Ashour Beats Gaultier, Elshorbagy Over Matthew to Set All-Egyptian Finale To World Series Finals by Nathan Clarke March 18, 2014 -
Egyptian pair Ramy Ashour and Mohamed Elshorbagy, the No.3 and No.4
players in the world, respectively, will contest the final of the Power
Courts World Series Finals at the Westwood Club in Richmond, Virginia
tomorrow. Elshorbagy booked his
place in the final with a 3-2 win over World No.1 Nick Matthew, his
second consecutive win over the Englishman having beaten him in the
2013 Qatar Classic final, in a tense and hard-fought battle full of
sublime squash action. “I’m really happy to
win today,” said Elshorbagy. “That’s the second time in a row I have
beaten him 3-2 and today it was a very tough battle. “I was really pleased with how I started in the fifth game and I think I broke him down mentally. “There were some
scrappy moments in the match but it’s an individual sport so things are
bound to happen on court. We’re both hungry players but whatever
happens on court stays on there and after the match we shook hands and
he wished me good luck.” Having already beaten
Ashour 2-0 in the round robin best-of-three match phase earlier this
week, Elshorbagy will be hoping to make it two-from-two against his
elder compatriot and make amends for his defeat to Ashour in the 2012
World Championship in Qatar in what was one of the most exhilarating
matches in recent years. “Playing Ramy in the final is great and I’m really happy that we’ve been able to make it an all-Egyptian final,” he said. “It’s the first ever
all-Egyptian final in the World Series Finals history which is great
for our country and I think our matches are always interesting because
we’re both such attacking players. “I will go back and
recover now and see how it goes tomorrow. You train to play five tough
matches in every tournament so hopefully I can come back and play even
better tomorrow.” Ashour will be looking
to add a second World Series Finals title to his trophy cabinet, having
won the event in 2007, and looked to be back at his sublime best as he
dismantled French World No.2 Gregory Gaultier 3-0 in their semi-final. “I think when I can
beat Greg in three straight games in the form he has been in recently
then I can say that I’m almost back at my full potential,” said Ashour. “I’ve recently come back from injury and it’s still in the back of my head but I way happy and glad to play the way I did today. “The most important
thing for me now is to play injury free and to play without any threats
and just think about only the ball without any other thoughts entering
my mind.” World Series Finals – Semi-final Results:
