A peerless performance from maverick
three-time World Champion Ramy Ashour saw the 30-year-old Egyptian end
compatriot Mohamed ElShorbagy's twelve-match winning streak to triumph
in the final of the 2018
Grasshopper Cup - his first title win in seven months.
Ashour rolled back the years,
eliciting memories of the performances that accompanied him during a
49-match winning streak throughout 2012/13, as he stormed through the
draw to take the title without dropping
a single game - beating World No.1 ElShorbagy 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 after
overcoming World No.2 Gregory Gaultier and World No.7 Simon Rösner in
straight-games to secure his place in the finale.
Today's victory, which came after
50-minutes of high-quality play, underlines a return to full fitness for
Ashour following a torrid two-year spell that has seen him withdraw
from seven events through a
seemingly never-ending plague of injuries.
"I'm pouring with emotion right now," said Ashour after the match.
"It's been a very hard two years - but I have proved to myself that I am there again.
"Mohamed is an amazing athlete. He is
the World Champion and he has been doing amazing recently but I'm happy
with the way I played today. It was a brutal match but I'm glad I came
out on top.
"I won. I'm not surprised because I
did a lot of work and I've been through a lot - I'm not being cocky -
I'm saying what's really on my mind, because I think I kind of deserve
this and I hope we can play
more of these matches in the future."
After the match ElShorbagy said: "We
always play matches at a different level. I wish I had more in me to
match him today but he was playing so well this week and he was just too
good.
"There is no shame in losing to one of
the sport's greatest players and I hope he stays healthy so we can play
more of these battles together."
Result - 2018 Grasshopper Cup Final
[7] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt [2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 (50m)
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