Elshorbagy Beats Matthew to Capture $70K AJ Bell British Grand Prix Title by Nathan Clarke
photos squashpics.com
September 14, 2015 -
World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy dethroned England’s Nick Matthew 3-1 in
the final of the 2015 AJ Bell British Squash Grand Prix to take the
title in front of a partisan English crowd and collect his 15th PSA
World Tour title - in what was his 100th tournament on tour.
Backing up from an intense 95-minute semi-final encounter against
French World No.3 Gregory Gaultier, the 24-year-old Egyptian showed no
signs of fatigue as he blasted out of the blocks in the opening game to
impose his pace on Matthew and take the opening game 11-7.
The wily 35-year-old veteran fought back in the second, mixing up his
pace and variation to try and upset Elshorbagy’s rhythm, but he
couldn’t convert and fell two-nil behind after a tense tie-break.
The man from Alexandria, who now resides in Bristol, England, continued
to force the pace in the third but in a back-and-forth game it was
Matthew who managed to squeeze it and keep his hopes of completing a
hat-trick of British Grand Prix victories alive but it proved to be as
good as it got for the Sheffield-man, as Elshorbagy pounced in the
fourth game to secure the title 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6 in 65-minutes.
“Last year at this event it didn’t got well for me, losing in the
quarter-finals, so it’s great to come back here this year and get my
first title of the season,” said Elshorbagy.
“It was a challenge to back-up from yesterday’s big battle against Greg
but those challenges are what I live for. I came out fighting for each
point and I’m glad it turned out to be a great match and a great battle
between us.
“I expect we’re going to have a lot more battles to come this season
but I know I’ll be coming back next year to defend my title for sure.”
After his defeat Matthew said; “Obviously as a competitor you want to
win but being in the final was more than I expected this week.
“So I’ve got to be over the moon with where I’ve got to. The pace in
the first game took me by surprise but I’ll be a better player both
mentally and physically for the rest of the season because of it.”
Draw - AJ Bell British Squash Grand Prix: Final
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [2] Nick Matthew (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6 (65m)
