[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egy)
11-9, 13-11, 11-5 (44m)
[Q] Ali Farag (Egy)

El Gouna Set For All Egyptian Final

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The final of the 2015 El Gouna International, PSA World Series, tournament will see Egyptian pairing Mohamed Elshorbagy (right, striker), the World No.1, and Ramy Ashour, the current World Champion, collide in a mouth-watering contest.

The duo last met in the final of the 2014 World Championship when Ashour won what is considered to be one of the greatest finals ever, and they met here 12 months ago when it was also the elder man, at 27, who triumphed, but Elshorbagy will be confident of changing his fortunes when they face-off once again tomorrow.

The 24-year-old from Alexandria has already claimed one World Series title this year, January's J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, and after his semi-final opponent Nick Matthew was forced to retire due to injury, he'll be going into the final fresh and confident of victory.

"Obviously I'm happy to be in the final but that's not the way anyone wants to win," said Elshorbagy.

"When you're a competitor you want to earn your place in the final. The second game was shaping up to be a great battle and I feel really sad for him and I hope he recovers quickly and gets back on court soon.

"It's not a victory that I can enjoy but I'm going to prepare for tomorrow as best I can and give it everything."

Ashour (left, striker) ensured he remains in contention to defend his title with an impressive 3-1 win over World No.3 Gregory Gaultier, coming from one-game down against the Frenchman to seal the win.

"Greg really came out firing in the first game, he was up for it and I had to react to that," said Ashour.

"I had to really dig in and react to his shots and his pace and push my body and thankfully everything went well.

"Mohamed is the World No.1 and he's the toughest player out there but I really want to do my best tomorrow. I'm grateful for what I've achieved so far but I want more and I'm going to fight for it with every breath."
 

Matthew And Elshorbagy To Collide In El Gouna Semis

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World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy (right) and World No.2 Nick Matthew will meet in a third consecutive PSA World Series event in 2015 when they take to the court for the semi-finals of the 2015 El Gouna International in EL Gouna, Egypt tomorrow.

Elshorbagy is the only man to have beaten Matthew (left) so far in 2015, out-powering the 34-year-old to win the first Word Series event of the year, the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions. but Matthew has claimed three consecutive event titles since then including the Guggenheim Partners Windy City Open where he produced an imperious display to beat Elshorbagy 3-0.

The three-time World Champion had to come through a brutal encounter against World No.9 Omar Mosaad, played in difficult conditions, to book his place in the last four in what was his 600th PSA World Tour match.

"I'm not sure I've ever played in tougher humid conditions than tonight because those conditions were brutal," said Matthew.

"I had a bit of a blip in the fourth game, when my intensity dropped a little, but I'm really pleased with how I came back from that and there's lots of recovery work to be done now ahead of tomorrow."

On winning for the 445th time Matthew said: "It's great to get another win on the tour and to hit 445 is nice. I've got 55 to go and maybe then I'll retire!"

Elshorbagy booked his last four spot with a 3-0 win over Peter Barker to keep alive his hopes of bettering his runner-up finish here in 2014.

"Tomorrow is the battle of the number one and two so it will be a big battle for certain," said Elshorbagy.

"We've played a lot recently and in the finals in New York and Chicago. I beat him in New York and he beat me in Chicago so hopefully tomorrow it will be my turn."

In the bottom half of the draw defending EL Gouna International champion Ramy Ashour (right) moved into the last four with an impressive win over England's James Willstrop while Daryl Selby was the third Englishman to fall at the last eight hurdle, losing out 3-0 to World No.3 Gregory Gaultier.s

Selby Stars As English Quartet March Into El Gouna Quarters

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Essex's Daryl Selby (right) starred as an English quartet marched into the quarter-finals of the 2015 El Gouna International, PSA World Series event taking place on Egypt's Red Sea coastline.

Selby, who has fallen to World No.15 in the rankings, showed incredible fighting spirit and desire to get the better of World No.5 Miguel Angel Rodriguez, the ferociously fast Colombian who has flown up the rankings so far in 2015, while Peter Barker, Nick Matthew and James Willstrop also won to cap a successful day for English hopes.

Selby was forced to come from two-games-to-one down in order to prevail against Rodriguez in a thrilling 105-minute encounter that earned him a place against French World No.3 Gregory Gaultier in the last eight, with the Frenchman the only non-English or Egyptian player left standing.

"I had really tough hard fought match yesterday against Nicolas Mueller and today was another really tough match," said Selby.

"Miguel has improved so much recently and he's fully deserving of being a top 5 ranked player so for me that's a big win as he is one of the best players around at the moment.

"I've been playing better and better recently and I'm proving to myself that I still have what it takes and that I can still play at the very top level so today was very pleasing and I'm looking forward to coming back tomorrow."

Gaultier (left) eased past Karim Abdel Gawad to book his place in the quarters while the Egyptian trio of defending champion Ramy Ashour, World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy and World No.9 Omar Mosaad ensured the home fans will have plenty to cheer when the action resumes tomorrow (Wednesday April 8).

Ashour, who has missed the last four months through injury, was forced to come from one-game down against talented compatriot Fares Dessouki in order to keep his hopes of retaining the title alive.

"I was expecting him to come out fighting and I knew it would be tough," said Ashour.

"He's a very smart and explosive player and he's hard to play but i think I did well today and it's just great to be back and to be competing with all these amazing athletes on the tour."
 

