World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy, the man
who has dominated the PSA World Tour throughout the 2017/18 season, is
set to lock horns with compatriot and nemesis Ramy Ashour, the
three-time World Champion, in
what promises to be a mouthwatering finale to the 2018 Grasshopper Cup.
The duo, who will meet for the
eleventh time on the PSA World Tour - in a seventh final - have been in
superb form so far during the PSA M100 tournament in Zurich and will go
into tomorrow's match with hopes
of rekindling the rivalry that saw them contest two of the greatest matches in squash history during the 2014/15 season.
In the finals of both the 2014 World
Championship and 2015 El Gouna International it was Ashour who triumphed
in thrilling circumstances but since then the 30-year-old has largely
been absent from the Tour
due to injury, while ElShorbagy, who has assumed the mantle of the
sport's most dominant player, has gone from strength-to-strength -
coming through a supremely high quality last four battle with James
Willstrop to underline his authority with an 11-9, 11-8,
11-8 win.
"This season has been unbelievable for me so far," said ElShorbagy, who has claimed seven titles so far this season.
"This is the third tournament in a row
and the third final in a row - there's so much work that goes in behind
the scenes to try and recover from each match and come back and perform
like I'm doing right
now against these great competitors.
"But these are the kind of challenges that I live for and try to survive - victory tastes much better this way and tomorrow I will be giving it big shot.
"Ramy has been playing unbelievable
this week and we alway play incredible matches against each other. We
play at a different level when we're up against each other and I'm
looking forward to another big
battle with him tomorrow."
Ashour meanwhile continued to set the
court alight as, just 24 hours after completely outclassing Simon
Rösner, he proved too strong and too clinical for 2017 tournament winner
Gregory Gaultier - the man
who held the World No.1 spot for nine consecutive months before
ElShorbagy remounted the summit on April 1st.
Since halting Raphael Kandra in style
in round one Ashour has shown an irresistible fluidity on court and
nonchalantly knocked the ball into all four corners to place Gaultier
under an immense amount of
pressure and complete and 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 win in 45-minutes.
"We've played so many battles together
- he's an amazing athlete and its impressive how he covers the four
corners of the court," said Ashour.
"He looked a little off in his
movement today but I knew I had to be so on form to not give him an inch
as he would have taken the game. When he's playing normal you know what
to expect but today, because
he wasn't at his best, it was even harder because you don't know what
to expect from him.
"Of course I'm happy with how it has
been going this week. You just try to give your best out there every
time you play but no doubt tomorrow's match will be another tough one."
Results - Semi-finals: 2018 Grasshopper Cup
[7] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 (45m)
[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt James Willstrop (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-8, 11-8 (47m)
Draw - Final
[7] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)
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