ElShorbagy survives Waller test, to meet India’s Ghosal

“The player who played better today didn’t win. But the player with more experience won.”That’s how Egyptian top seed and world number two Mohamed ElShorbagy summed up a testing second-round match with Englishman Adrian Waller at the PSA Men’s World Squash Championship in Doha yesterday.While the scoreline may read a breezy 3-0 win in favour of ElShorbagy, the details (13-11, 11-9, 11-9) and anyone in attendance would tell you otherwise, with Waller probably cursing himself for making expensive mistakes at crucial moments, and letting the 2017 world champion off the hook.Whether it was serving out of the line for 10-9 lead in the second game, or the number of times he hit the ball on to the tin, Waller wasn’t able to close out the opportunities he had.The tall left-hander though did well to provide some fast-paced action and even broke his opponent’s rhythm at times by mixing the pace well. “I have actually never seen him play that fast-paced before in my life,” ElShorbagy, who has won three Qatar Classic titles in Doha, said after the 49-minute encounter. “He interrupted my rhythm completely.“But that’s (quick problem-solving) what top players do; when they find trouble they need to find a way out.”The man from Alexandria has the most number of Platinum event victories on tour at 18 and has been at the top of the rankings collectively for more than three years, and a solitary world title doesn’t do the 28-year-old’s resume any justice. Twice in Doha – 2012 and 2014 – he went down against compatriot Ramy Ashour in epic matches.Asked about the pressure of expectations, also with last year’s champion and world number one Ali Farag pulling out of the tournament, ElShorbagy said, “I am not going to tell myself and lie to myself that there is no pressure. On the court, you will feel pressure, and you just have to deal with it. I can’t lose because I couldn’t handle pressure. (But) It’s only the second round and there is a long time to go.”Next up for ElShorbagy is Indian tenth seed Saurav Ghosal, who too picked up a 3-0 victory over France’s Lucas Serme earlier in the glass court at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.While Serme often stayed within a couple of points of the 33-year-old from Kolkata, India, Ghosal eventually eased past the world number 37 winning three straight games, just like he had done at last year’s championship in Chicago.However, after the 36-minute 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 victory, a humble Ghosal had all the respect for his opponent.“Lucas is a very good squash player. He moves very smooth, very well. He has been having a good season. I saw him play in September in Shanghai, and he almost beat Mohamed (ElShorbagy). He was 2-0 up and Mohamed had to dig deep on a glass court to beat him,” Ghosal said.Ghosal, who won India’s first squash medal at Asian Games in 2006 in Doha, is playing in his 200th PSA event, and is hoping to do better than his quarter-final appearance at last year’s World championships in Chicago, but has ElShorbagy to deal with tomorrow.“Obviously Mohamed and me go way back; we have trained in the past as well while we were with David Palmer. I would be happy for him to win (today), but if I play him day after, I would want to win,” Ghosal had said yesterday, before ElShorbagy’s match with Waller.Ghosal may have won the first two matches against ElShorbagy, but the Egyptian has not lost to Ghosal in around 11 years. “I think both our levels is much higher than in 2008. In terms of the result, of course I would want to turn back time, but in terms of performances, I wouldn’t manage the W (win) if I turned back time,” said Ghosal, who has fellow player and practice partner James Willstrop in his corner.“Him (Willstrop) and me, we started off as practice partners when I moved to Pontefract Squash Club (in the UK), I was 18 years old. Now it has transcended squash. Obviously having him in my corner is brilliant. We are trying to help each other out as much as possible this week, and hopefully both of us will keep going deeper into the draw,” Ghosal said about the former world number 1, who will play 2016 champion Karim Abdel Gawad in the third round today.Also through to the next round yesterday were four more Egyptians, including 2017 finalist and ElShorbagy’s brother Marwan, besides New Zealand’s fourth seed Paul Coll and Colombian eighth seed Migurel Rodriguez. Results (Round II)4-Paul Coll (NZL) bt Borja Golan (ESP) 3-0: 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 (40m)12-Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt WC-Syed Azlan Amjad (QAT) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-6 (25m)14-Zahed Salem (EGY) bt Mostafa Asal (EGY) 3-1: 11-7, 6-11, 11-2, 11-7 (58m)8-Miguel Rodriguez (COL) bt Alan Clyne (SCO) 3-0: 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 (29m)7-Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt Leo Au (HKG) 3-2: 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 4-11, 12-10 (68m)9-Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-1: 5-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 (40m)10-Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 (36m)1-Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-0: 13-11, 11-9, 11-9 (48m) Today’s matches (Round III)3pm: 5-Simon Rosner (GER) v 11-Joel Makin (WAL)4pm: 13-Fares Dessouky (EGY) v 6-Diego Elias (PER)5pm: James Willstrop (ENG) v 3-Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)6pm: 3-Tarek Momen (EGY) v Abdulla al-Tamimi (QAT)