Momen Shocks Elshorbagy in World Semis, to Face Farag in Final; El Sherbini and El Tayeb to Vie for Women's Title by Sean Reuthe
photos PSA
March 1, 2019
- A thrilling night of action at Chicago’s Union Station saw World No.3
Tarek Momen end the run of reigning champion Mohamed ElShorbagy to
reach the final of the 2018-2019 PSA World Championships presented by
the Walter Family – while married couple Ali Farag and Nour El Tayeb
will also feature in the title deciders of the men’s and women’s
events, respectively.
Momen had suffered nine straight defeats to World No.2 ElShorbagy
coming into tonight’s match and hadn’t beaten his fellow Egyptian since
2013. ElShorbagy, who beat younger brother Marwan to win his maiden
World Championship crown in December 2017, had the better of the early
stages to go 2-1 up in Union Station’s Great Hall.
But Momen – who dispatched Marwan earlier on in this tournament – dug
into his mental reserves and showed some sublime touches at the front
of the court to level the scores. The 31-year-old crept ahead in the
deciding fifth game and held off his opponent to book his place in the
final of the sport’s biggest event for the first time.
Momen’s win came less than two hours after wife and reigning women’s
champion Raneem El Welily saw her hopes of retaining her title
extinguished by World No.3 El Tayeb.
“I’m so happy to be in the final, this is my first ever [World Championship] final, but it’s not over,” said Momen.
“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, whoever I play, it is going to
be the first time for both of us. I’m going to fight for it and give it
my all, how can it get any better than if I win the World
Championships? It cannot get any better.
“I’ve been inspired by her [El Welily’s] win since last year. I was
heartbroken for myself for not making it past the last 16, but seeing
her win the title brought so much joy, watching her win that last point
and get the trophy and all I could think of is that one day I wanted to
be there. I would have loved to have done it together, but she’s had
it, and if I can have it then the two of us can tell our future kids
and grandkids that we won that title.”
There will be a new name etched into the men’s trophy after Momen’s
fellow Egyptian Ali Farag got his reign at World No.1 under way with an
11-2, 11-9, 11-4 triumph against Germany’s Simon Rösner to reach his
first World Championship final.
“It was such an emotional, long day, with Nour [El Tayeb] playing and
winning an epic one and then going back to the hotel and watching the
other semi-final of the men’s… so it was quite an emotional one,” said
Farag.
“I woke up really happy to be the new World No.1 and then I had to get
it out of my system because if I had have been dragged away with that
then I wouldn’t have played my best today, and I can’t play Simon at
99%, I have to be at 100 per cent all the time. I’m really glad that I
did that, and I hope tomorrow can be a special day for us.”
The finals of the World Championships will feature a married couple for
the first time in history, as Farag and El Tayeb look to replicate
their incredible joint U.S. Open wins from October 2017.
That triumph saw them become the first married couple in sporting
history to win the same major sports title on the same day and they
will now appear in the finals of squash’s pinnacle tournament, where
the lion’s share of the $1 million prize fund – the highest in the
sport’s history – is up for grabs.
“All through the match I was just trying to hang in there with Raneem,”
said El Tayeb, who won the Windy City Open in Chicago last year.
“She’s the best in the world for a reason and she makes every rally
hard and I can’t believe it. I’m in the final of the World
Championships – wow. I knew I hadn’t had a big win over the top two
since Chicago last year and that gives me massive confidence going into
the final tomorrow… I have proved to myself that I can fight through a
really hard match.”
Meanwhile, two-time winner Nour El Sherbini will appear in her fourth
successive World Championship final – and her fifth overall – at the
age of just 23 after she held off a spirited comeback from French World
No.5 Camille Serme.
El Sherbini became the sport’s youngest ever World Champion in 2016 at
the age of 20 before retaining her title the following year. The
Egyptian then fell to El Welily in the final of the previous edition in
Manchester in 2017.
And she will have the chance to become the fifth woman to win three
World Championships after an 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11, 11-6 victory over
Serme. Her match will be a repeat of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of
Champions semi-finals, where El Sherbini triumphed en route to winning
the title.
The finals of the PSA World Championships will feature an all-Egyptian
contingent for the third year in a row in both the men’s and women’s
draws.
“For me, it’s the fifth final of the World Championships and playing Nour is going to be difficult” El Sherbini said.
“We just played at the ToC and it’s hard to play every tournament
against each other. We haven’t played in a final since ToC last year,
so I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s match.”
Live action from the finals begins at 19:00 (GMT-6) on Saturday March
2. Matches will be shown live on SQUASHTV (Rest of World), Eurosport
Player (Europe only) and mainstream broadcast channels such as BT
Sport, Astro, Fox Sports Australia and more.
Result – Men’s Semi-Finals: 2018-2019 PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family
[4] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt [1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) 3-2: 8-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8 (97m)
[2] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [3] Simon Rösner (GER) 3-0: 11-2, 11-9, 11-4 (46m)
Draw – Men’s Final: To Be Played March 2nd
[4] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [2] Ali Farag (EGY)
Result – Women’s Semi-Finals: 2018-2019 PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family
[3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) 3-2: 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10 (64m)
[2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [5] Camille Serme (FRA) 3-2: 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11, 11-6 (59m)
Result – Women’s Final: To Be Played March 2nd
[3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
