Darwish & El Shorbagy To Meet In Repeat KL Final
by Howard Harding
30 March 2013 - Top seeds Karim Darwish and Mohamed El Shorbagy will meet in Sunday's final of the CIMB KL Open Squash Championship - the first all-Egyptian climax since the pair clashed in the 2011 finale - after both prevailed in straight games in today's semi-finals of the PSA World Tour International 50 event at Berjaya Times Square in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
Second seed El Shorbagy, the runner-up two years ago, faced Borja Golan, the No4 seed from Spain. The 22-year-old Egyptian, ranked five in the world, boasted a 3/2 head-to-head lead over the Spaniard going into the match - but it was Golan who was successful in their most recent meeting in December's Hong Kong Open.
"That feeling when you lose to someone and can't wait to play that person again so you can get your revenge badly," tweeted El Shorbagy after today's clash. "Yup, that was me today!!!"
The young Egyptian has been in commanding form in KL, reaching the semis without dropping a game - while Golan came in to the match after a bruising 95-minute five-game quarter-final battle over Egypt's Tarek Momen.
And El Shorbagy maintained his run, beating Golan 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 in 45 minutes to reach the12th Tour final of his career, and his first since finishing as runner-up in December's PSA World Championship in Qatar.
"Really good match, Borja played well," said El Shorbagy after the match. "I'm happy to be in the final, happy to be back in Malaysia and thanking CIMB for their sponsorship.
"Thanks to the Egyptian crowd for coming today and the Egyptian Ambassador for coming to support and watch me play. I would like to thank CIMB for their support with the Olympic bid as I'm sure every squash player would."
The second semi was resolved even more quickly. Like his compatriot, Darwish also arrived at the semi-final stage without conceding a game, and continued his dominant form against Nicolas Mueller, the unseeded Swiss number one who disappointed local fans by ousting Malaysian number one Ong Beng Hee in the previous round.
After just 32 minutes, Darwish prevailed 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 over Mueller to book a place in the 41st PSA Tour final of his career.
"So far so good," said the 31-year-old former world number one from Cairo later. "I always love coming to KL, and I'm very happy that my wife and son have also followed me to this event.
"It's a dream for any athlete to be in the Olympics and for squash to be included in the games would be brilliant. Thank you to the Egyptian fans and Ambassadors that have come to watch.
"Tomorrow playing Shorbagy will be tough," added the event favourite. "We played the final here two years ago so tomorrow will be good."
RESULTS: PSA International 50 CIMB KL Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Semi-finals:
[1] Karim Darwish (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 (32m)
[2] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) bt [4] Borja Golan (ESP) 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (45m)
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