Egypt’s world number one Ramy Ashour and England’s world No4 Nick Matthew will meet in an eagerly-anticipated AJ Bell PSA World Squash Championship semi-final in Manchester on Saturday after both prevailed in straight games quarter-finals at Manchester Central.<\/p>\n
With six world championship titles between them, it was no surprise that the opening quarter-final between fourth seed Matthew, the two-time champion from Sheffield, and eighth seed Amr Shabana, the four-time winner from Egypt, would be a world-class encounter.<\/p>\n
And judging from the oohs and aahs surrounding the new all-glass court at Manchester Central, that’s how the near capacity crowd felt about the spectacle they enjoyed.<\/p>\n
Matthew (pictured above with Shabana) was in commanding form as he raced to a 4-0 opening lead – but maestro Shabana pegged back the deficit to a single point before the Englishman again moved ahead. The 34-year-old left-hander from Cairo saved two game balls from 10-6 but it was Matthew who went 1\/0 up.<\/p>\n
A similar pattern emerged in the second, with Yorkshireman Matthew taking a 3-0 lead without reply. Shabana was unable to stem his opponent’s lead as Matthew stormed on to take a 2\/0 lead.<\/p>\n
World No4 Matthew took the first point in the third, but for the first time in the match Shabana overtook his opponent to lead 4-1. It was short-lived, however, as errors crept into the Egyptian’s game while Matthew dug deeper.<\/p>\n
Shabana saved a single match-ball, but Matthew ended the next rally by smashing the ball well beyond the Egyptian’s reach to record an 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 victory after 43 minutes.<\/p>\n
“I can’t get too carried away by that win,” Matthew told MC Andy Kay afterwards. “I’ve got to keep my feet on the floor – there are two rounds to go yet.<\/p>\n
“He’s such a great player. I was really nervous today as he’s coming back from injury – so I felt the pressure was on me.<\/p>\n
“I feel I’m in the best shape of my life. I’ve changed one or two things in my training – I’m now doing yoga, for instance.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been inspired by a quote I saw recently on the wall in my gym at the EIS: ‘If you’re not nervous, you’re not ready’.<\/p>\n
“‘That means you’re ready’ my wife (Esme) said to me!”<\/p>\n
When asked about the influence of Rugby League star Ellery Hanley, who watched the match from the front row, Matthew said: “Ellery has been great to me. We speak quite often. He doesn’t say a lot, but what he does say is worth hearing.<\/p>\n
“Having a rest day tomorrow will give me the chance to do my homework on my semi-final opponent. Though if it’s Ramy, I’d need 182 hours!”<\/p>\n
Shabana admitted he was slightly off the pace, but was pleased with his performance in his first event after an eight-month layoff with a liver complaint – which resulted in him being confined to bed for a total of 28 days.<\/p>\n
“I’m pleased to have reached the quarter-finals of the world championship after what I went through,” said the former world number one. “I went half way, so you have to be optimistic.<\/p>\n
“Nick was very sharp tonight – he did everything right and I was a bit off the pace. You can’t play somebody like Nick unless you’re 100% and I would say I was about 60% tonight.<\/p>\n
“I know I can improve – I just need more match practice. I only led for the first time in the third game. I was always playing catch-up – and usually it’s my opponents who are playing catch-up!<\/p>\n
“Usually when you lose, you are unhappy,” continued Shabana. “But I don’t feel like that – and I want to get back home to continue training.<\/p>\n
“I still believe that on my day I can beat everybody today – including Ramy, Greg, Nick and James. I want to prove that, at 34, I can still be world number one or world champion – or even at 35 or 36.”<\/p>\n
In the day’s other quarter-final, favourite Ashour faced unseeded Saurav Ghosal (both pictured above), the world No17 from Kolkata who has made history by becoming the first Indian ever to reach the world championship quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
By contrast, it was the Egyptian’s fourth successive last eight berth in the championship – which he won both last year and in 2008.<\/p>\n
Ghosal, who went into the match without having previously beaten Ashour in four meetings, made an impressive start – leading 8-4 and 9-6 in the first game.<\/p>\n
But the 26-year-old from Cairo – later described by Ghosal as “the most original squash player I have ever seen” – pulled out a succession scintillating shots to recover the deficit and take the game.<\/p>\n
Ashour quickly built up a 9-1 lead before taking game two. It was nip and tuck throughout the third until nine-all. After a long rally, Ashour played a deft backhand volley into the nick, then clinched the match after a further lengthy exchange which concluded when Ghosal put the ball into the tin.<\/p>\n
Ashour admitted later that he’d had hospital treatment that morning for “a niggle in my leg”.<\/p>\n
“I was very happy with the win tonight,” Ashour told the crowd after his 11-9, 11-5, 11-9 victory. “But it’s not just the win, it’s the story behind the win!” He continued by thanking a host of people who had enabled him to achieve his victory – adding “and the venue here is amazing”.<\/p>\n
“For the last three days, I haven’t been enjoying my squash,” conceded Ashour later to the event’s media. “I’ve been like a machine. It’s been too hard – all my problems over the past few years have come back, including my groin and my hamstring.<\/p>\n
“It’s only been for the last three years or so that I’ve been looking after myself properly – yet I’ve been playing for about 20 years and wasn’t doing the right things and had nobody to help me.”<\/p>\n
Ashour shrugged off any suggestion that he was motivated by his current winning streak: “I’m not thinking about it at all – I just go on court and do what I have to do!”<\/p>\n
When talking about his opponent later, Ghosal said: “Ramy can produce performances right now that nobody can top. I feel privileged to have played in his era – what we have in Ramy is something very special.<\/p>\n
“I think I played pretty well tonight in the first and third games – I think I handled myself OK. If I’d won the first game, it could have made a big difference.<\/p>\n
“I’m happy with my progress,” responded Ghosal when asked how he felt about his Indian breakthrough in the event. “But what I really want to do is win matches like that today!”<\/p>\n
RESULTS: AJ Bell PSA World Squash Championship, Manchester, England<\/p>\n
Quarter-finals (top half of draw):
\n[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-9, 11-5, 11-9 (48m)
\n[4] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [8] Amr Shabana (EGY) 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 (43m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Egypt’s world number one Ramy Ashour and England’s world No4 Nick Matthew will meet in an eagerly-anticipated AJ Bell PSA World Squash Championship semi-final in Manchester on Saturday after both prevailed in straight games quarter-finals at Manchester Central. With six world championship titles between them, it was no surprise that the opening quarter-final between fourth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-others"],"yoast_head":"\n