Strong start of the season for Mohamed ElShorbagy

Main story: ElShorbagy on his way back to the top?

The main feature in men's squash in 2018/19 was the burgeoning rivalry between Ali Farag and Mohamed Elshorbagy, the former taking both the No.1 spot and the World Championship. But his compatriot wants to get back at him and his double in Shanghai and San Francisco in September leaves no doubt about his determination.

Since first topping the PSA World Rankings in November 2014, Mohamed ElShorbagy has established himself as the man to beat on the squash tour, sitting at World No.1 for 40 of the past 58 months. He has only relinquished that position three times in that period, twice to Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, and most recently in March of this year to fellow Egyptian Ali Farag. The pair met five times during the 2018/19 campaign, with Farag claiming three wins to ElShorbagy’s two. The most significant of those matches came in the final of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, where Farag came back from two games down inside New York’s Grand Central Terminal to overtake his compatriot at the summit of the World Rankings. ElShorbagy therefore began the new season as the hunter rather than the hunted, and over the summer the PSA even asked a panel of experts whether they thought ‘The Beast of Alexandria’ would reclaim his place atop the World Ranking. As far as he's concerned, ElShorbagy has made no secret that he's willing to do anything in his power to do so. He started to show his determination in early September in Shanghai, China, where he beat Farag in 4 games in the final. “What he did last season was unbelievable, I’ve never faced a guy as consistent as him and he is so tough to play," he said afterwards. "But this season I’m going to get back at him, every session in the summer break I was thinking about how I could beat him and get the No.1 back. I want to be playing finals, especially with him. I told him after the match that I hope that if I’m going to get it then he’s not going to give it to me easy, because I like the challenge and I didn’t give it to him easy. This is only our first battle this season, there is way more to go I’m sure. There are other players who I’m sure will be fighting for that No.1 spot as well, but me and him have created a rivalry over the past two years now.”

Mohamed Elshorbagy is determined to go back to the top of the world rankings (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

ElShorbagy went on to win the Oracle NetSuite Open for a second time, while Ali Farag had opted not to defend his title in San Francisco. World No.3 Tarek Momen took his compatriot in a fifth game at Embarcadero Plaza but was unable to match ElShorbagy in the decider. “The way Tarek has been playing, the consistency he has had is unbelievable." said the winner, who also had a close match with his brother Marwan in the semis. "It was cat-and-mouse. We both kept doing different things and luckily I won the first game so I had the advantage. Matches like this, when they go to a fifth, anything can happen. Whoever has the better start in the fifth usually pulls through. Luckily, I had that better start today.” Momen and him are on the same side of the draw at the upcoming US Open and could cross paths in the semifinal stage in Philadelphia, before a potential clash with Farag in the final. The World No.1 and Momen will also feature in the CIB Egyptian Open in October unlike Elshorbagy, who has decided to sit out and prepare for the World Championship (8-15 November in Doha). Mohamed ElShorbagy uses the Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 X speed Squash Racket, available on My Squash.

Source: PSA World Tour

Tarek Momen (in red) took Mohamed ElShorbagy in a decider in San Francisco but it wasn't enough (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

Other squash news in September

Egypt's Nour El Tayeb and Raneem El Welily share Gold in September

Nour El Sherbini's start for 2019/2020 hasn't been ideal to say the least. In mid-September, World No.2 and reigning World Champ played one game against Nour El Tayeb in an Egyptian League match before retiring, and pulled out of the NetSuite Open a few days later. El Sherbini told Squash Player Magazine that she has been suffering from knee pain during pre-season training, and that doctors "can't identify the problem". She also said that she was travelling to Germany to see the specialist who performed surgery on the same knee eight years ago, to "hopefully still catch in the US Open." In the meantime, her compatriots Raneem El Welily and Nour El Tayeb have been dominating the first month of the season, meeting in two finals and grabbing one Gold title each. In the China Open, El Tayeb came out as the winner after a fierce battle - as shown by the scoreline 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10. “It didn’t seem like it was ending,’ she said afterwards. “In the fourth game I was leading and I started to see the finish line a bit and I had to remind myself that I was playing Raneem ... I can’t believe I won, it’s a dream start to the season and hopefully I can keep going.” She kept going indeed, reaching the final in San Francisco a few weeks later. But the outcome was very different this time around. World No.1 El Welily needing just 23 minutes to complete the victory. El Tayeb did seem to be carrying some sort of shoulder issue, but she admitted afterwards that she was "given a lesson". The beginning of every game was closely contested but El Welily was able to reel off a string of points, and completed a hat-trick of 11-5 game wins to take the 3-0 victory, clinching the Oracle NetSuite Open title for the first time. “I definitely felt good out there today!" she said. "Nour is a great shot maker and whenever you give her a loose shot, she just kills it straight away so knowing that, I could not be relaxed on court. Whenever I think about the word revenge, it does not do me good. I try to keep that out of my mind and keep calm. I try to just play, no matter what happened in the past. Everyone is fighting out there, and I am just glad to be a winner out there today, and maybe she will be next time.” While they can't meet before the final in the US Open, they have been drawn in the same side of the draw at the upcoming World Championship and are likely to clash as early as the quarterfinal stage (see below, October squash hotspots). 

