Pilley Downs World No.1 In World Series Finals Upset by Nathan Clarke photos PSA
May 27, 2016
- World No.13 Cameron Pilley pulled off one of the biggest upsets in
World Series Finals history as he downed odds-on title favourite
Mohamed ElShorbagy, the World No.1, in straight-game to reach the final
of the 2016 iteration of the tournament which is taking place in front
of Dubai's iconic Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building.
The
season-ending event brings only the top eight players on the Road To
Dubai Standings together to compete for a lucrative $160,000 purse and
Pilley, who only just scraped into the competition at the last moment,
took full advantage of the opportunity presented to him as he played
with a relaxed and calm manner to produce some of his best squash this
season.
Competing in the tournament for the first time in
his career the man from Yamba took the first few points of the
semi-final and managed to stay ahead throughout as he grasped at the
scent of victory to power to an 11-9, 11-5 win that sets up a
title-decider with two-time winner and current World Champion Gregory
Gaultier.
"I play my best squash when I’m relaxed and I don’t overcomplicate things on court," said Pilley.
"So
today I just went in with a pretty simple game plan of staying relaxed.
It helps with my movement, it helps with my hitting, and it helps with
my shot selection if I’m in a relaxed state of mind. There was no
pressure on me, so I just went in and did my best.
"I’ve
played ElShorbagy so many times I know as soon as I miss my targets by
a foot, half a foot, he just kills me. I had to make sure it was tight
and my lengths were getting to the back, otherwise he just punishes
you. I was pretty happy with how I did that today.
"I
remember watching when (Anthony) Rickets won in 2006 and thinking it
was just amazing to see a fellow Aussie win this tournament son for me
to scrape into the top 8 and now be in the final is something I can be
really happy about."
Gaultier secured his berth with a 2-0
win over Colombia's Miguel Angel Rodriguez while the women's tournament
saw England's Laura Massaro avenge her defeat to Egyptian Nour El
Sherbini in the final of last month's World Championship by downing the
20-year-old 2-0 to move into the final for the second time in her
career.
Massaro lost to Nicol David, the Malaysian who
crashed out against Raneem El Welily in today's second semi-final, in
the 2012 title-decider but will be confident of claiming silverware
this time around after triumphing in a high quality 31-minute encounter.
"I’m feeling pretty good right now," said Massaro.
"I’m
happy with the way I played, I feel like I put some really good work in
since the World Championship and it’s always nice to turn the result
over.
"After the European Championships I had a couple of
tough weeks of training to try and come here and do well and I've made
another final this season which is great. It's always good to be
playing for a major title and I'm really pleased with how I kept the
intensity high throughout.
"It’s a truly world-class event
and, for the women to have equal prize money to the men is phenomenal
and really setting the bar for squash and the rest of the world to
follow. It’s a real privilege to play here."
