Sixth-seeded Egyptian Mohamed Elshorbagy upset England’s No3 seed James Willstrop in tonight’s quarter-finals of the AJ Bell PSA World Squash Championship at Manchester Central in Manchester to set up a semi-final clash with France’s No2 seed Gregory Gaultier.<\/p>\n
Elshorbagy, the world No6 from Alexandria, was meeting England’s James Willstrop in a repeat of last year’s semi-final which went the full distance – with the Egyptian underdog prevailing in 112 minutes to reach the final as the No8 seed.<\/p>\n
Since then, world No3 Willstrop has claimed two Tour wins over Elshorbagy – and boasts a 9-2 career head-to-head over the 22-year-old.\n<\/p>\n
But Elshorbagy (pictured above with Willstrop) was in dominant form – winning the first game after a run of five points in a row from 2-3, and again jumping from 2-3 down in the second to go 8-4 up before forging a 2\/0 lead.<\/p>\n
But after Elshorbagy took the opening point of the third following a Willstrop error, the third-seeded Englishman crafted nine winners in succession to claw back the deficit.<\/p>\n
At four-all in the fourth, Elshorbagy took a brief timeout for a ‘blood injury’ – and it was neck-and-neck thereafter, with Willstrop leading 9-7.<\/p>\n
“At 9-7 down in the fourth, I just went for it – he was playing more accurately than me at the time,” explained Elshorbagy later, describing the sensational four points in a row he won to clinch the match 12-10, 11-6, 2-11, 11-9.<\/p>\n
“I had to hit the ball hard. I knew I had to win the game – I didn’t want to go into a fifth.<\/p>\n
“Playing in the quarter-finals of the world championship is huge – and you could see that we were both a bit nervous at the beginning – before a big crowd and on such a big stage<\/p>\n
“The first game was crucial – and winning it gave me huge confidence for the whole match. I knew he’d start the second well – and I wanted to get a big lead. I thought I did that well.<\/p>\n
“I felt I was playing his game better than him – then I started to play the game I wanted.<\/p>\n
“I think I will be fresh tomorrow. I’ve got my team with me – my father, mother and my brother – and I’m speaking to Jonah (Barrington) every day. He gives me lots of mental confidence – he understands how my brain works. I believe I can beat any player.”<\/p>\n
It was a demoralised Willstrop who tried to explain the outcome later: “I lost context, I lost perspective. I don’t like losing.<\/p>\n
“I was very poor at 9-7 – I thought the rest of the game was fine – but to do that at 9-7, two errors on the trot – you just can’t do that at this level. If those errors hadn’t happened – who knows?<\/p>\n
“I felt happy as I walked onto the court – I was in a great frame of mind. It was a great atmosphere and a fantastic crowd.<\/p>\n
“At 9-7 in the fourth, I felt really good and thought I could win the match. I thought I was turning it round.”<\/p>\n
“It’s hugely disappointing – but credit to him, he’s a good player.”<\/p>\n
Later Gaultier became the only player to reach the semi-finals without dropping a game when he beat surprise English opponent Daryl Selby.<\/p>\n
The 13th seed from Essex reached the quarter-finals for the first time after upsetting Egypt’s No5 seed Karim Darwish, a former runner-up, in the previous round.<\/p>\n
World No2 Gaultier (pictured above with Selby) is enjoying the best form of his life, with final appearances in his last three Tour events. The 30-year-old from Aix-en-Provence raced to a 7-2 lead in the opening game before Selby, ranked nine places lower, took three points in a row – but was unable to stop the Frenchman establishing a 1\/0 lead.<\/p>\n
The second followed a similar pattern – but this time Selby was only able to win four points before Gaultier moved 2\/0 up.<\/p>\n
Spurred on by the near capacity and partisan crowd, Selby found his form in the third, establishing leads of 4-0, 5-2, 6-4 and 8-6 before reaching game ball at 10-9. But, true to form, Gaultier found extra reserves to win the next three points to claim an 11-7, 11-4, 12-10 victory after 60 minutes.<\/p>\n
“I’m probably in the best shape of my life,” Gaultier told MC Andy Kay afterwards. “I’ve been playing well over the last few months. Tonight I had a lot of motivation and lots of confidence – and I didn’t feel under any pressure.”<\/p>\n
The French squash star continued by paying tribute to Willstrop, the loser of the earlier semi-final whose partner Vanessa Atkinson is about to give birth to their first child. “As a new father, I think my baby is better than being world champion.”<\/p>\n
Gaultier later admitted: “I started really well in the match, was really focussed and for two games I was really on fire.<\/p>\n
“But he raised his game in the third and made me really work hard for every point.”<\/p>\n
Selby agreed that his opponent is in the form of his life: “He played a spectacular game against Nick (Matthew) in the final of the US Open last month.<\/p>\n
“But I really wish I’d won that third game.<\/p>\n
“The crowd was amazing – all squash players dream of having a crowd like that behind them. I hope they do the same for Nick tomorrow, which might help carry him into the final.”<\/p>\n
RESULTS: AJ Bell PSA World Squash Championship, Manchester, England<\/strong><\/p>\n Quarter-finals (lower half of draw):<\/strong><\/p>\n [6] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [3] James Willstrop (ENG) 12-10, 11-6, 2-11, 11-9 (78m)<\/p>\n [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [13] Daryl Selby (ENG) 11-7, 11-4, 12-10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sixth-seeded Egyptian Mohamed Elshorbagy upset England’s No3 seed James Willstrop in tonight’s quarter-finals of the AJ Bell PSA World Squash Championship at Manchester Central in Manchester to set up a semi-final clash with France’s No2 seed Gregory Gaultier.<\/p>\n Elshorbagy, the world No6 from Alexandria, was meeting England’s James Willstrop in a repeat of last year’s semi-final which went the full distance – with the Egyptian underdog prevailing in 112 minutes to reach the final as the No8 seed.<\/p>\n Since then, world No3 Willstrop has claimed two Tour wins over Elshorbagy – and boasts a 9-2 career head-to-head over the 22-year-old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-others"],"yoast_head":"\n