Source: PSA World Tour

Nouran El Tayeb and Raneem El Welily met in two finals in September (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

Camille Serme and Paul Coll win Open de France in Nantes

World No.3, and home favourite, Camille Serme, and New Zealand’s Paul Coll were crowned Open de France champions a few weeks ago, while the work of the organization was unanimously praised once again in Nantes. Serme took the title after she defeated US No.1 Amanda Sobhy in an enthralling four-game final. She went a game down though, but the support of a very vocal crowd gave her the boost she needed. Sobhy saved two match balls at 2-1 down in the fourth, but the Frenchwoman converted the third to become the Open de France – Nantes Champion at the first time of asking. “I am very happy. It has been a while since I won a title and winning here in front of my family, it is a big thing for me,” Serme said emotionally after the win. "The crowd helped, especially in the last few rallies when I was feeling a bit tired. I know it is not a Platinum event, but it is still a big tournament." In the men’s final, World No.6 Paul Coll got the better of Wales’ Joel Makin. Although it was a three-game affair, it took over 70 minutes for the Kiwi to run out as the winner. That came down to a mammoth first game, which lasted over 26 minutes. Coll took it on a tie-break to take the momentum into the rest of the match. The Welsh No.1 fought back from 9-4 down to 9-9 in the third, but Coll went on to win the game and the match to lift his second title of the calendar year. “I was very happy with my performance, it was probably my best squash all week which is what you want to do. You cannot get better than starting the season with a victory at the first chance. I led most of the first game so if I let that slip it would have been a real momentum killer for me. He played his best from 9-4 down in the third which was a bit annoying but I am very happy to close it out in three because it would have been a very tough push to get going again in a fourth."

Source: PSA World Tour

Camille Serme and Paul Coll had an ideal start of 2019/20 in Nantes (Photo credit: Mikphotos.fr)

New European champions crowned in Bucharest

The European Individual Club Championships were held in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, with 56 players competing. The first medal match on final’s day was the encounter of Melissa Alves and Enora Villard, both from France, for the bronze medal. Alves controlled her team mate well throughout the match and won her first EICC medal in three straight games. Balazs Farkas was aiming for the first Hungarian medal in EICC history. He started well into the game, but after losing the first game 11-13, his opponent Nicolas Mueller took control of the match and secured the bronze medal for Switzerland. The women’s final was a tough fight between top seed Nele Gilis and last years’ runner up Coline Aumard from France, but finally Gilis had the better end in the fourth game narrowly winning 13-11 and her first Euro title. In the men’s final titleholder Borja Golan met top seed Raphael Kandra. The German rushed to a 2-0 lead, but Golan fought back to level the match. The fifth game was a superb display of squash at highest level. After 81 minutes, Kandra managed to clinch the final game 12-10. It is not only his first title, but also the first EICC title for Germany.

Source: European Squash

Raphael Kandra and Nele Gilis won their first European title in Romania (Photo credit: Facebook European Individual Closed Championships 2019)

Paderborn and Edgbaston Priory hold their title at the European Club Championships

Finals day of the European Club Championships in Edinburgh resulted in two familiar winners. Defending champions and top seeds Edgbaston Priory met English rivals Pontefract in the women’s final. They’d met in two previous finals, and for both it was their sixth final in eleven years. Julianne Courtice got the better of four close games against Sarah Campion to put Edgbaston ahead, but Pontefract made the better start in the second match as Hollie Naughton went two-nil up against Millie Tomlinson. Millie fought back, saving two match balls in the fourth and one in the fifth before finally giving Edgbaston their fourth title in a row, and their sixth overall, matching Pontefract’s record. The men’s final pitched familiar foes Paderborner SC and Black & White Worms – both appearing in their seventh final in eleven years – together for the fifth time since 2011 with the score standing at two apiece. Junior Victor Byrtus put Paderborn ahead, beating Jens Schoor in four, before Paul Coll levelled for Worms with a straight-games win over Simon Rosner. Paderborn went back in front when Lucas Wirths beat Tim Weber in four, setting up a tense final match. Urged on by the home crowd, Scottish number one Greg Lobban took a close first game for Worms, but Nicolas Mueller fought back, took two games to ensure that Paderborn could only lose on points countback, and came from 8-10 down in the fourth to ensure that countback wasn’t necessary.

