Sublime Shabana Reaches EL Gouna Semi-finals by Nathan Clarke April 16, 2014
- Egypt’s four-time World Champion Amr Shabana survived a testing
encounter against an in-form Omar Mossad to book his place in the
semi-final of the 2014 EL Gouna International Squash Open today. Shabana was forced to
use all of his guile and court-craft to get past the imposing figure of
Mossad, who came into the match spirited after beating World No.5 Borja
Golan in the second round in one of his most impressive wins in recent
times. But Shabana, who has
been an ever-present figure in the world top ten for over a decade,
combined his experience and guile with his dazzling array of shots to
ensure his place in the final four. “It took everything I
had to beat Omar today,” said Shabana. “Considering it’s my third match
on the glass court and his first I didn’t expect him to have such good
timing and he made it really uncomfortable for me out there. “I had to go back to basics and play a basic length game and it took everything I had to go through. “I’ve seen him
transform from a junior to a top player and he works a lot on his
movement and he’s very technical. He’s very subtle in the way he plays
for a big guy and if you’re not careful he can make you look average. “I think he has a wonderful future but today I won, so I’m happy. “I’ve put in a lot of
hard to work to reach the semi-final and thankfully it’s paying off. We
all put in a lot of hard work but it doesn’t mean you are going to win
so it’s nice to get the rewards.” Shabana will take on
defending El Gouna champion Ramy Ashour in the semi-finals, after the
maverick Egyptian progressed to the semi-finals after opponent Karim
Darwish was forced to retire through injury. The second semi-final
will see a third Egyptian contest a spot in the final as World No.3
Mohamed Elshorbagy will look to take out the World No.1 and number one
seed Gregory Gaultier, after the Frenchman got past a tricky encounter
with England’s Daryl Selby 3-0. “I was not feeling as
accurate as I was yesterday but maybe that was because Daryl was
hanging in there and giving me a tough time even if the score doesn’t
reflect the match,” said Gaultier. “He was ahead in the
third game and I had to come back to win. I didn’t manage to put the
same pressure on him and I think he relaxed and started to go for the
shots and he was getting them and making it tough. “It wasn’t beautiful squash but I fight for every point even if I can’t play my best so long as you win it doesn’t matter. “I still feel good
physically, it was hot today and you always have to adapt to the
conditions but you have to deal with these things or else you book a
flight and go home.” 2014 EL Gouna International – Quarter-final Results:
