Richmond PSA World Series Day One Results by Nathan Clarke March 15, 2014 -
Egyptian World No.4 Mohamed Elshorbagy began his Power Courts World
Series Finals campaign in impressive fashion, beating compatriot and
World No.3 Ramy Ashour 2-0 in just 17 minutes. Elshorbagy came
through 11-5, 11-5 to record his first ever victory over the two-time
World Champion on the PSA World Tour and he will now take on Tarek
Momen tomorrow with a win guaranteeing him a place in the semi-finals. It was the first
meeting on the PSA World Tour between Elshorbagy and Ashour since they
contested the 2012 World Squash Championship final when Ashour emerged
a 3-2 victor after a 90-minute marathon and today’s victory was a
significant one for the 23-year-old. “Beating Ramy is a big confidence boost for me,” said Elshorbagy. “Neither of us tend to
start tournaments well and in this format there cannot be mistakes so
I’m really happy to have played well and hopefully I can keep that
going through the week. ‘Getting my first win
over him is a great boost for me but I have to beat players like him on
a consistent basis – doing it once isn’t enough. “I’ve got the win over
Ramy now and I beat Nick (Matthew) during the Qatar Classic last year
but I have to prove I’m good enough by beating them again and again. “That’s what they and
Greg (Gaultier) and James (Willstrop) have done for years. I’m learning
from them all the time and I feel like it’s my turn now.” Squash World Champion
and current World No.1 Nick Matthew also got his World Series Finals
title bid off to a winning start, beating German champion Simon Rosner
2-0. The victory was a
welcome boost for the 33-year-old, who showed no signs of the back
injury which forced an end to his recent Chicago Windy City Open title
challenge, as he looks to win his first ever World Series Finals. “I haven’t won this event before and hopefully I can finally put it right this week,” said Matthew. “Last year I had a
slow start and Amr Shabana gave me a bit of a lesson so I wanted to get
off to a quick winning start this time so that cushion is there and
when it’s the best of three format, a quick start is vital in each
match as well. “Keeping my body right, and as long as it holds up, will be key to that so hopefully it can go well for me this week.” World Series Finals - Round Robin Day One Results
