Men's Seeds Safely Into $150K Hong Kong Quarters by Howard Harding
photos courtesy Steve Cubbins
5 December 2013
- All eight seeds safely survived today's second round of the Cathay
Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open to move into the
quarter-finals of the eighth and final PSA World Series squash event of
the year at the Hong Kong Squash Centre.
England's James
Willstrop led the way with a straight games win over Simon Rosner,
beating the top-ranked German 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 in 52 minutes.
"I think it was a good
quality game - it wasn't a five-set classic but it was definitely
quality," said the No.3 seed from Yorkshire (pictured above with
Rosner) who won the title in 2011 and was runner-up last year. "Both
took time and space away from each other and we had to be focused and
not give away any chances. We can both take a lot out of today.
"Getting out in three
is important," continued the 30-year-old world No.5. "You only think
about winning but getting off in three is important as it keeps some in
the tank and that is important for is all. I don't think many other
sports can play as many high intensity games in short time, so energy
in the tank is vital."
Willstrop will now
take on 22-year-old Egyptian Mohamed Elshorbagy, the fifth seed from
Alexandria who reached the quarter-finals for the first time after
beating his younger brother Marwan Elshorbagy 11-3, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7
in 49 minutes.
"It was really tough,
of course, playing my brother," Elshorbagy senior (pictured above with
his brother) told www.sport-asia.com later. "It's tough emotionally
playing him. We've been living together all our life. It has always
been just me and him. We always lived together in Alexandria, we live
together in England. We always train together every morning and every
evening, so we know each other mentally, physically, everything, so it
has been really tough.
"Normally I'm on his
side, but today I had to be against him - and it's the match we're
going to have to get used to more in the future."
Willstrop boasts a 9-3
career head-to-head lead over Elshorbagy, but the Egyptian triumphed in
their most recent clash in last month's World Championship
quarter-finals.
"It's a big game,"
said Elshorbagy, who has now leapfrogged the Englishman to a career
fourth place in the new PSA World Rankings. "James has been playing
really well. I beat him the last time we played, at the World Open, but
he looks really fresh for this one. He had some tough times emotionally
because he had a new baby and stuff, so he looks really hungry for this
one. Malcolm [Willstrop] and Mick [Todd] are with him so he's really
serious about this one and wants to end the year on a high, for sure.
"That doesn't bother
me because if I'm going to be beat someone, I like to beat him when
he's playing at his best. I'm happy that he's playing at his best
because he's a good guy."
Egyptians will compete
in all four quarter-finals - with top seed and defending champion Ramy
Ashour leading the way after his 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 win over English
qualifier Adrian Waller (both pictured above). The World No.1 from
Cairo faces Borja Golan, the seventh seed from Spain who defeated
England's Chris Simpson 12-10, 11-8, 11-4.
An eagerly-awaited
clash will take place between fourth seed Nick Matthew, the reigning
and three-time World Champion from England, and sixth seed Amr Shabana,
a four-time winner of the World title, from Egypt.
Matthew fell to his
lowest-scoring game since May in the opener against Indian No.1 Saurav
Ghosal. But the 33-year-old World No.3 recovered to level the match,
then maintained the upper hand throughout the next two games to beat
the new World No.15 from Kolkata 3-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-8.
"Credit to
@SauravGhosal tonight," tweeted Matthew later. "He played a perfect
game for that court & made me play really well to win @HKsquash".
Five-time Hong Kong
champion Shabana, competing in his 17th successive event since 1996,
beat Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller 12-10, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7.
Gregory Gaultier, the
second-seeded Frenchman, brushed aside Egypt's Karim Abdel Gawad 11-7,
11-9, 11-4 in 37 minutes and will now take on Gawad's compatriot Tarek
Momen, the No.8 seed who got the better of top-ranked Finn Olli
Tuominen 13-11, 11-13, 11-4, 16-14 in 51 minutes.
RESULTS: PSA World Series Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong
Quarter-final line-up: [1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [7] Borja Golan (ESP) [3] James Willstrop (ENG) v [5] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) [4] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [6] Amr Shabana (EGY) [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [8] Tarek Momen (EGY)