Simpson Shocks Shabana In El Gouna

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Egyptian four-time World Champion Amr Shabana suffered a shock first round exit during the second day of action at the 2015 El Gouna International PSA World Series event, falling to England's Chris Simpson (right) 3-2 in a topsy-turvy 57-minute encounter.

The former World No.1 had cruised to an early two-game lead against Simpson, the World No.22, and looked odds on to seal a straight-forward victory but the 34-year-old then appeared to self-destruct, recording a catalogue of errors as Simpson fought back and levelled the match.

The 28-year-old then held his nerve to complete the 5-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 triumph and inflict Shabana's first PSA World Series first round defeat since the 2011 Qatar Classic.

"After the second game I thought that was going to be one of my worst ever defeats to him," said Simpson.

"But I'm not sure what even happened after that. I managed to get some long rallies in and he seemed to lose a bit of interest which worked in my favour and I'm incredibly happy to win that match.

"Amr has been my idol since I first started playing and it's very hard to get over the respect you have for someone like that and be competitive but I managed to do that and it's a strange feeling for me to get a win over him."

Simpson will now face James Willstrop (left), another former World No.1, in his second round encounter after the man from Pontefract came from one-game down to see off South African Stephen Coppinger.

"James and I train together a lot and he's been No.1 before as well so it's two classy players one after the other for me," added Simpson.

"I'm going to recover tonight and do my best for tomorrow."

Elsewhere on day two of action defending El Gouna International champion Ramy Ashour, the 2014 World Champion, survived a double scare against Marwan Elshorbagy, losing the opening game and suffering an initially potentially troublesome knee injury before surging through to a 3-1 win.

Ashour (right in white) hasn't competed on the PSA World Tour since winning the World Championship in November but he'll be hoping to return to winning ways again in his home country.

"It's great to be here and playing in Egypt again," said Ashour. "It's a big deal for us and we're proud to have such a world class event taking place here and it's a just a privilege to be competing.

"Marwan is doing well at the minute and I knew it would be tough match. He gave me a hard game and I'm happy he pushed me that way.

"I was a little off at the start of the match. I'm coming back from a brutal period in my life with injuries and I'm fighting every day with myself and the injuries but I have been doing this all of my life and I will keep on pushing."
 

Ghosal and Hesham Stun Seeds In El Gouna

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Egyptian qualifier Mazen Hesham delighted the home crowd at the 2015 El Gouna International, PSA World Series event, with a stunning 3-1 win over World No.10 Simon Rösner during the opening day of action from the Red Sea resort.

Hesham, the maverick and unpredictable World No.30, produced a mercurial display as he out-gunned Rösner from the start, executing an array of incredible winners whilst keeping his error count low to deny the powerful man from Paderborn the opportunity to get on the front foot.

"I’m happy with how I played today because I was patient when I needed to be patient and I played the right pace when I needed to," said Hesham.

"Since the beginning of the year I have had a lot of matches where I came very close to winning and then to lose but I'm really happy it all came together here in front of my family and my friends in Egypt."

Hesham will now take on compatriot Mohamed Elshorbagy (left), the 2014 runner-up, in a mouth-watering second round encounter after the World No.1 made sure of his place in the second round with an effortless 3-0 win over Ali Farag, the Egyptian who toppled seeded Gregiore Marche in qualification, while indian Saurav Ghosal also upset the rankings as he edged a tense affair against World No.7 Tarek Momen.

Ghosal, the World No.23 from Kolkata, raced out to a two-game lead against a lacklustre looking Momen before the Egyptian began to find his form and when Ghosal squandered several match ball opportunities, the scores were level and Momen looked the dominant player.

But 28-year-old Ghosal (right) managed to withstand some nervy exchanges in the deciding fifth game to take the match 12-10, 11-1, 7-11, 12-14, 11-9 in 85-minutes to set up a second round encounter with Omar Mosaad.

"We're both similar players in the way we move and the amount of attacking play we instinctively like to play so it makes for an entertaining match and we tend to play well against each other," said Ghosal.

"Tarek showed real guts to come back when I was 2-0 up today and he played unbelievable in the fourth game especially. I'm really happy to have played so well against him and to have gotten the win against a top ranked player.

"I don't think I played badly on any of those match ball points but I was ecstatic to stick one on the wall and win the match in the fifth game."

The first round continues tomorrow, with action from the bottom half of the draw which includes defending title holder Ramy Ashour.
 

Farag Leads Egyptian Charge Into El Gouna Main Draw

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World No.73 Ali Farag pulled off a shock upset in the final round of qualification to lead a five-strong Egyptian contingent into the main draw of the 2015 El Gouna International, PSA World Series event taking place in the Red Sea Resort.

Farag stunned top seeded qualifier Gregoire Marche, the World No.26 from France, with an impressive 3-1 victory that will see him compete in the main draw of a World Series event for the first time since the 2014 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions while number two seed Mazen Hesham along with Mohamed Abouelghar, Karim Ali Fathi and Omar Abdel Meguid all won their encounters to complete a victorious day for Egyptian squash.

Those wins mean that there will now be 14 Egyptian players competing in the 32-man strong field which is headlined by World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy and World Champion Ramy Ashour - the men who contested the final here 12 months ago.

Following his victory over Marche, Farag will now face World No.1 Elshorbagy in the first round while after a tough five-game encounter with Henrik Mustonen of Finaland the talented Mazen Hesham will face German Simon Rösner.

Elsewhere Meguid will face Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet, Abouelghar will take on compatriot Karim Abdel Gawad and Karim Ali Fathi will play the dynamic Colombian cannonball Miguel Angel Rodriguez, this month celebrating a record high World No.5 ranking.