Elshorbagy Steams to Second Straight Cambridge Cup Title by Chris Hollow March 6, 2014
- The draw complete, the fans in the building, the time that we were
all waiting for was here: Finals Night! After being treated to an
entertaining 7/8 match won by Peter Barker over Cam Pilley, the battle
for the title of Cambridge Cup champion was set to unfold. The
usual suspects could be found in their regular seats along the glass;
long-time tournament supporters Joe Mercurio, Vance Cooper and Mike
Capombassis. They were here to see a rematch of last year's
electric final between the old and new guards of Egyptian squash as Amr
Shabana and Mohammed El Shorbagy were to battle out for the right to
hoist the Cambridge Cup (again).
The match started with
a bang. Shabana slotted a cross-court winner from the back left
corner that never went above knee height to go up 1-0. And that
would be about as good as it got for him on this evening. It was
all downhill from there, as they say. Obviously a bit beat-up
from his long five-gamer against Laurens Jan Anjema, he came out a step
slower than his young counterpart. He fell behind quickly to 7-2
where Shorbagy would give a sign of things to come with a beautifully
constructed rally that would eventually flat-foot Shabana on the tee as
the defending champion feathered in a backhand straight drop from just
in front of the tee. The game would end 11-4 Shorbagy in just 8m.
Shorbagy jumped out to
3-0 in game two on an air-tight straight forehand length that Shabana
couldn't claw off the glass back in the deep blue ocean that is the
Cambridge Club back-right corner of the glass court. Shorbagy
raced out to a 7-3 lead at which point Shabana looked skyward and
mumbled "Thanks LJ", crediting yesterday's opponent for his heavy
legs. Game two to Shorbagy 11-3.
Shabana would do his
best to stay in the fourth. At 2-1 up, it was the first lead he'd
had since 1-0 in game one. Seemingly answering the call of the
Cambridge faithful urging him on, he'd keep it close all the way
up. "I'm doing my best." he replied. He earned a game ball
at 10-9 but a determined Shorbagy refused to let up on the elder
statesman. 10-10 went to 11-10 and, despite a valiant effort by
Shabana on match ball, Mohammed El Shorbagy finished him off 12-10 to
win in straight sets. In joining Ramy Ashour as the only 2x
Cambridge Cup champion he would deny Shabana entry to the same club.
In closing, Shabana promised to train even harder and keep the heat on the youngster eleven years his junior.
Thanks to all our
sponsors Merrill Lynch Bank of America, Cooper Mediation, Bar Mercurio,
City Stone and Polar Securities for their continued support of this
great event. See you in 2015!
Semis Report by Chris Hollow
First up on centre
court was another all-lefty affair between 2010 Cambridge Cup champion
Amr Shabana and giant-killer Laurens Jan Anjema, the big Dutchman
having secured his spot in the semis with an upset victory over number
one seed Gregory Gaultier the night before.
The first game was
fairly conservative in the early going, the players opting for sensible
shots and longs rallies. Shabana will be Shabana however, pulling
out the full-swing complete miss fake at 8-9, freezing Anjema on the
tee while he feathered in a straight-drop winner on his second
swing. Shabana would go on to lose in extra points 13-11 in a
long first game .
Shabana looked to be
on auto-pilot in game two, running away with it 11-5 in just under
9m. Merrill Lynch Bank of America's Mike Capombassis
appeared to be suggesting a game of three-way when the players
returned, joining them on court. His offer was politely declined.
LJ put his incredible
reflexes on display down 5-7 in game three. He'd set up shop in
front of the tee-line right behind Shabana, ready to cut-off the
straight drive. When it came cross court he switched up and
somehow still got a racquet on it, finely slicing it just above the
tin. It got an eye-brow raise from Shabana and a hearty round of
applause from the crowd. "Never a doubt," he joked. They'd
exchange cross-court forehand nick kills to go to 10-8 and despite
pulling it back to 10-10, Anjema lost the third 12-10.
An absolute
barn-burner of a fourth game had the guys clawing tooth and nail,
requiring 20 points to settle it with Anjema finally coming through
20-18 to set up the fifth.
It's game fives like
this where Shabana shows why he's a four-time World Champion. He
turned up the heat on the Dutchman with relentless combos of length and
attacks. He'd go ahead 9-6 and never look back, sealing it with a
bread-and-butter backhand straight drop 11-7.
Match to Shabana 11-13, 11-5, 12-10, 18-20, 11-7 (65m)
The second match of
the evening pitted defending champion Mohammed El Shorbagy against
emerging star Borja Golan. They took the court at 7:33p to decide
who would face Shabana in the final.
