(Photo from http://www.squashinfo.com)
By Howard Harding
The two top seeds will contest an all-Egyptian final of the Banque Misr Sky Open after favourite Karim Darwish and second seed Mohamed Elshorbagy survived close-fought five-game semi-finals in the PSA World Tour International 50 squash event at the Sky Resort in New Cairo, Egypt.
For the second time in three days, world No 5 Darwish had to fight back from two games down to survive an onslaught from an up-and-coming fellow countryman.
This time the 32-year-old from Cairo’s opponent was fifth seed Marwan Elshorbagy, the 20-year-old former two-time world junior champion from Alexandria – and younger brother of Mohamed.
The former world No 1 was stretched for 64 minutes before finally prevailing 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6.
“I’m not sure what’s going on with me, but I’d better figure it out soon, because it’s not going to do well at all,” conceded Darwish to www.squashsite.com later. “Maybe the court is very cold, and I’m not ready to face those young warriors!
“I’ve been playing and training with them since they were seven or eight years old, and I probably don’t see them as the threat they are now – I can’t imagine that they can play that well,” added Darwish, now in the 42nd tour final of his career, and his third of the year.
“So from now on, I’ll have to prepare myself as if I’m playing a top four player!”
Elshorbagy junior acknowledged his opponent’s greater experience: “Karim used his experience today and played better the crucial points,” said the world No 32. “And all credit to him for coming back, again, from 2/0 down against a young player!
“I am happy with my performance. When you think that I nearly lost in the first round, and today, I nearly beat the world number five! So, although I’m not satisfied, I think this tournament will make me hungry for more.”
Elshorbagy senior had to dig deep to see off sixth seed Omar Abdel Meguid 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-1, 11-7. Meguid, the world No 35 from Giza, made the semis after upsetting No 4 seed Alister Walker.
Underdog Meguid led 2/1 before his 22-year-old opponent, ranked six in the world, reclaimed the upper hand to close out the match 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-1, 11-7 in 60 minutes.
“He played extremely well today – he surprised me so much with how he played and his patience and the few errors he did,” acknowledged Mohamed later.
“This match was so important for me and it was difficult for me mentally as this match would get me to number four in the ranking and this is huge for me and certainly Omar made it so difficult for me with the way he played.”
Elshorbagy, winner of his first PSA World Series title last week at the Qatar Classic, is now marking his fourth Tour final of the year – and the 15th of his career.
