|
[4]
Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy) bt
[2] Omar Mosaad (Egy) 11/9, 7/11, 5/11, 11/8, 12/10 (78m)
Shorbagy squeezes through
Taking to court just as the women's world team final went into its
dramatic decider, Egyptian success was guaranteed in Tenerife, but
the finale was just as tense as in Cairo [where Egypy won for the
first time, Engy Kheirallah winning the decider 12/10 in the fifth].
 For
a while it looked like this would be a quick match, both playing
fast attacking squash with little concern for length or defence. And
at the start it was Mohamed El Shorbagy who was doing it better,
taking a quick 7/0 lead in the first.
Second seed Omar Mosaad caught up with the pace though, only lost
the game 11/9 and kept that momentum as he took the next two games.
Halfway through the second I made the mistake of saying to someone
"this isn't going to last an hour and a half, it is ...", but in the
end it very nearly did. That was partly because of the number of
lets involved, and partly because as the match came close to the
business end both decided a bit of percentage play might be in
order.
Shorbagy held sway in the fourth, and in the early part of the fifth
too, leading 5/2. The momentum swung again and Omar pulled his way
back to take the lead. At 8/6 there were five lets, at 9/6 there
were seven, but Omar worked his way to two match balls at 10/8.
Shorbagy went for broke - a tight drop and a short kill put him
level, and two more short winners and he was into the final and
still a happy boy ...
"I'm quite a slow
starter, so since the worlds in Manchester I've made sure I warmed
up well to be ready for the first game. I knew how important the
first game here was, and I don't know if he was a bit nervous but he
made a slow start today.
"I was up 4/0 in the second but he played well to come back. In the
rest of the second and the third he was playing so fast I couldn't
keep up with the pace.
"In the fourth and fifth I tried to slow it down, took my time and
even lobbed my serves, also I tried to play it slow down the
backhand like I saw El Hindi do against him and it was working well.
"At 6/5 up in the fifth I had a problem with my heel, it went away
but by then I was 8/6 down. After that I tried to play an English
game, straight, nothing short, but when he got two match balls I
played two risky shots which came off, then I was lucky to catch him
out with two short shots.
 "Thanks
to Jonah Barrington, I called him last night and told him I wasn't
sure I could win after seeing how Omar had played, but he calmed me
down, talked me me this afternoon about how to play the match and
gave me the confidence I could win. He just seems to understand me
like no-one else and he's very special to me, he always will be.
"Congratulations to the women for their world championship efforts,
it's a great achievement for them."
Mohamed El Shorbagy |
"He played well. I
made too many errors at the start, came from 7/0 down to lose it
only 11/9 and I cartried on playing in the second and third.
"He made a few good shots at the end of the fourth, I got ahead in
the fifth but I don't know what happened in the last few points ...
"It was a good game, a close match ..."
Omar Mosaad
 |
The
second semi-final took less than half the time of the first, as a
very workmanlike top seed kept his opponent just where he wanted
him.
"I
knew he had a hard match yesterday so the strategy was to play long
rallies from the start, not play much at the front, keeping him at
the back.