This match took a
different tone than the first with the players hitting at a very fast
pace right from the get-go. A huge rally at 5-2 Shorbagy ended in
a let but had the Spaniard taking hard breaths as he regrouped in the
service box to receive. Shorbagy unleashed one of his cross-court
kill speacials to go to 7-6. Not to be outdone, the Spaniard
recreated the shot on the following serve getting a good rise out of
the crowd. Knotted at 7-7, it was all Shorbagy down the stretch,
taking game one comfortably 11-7.
The young Egyptian
opened the second by continuing where he left off in the first, racing
out to 5-1 lead. The cries of encouragement came from the crowd
in Golan's native tongue. "Vamos! Vamos!" rained down from the gallery
as Borja gave himself a stern talking to. Despite a semi-toasted
Peter Ellis ensuring the Spaniard it was "his time," Shorbaby would go
another 11-7 win in game two.
Realizing that he had
to do more if he was to stand a chance, Golan opened the third game
playing extremely tight squash up and down the walls. He'd let an
early lead slip into a tie at 4-4. "Ariba! Ariba!" he
yelled, amping himself up for a stretch run. He held a narrow
lead through the game but a stalwart Shorbagy would capitalize on a
couple of loose errors in the business end and force extra
points. Up to the challenge, Golan squeezed an error with a tight
backhand drive that Shorbagy couldn't scrape off the wall. Game
to Golan 12-10.
The comeback was
short-lived. Shorbagy showed off the skills that have catapulted
him into fourth in the world rankings. Unlike the crowd, it
didn't appear as though he wanted to see a fifth game. Slotting winners
from everywhere, the Egyptian was setting them up and knocking them
down. He was just too strong for the Spaniard, maintaining a 3
point lead for most of the game and finishing 11-9 to set up a rematch
of last year's Cambridge Cup final against Amr Shabana.
Match to El Shorbagy 11-7, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9 (45m)
3/4 Match Report by Murray Jans
Here
is a report on the Cambridge Club Tournament 3 /4 match on March 6,
2014.… Ian Watson was the photographer this evening and will send
some photos to you sometime soon.
For
a 3rd year in a row, the Georgetown Racquet Club, was pleased to host a
match in the Cambridge Club Cup Tournament. This year it was the
3 /4 match and the competitors were Borja Golan (3rd seed and #6 in
world) vs Laurens Jan Anjema (LJ) (7th seed and # six 16 in
world). LJ had a significant upset win in the first round
defeating the number one seed Greg Gauthier (world #1). Borja defeated
the #6 seed Simon Rosner. The players have met several times in
the past with Borja securing the edge in their series. A crowd of
80 people came out to watch some stellar squash. True
to form, Borja played the match with surgical precision. With
utmost patients, he executed precise drops that refused to rise more
than centimeters above the floor and responded to LJ's hard-driving
shots with soft hands and incredible gets. Borja has a reputation
for holding both his forehand and backhand shots making him one of the
most deceptive players on the tour. Even under pressure from LJ,
Borja was able to execute volleys with immaculate precision keeping the
pressure on LJ. Though close, Borga squeaked the first game.
LJ
came out swinging in the second game. His amazing lightning quick
reflexes allowed him to play with flair and bravado on most of his
shots. His quick flat drive gave Borja little time to retrieve
the shot. Though the game was even closer in score, Borja was
able to fight back and take the second game.
Somehow
LJ found new energy for the third game. He kept the error count
down, used his reach to take every microsecond off Borja’s shots.
His lobs were flawless keeping Borja in the backcourt and then with
amazingly soft hands, found many nicks. LJ took the third game.
With
renewed determination Borja was focused and dedicated his concentration
to make a shots tighter, deeper and shorter. Famous for his
quickness and balance, he was not only able to retrieve shots, he made
them almost impossible to return. With new rhythm, holding his shots
until the last moment and then snapping his returns, he forced just too
many errors from LJ taking the fourth game 11-8.
These
players espoused the values of true competitors, respecting each
other's shot-making abilities, skills and strategies…. they did not
attempt to gain points from unnecessary let calls. Each one would
go out of their way to play the ball when they could have easily called
for lets and, in many cases, granted a stroke. Their focus,
dedication and sense of humor on the court were appreciated by the
whole audience.
Though
they had to get back to the wind-up dinner at the Cambridge Club, they
kindly fielded many questions from the audience giving the attendees an
idea how intense they train to perform at the highest levels possible.
Many thanks for to Shahier Razik for arranging the Tournament and allowing the GRC to host this 3 /4 match.
