Elshorbagy, Matthew in Qatar Classic final

Egypt’s Mohamed Elshorbagy plays a shot against compatriot Karim Darwish during their Qatar Classic Squash semi-final at Khalifa Tennis & Squash Complex here yesterday. PICTURE: Jayaram

By Satya Rath/Doha

He’s been one of the biggest movers and shakers in the world of squash in recent times, and yesterday evening Mohamed Elshorbagy showed why he’s being touted as the next big thing in the game.

The 23-year-old Egyptian, who had twice lost to his illustrious compatriot Karim Darwish earlier this year – first in the final of the Kuala Lumpur Open in March and then at last month’s US Open final in Philadelphia – exacted sweet revenge when he steamrolled Darwish 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-6) in the semi-finals of the Qatar Classic at the Khalifa Tennis & Squash Complex here.

Elshorbagy will meet England’s Nick Matthew in tonight’s final. Matthew saw off a tired-looking Borja Golan in straight games 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-5) in the second semi-final of the evening.

World No. 5 Darwish, at 32 one of the veterans on the tour, had lost only twice to Elshorbagy in their earlier 10 clashes. Incidentally, the last of those losses came at last year’s World Championship in Doha.

Qatar, in fact, seems to be turning out to be a happy hunting ground for Elshorbagy – this is his second straight finals appearance here in as many years. He also made it to the final of the 2012 World Championship where he lost out to world No. 1 countryman Ramy Ashour in a marathon 90-minute encounter.

“It’s one of my best wins definitely. And winning 3-0 is a big bonus as I know I will be fresh for tomorrow’s final. I had a gameplan against him and I tried to maintain it the whole match. Normally it’s difficult to stick to it but I managed to do it for most of the match,” said Elshorbagy.

Against Darwish, Elshorbagy looked virtually unstoppable, and completely dominated their 35-minute clash. He raced through the opening game in just 11 minutes, going up 7-2 in no time and pocketing the game even before Darwish could recover.

The second game followed a similar pattern. Elshorbagy’s nicks and flicks were accurate to the core and wore down Darwish. It was only in the third that Darwish took the fight back to his younger opponent. Four-all, then six-all, and that was it. Elshorbagy never gave him another chance to score.

“I think Karim has actually been playing much better this year than last year. He surprised me at the US Open last month… but well, I win this time! Maybe he will win next time. It’s always close with him and I am happy I got to win this one,” Elshorbagy added.

The Matthew-Golan match, more or less, followed a similar pattern. Giant-killer Golan, who sent top seed Gregory Gaultier crashing in a 90-minute encounter on Wednesday, looked a shadow of his livewire self. The previous evening’s marathon clash seemed to have taken a toll on the Spaniard’s body. Barring the close first set, he never looked like posing a serious threat to the fresher Matthew throughout the 47-minute meeting.

In the second game, Golan was even penalised a point when some of the taping around his neck fell on court. Though he kept fighting, it was just not enough in the end.

“Borja has been improving steadily, he has made some changes to his game. His strength is his killer instinct; he will never give up till the end. But unfortunately, I think he looked a bit tired and I was a bit fresher than him,” Matthew said.

Elshorbagy, who was born in Alexandria but now trains and stays in England, will take on 2009 Qatar Classic champion Matthew, against whom he has won only once, back in 2009, in five attempts.

Results (Semi-finals): 5-Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egypt) bt 4-Karim Darwish (Egypt) 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-6); 3-Nick Matthew (England) bt 7-Borja Golan (Spain) 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-5); Final Action (starts at 6.30 pm): 5-Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egypt) vs 3-Nick Matthew (England)