Source: Scottish Squash

Paderborn (Germany) and Edgbaston Priory (England) held their European club titles in Edinburgh (Photo credit: #ECC2019)

--- October World Rankings

The new squash world rankings were published by the PSA on Monday. The women's rankings are topped by Raneem El Welily for the 11th consecutive while Nour El Tayeb - winner in Shanghai and runner-up in San Francisco overcomes Camille Serme and Nouran Gohar to regain a spot in the top 3. The biggest rise in the top 20 is World Junior Champion Hania El Hammamy who moves up four places to No.11 after reaching semi-finals at both the China Open and Open de France last month. In the men's, Mohamed ElShorbagy has narrowed the gap thanks to his wins in China and California but Ali Farag is still at the top, for the eighth consecutive month. New Zealand’s Paul Coll has moved up a spot to a joint career-high World No.5 ranking after his triumph at the Open de France, while Simon Roesner drops a spot to No.6. Despite not having played in September, Diego Elías also moves up to a career-high No.7 ranking, because the currently injured Mohamed Abouelghar lost the points gained after winning in China in 2018. Marwan ElShorbagy ends a six month absence from the top 10 at the expense of India’s Saurav Ghosal, who drops a place to No.11.

Source: PSA World Tour

Raneem El Welily tops the women's world rankings for the 11th consecutive month (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

October squash hotspots

--- The first Platinum event of the 2019/20 squash season - the US Open - starts on Saturday at Philadelphia’s Drexel University. This year’s tournament sees prize money increase by 10% to a record total of $371,000, which is split equally between male and female athletes for a seventh successive year. World No.1 Farag is seeded on the same side of the draw as the likes of World No.7 Mohamed Abouelghar, Peru’s World No.8 Diego Elias and former World No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad, who he could face in the semi-finals. Seeded at the opposite side of the draw is defending men’s champion Mohamed ElShorbagy, who is on the same side than Germany’s Simon Rosner, who he defeated in last year’s final to lift the title, along with New Zealand’s Paul Coll and Egypt’s World No.3 Tarek Momen. In the women’s draw, World No.1 Raneem El Welily is seeded to come up against France’s World No.3 Camille Serme in the semi-finals and also has England’s No.1 Sarah-Jane Perry and New Zealand’s World No.6 Joelle King on her side. Reigning World Champion Nour El Sherbini - who pulled out from the NetSuite Open because of a knee injury - is situated at the opposite end of the draw and has 2019 British Open winner Nouran Gohar, World No.5 Nour El Tayeb and home favourite Amanda Sobhy standing in her way. 

World class squash is back at the Pyramids of Giza for the first time since 2016 (Photo credit: PSA World Tour)

A few days later, the PSA Women’s World Championship will take place at the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. World No.1 Raneem El Welily and World No.4 Nouran Gohar could potentially meet in the semi-finals. The 2018 World Champion is also seeded on the same side of the draw as England’s No.1 Sarah-Jane Perry and 2018/19 World Championship runner-up Nour El Tayeb, whom she could clash with in the quarter final stage. Reigning World Champion Nour El Sherbini has the likes of New Zealand’s World No.6 Joelle King and United States’ World No.8 Amanda Sobhy on her side of the draw, and is predicted to meet World No.3 Camille Serme in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, the men’s Egyptian Squash Open will be held alongside the PSA Women’s World Championship. World No.1 Ali Farag is seeded on the same side of the draw than World No.7 Mohamed Abouelghar, Germany’s World No.5 Simon Rosner and New Zealand’s World No.6 Paul Coll. Situated at the opposite end of the draw is World No.3 Tarek Momen, who receives a bye into the second round where he will face Wales’ World No.12 Joel Makin. On Momen’s side of the draw is former World No.1 Karim Abdel Gawad, who he could face in the semi-finals, along with Peru’s Diego Elias and Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez.

Source: PSA World Tour