ElShorbagy and Crouin to clash in Doha final

Fifth seed Mohamed ElShorbagy of England yesterday rallied from a set deficit to beat Egypt’s Mostafa Asal to reach the final of the QTerminals Qatar Classic. Gaining momentum like a steam engine after dropping the first set, highly experienced ElShorbagy completed his 3-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 win exactly one hour on the centre court at the Khalifa International Squash Complex. ElShorbagy will meet World No.18 Victor Crouin of France in the final today. Crouin yesterday delivered a compact performance to shock No.6 seed Tarek Momen of Egypt to reach his first ever Platinum-level final. Crouin, the 23-year-old Marseille-born, survived a mid-match crisis to complete his 11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10 victory at the Khalifa International Squash Complex. The match lasted 68 minutes as Crouin secured his place in the final. “There have been too many speeches this week. I’m not used to speaking so much. It feels like everything’s fitting into place,” Crouin said yesterday. “On court, today I felt like I wasn’t as good as in previous days and I hit the tin a little more, but that’s probably because Tarek was putting a lot of pressure on me. “I kept telling myself to be proactive and aggressive, because that’s how you win rallies. I’m just enjoying it on court. Not overthinking, just hitting my targets and it’s working. One more push tomorrow,” he added.“The lob is a shot I’ve naturally played since I started playing squash. On this court it’s very effective because the ball doesn’t bounce in the back corners and I can recover and give myself time to collect my thoughts for the next shot. It’s a shot that’s working well and I’m using it as much as I can.“Thank you so much for coming. It’s nice to have the support, even if most people are cheering for the Egyptians. It’s nice to have a few voices,” the 23-year-old said.ElShorbagy yesterday said applauded Asal’s performance.“I don’t think Asal gets the credit he deserves. He’s only 21 years old. He played Ali (Farag, World No.1) and Paul (Coll, World No.2) in the last two tournaments of the year, who were the best in the world and he played them back-to-back and dropped just one game,” ElShorbagy said after the match.“For me, he’s the current best player in the world. When I came on court today, (coach Gregory Gaultier and I) trained to be up against the best of the best. I don’t think people realise how much pressure he had once Ali and Paul were out. To be the highest seed at a Platinum event, there’s so much pressure on him. I went through the same thing he did so I knew everything he was going through. Once I was down in the first game, I had to give a ‘Nick Matthew performance’ – make the second game as tough as possible as that’s exactly what he would have done. I felt at 7-7 he had the lapse of concentration and then in the third and fourth I always had the advantage.“I’m very happy and very pleased to win.”On his final against Crouin, ElShorbagy said yesterday. “It’s different generations (of French talent). A few years ago I was playing Thierry Lincou, who was 12 years older than me and tomorrow I’m playing Crouin who’s eight years younger. I’m very proud to compete against generations and test myself again with them.” He added: “The first time we ever played was in the World Championship in 2019 and after I won I told my team ‘this guy’s going to be a danger one day.’ It doesn’t surprise me what he’s been doing this week. He had everything in his game and is such a nice guy. I’m really happy for him. I think France, after Gaultier, needed a superstar and they have one now and need to take care of him because he’s going to be here for a long time. Thanks to everyone who came to watch today.”