best players on the
tour in the length game, I'm going to try to match him and go for the
shot when I'm 100 percent sure that it's going to be the right one'.
"After I had that lead
in the third game, my length started getting better and my confidence
came back as well, so I had more options to go short," added
Elshorbagy. "But credit to Peter for coming back the way he did from
the injury he had. It was such a fair match and I'm happy this tough
battle was as close as it was."
Barker, the World No.8
who was celebrating his 24th Tour final appearance, was not unhappy
with his Motor City debut: "As the game went on, my body started
breaking down a little bit. I need my movement because retrieving and
making my movement hurt people is my game. But more credit to him
because he stuck in there and upped the pace.
"I've heard great
things about this tournament and I'm sorry it took me until I was 30 to
come," added the left-hander. "But all the good things you hear about
it on the tour are true. I'll be back."
RESULTS: PSA International 70 Motor City Open, Bloomfield Hills, Detroit, USA
