World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy notched
up his tenth consecutive victory on the PSA World Tour as he downed
compatriot Omar Mosaad in straight games to book a place in the
quarter-finals of the 2018 Grasshopper
Cup - the PSA M100 tournament taking place in Zurich.
ElShorbagy, the current World
Champion, has lost just two of his last 40 PSA World Tour matches -
winning seven titles in the process - and continued to carry his
imperious form into Zurich as he dealt with
everything Mosaad, a former World No.3, could throw at him in
throughout a 47 minute encounter.
The 27-year-old was just too accurate
and too aggressive for Mosaad, forcing a plethora of errors from the
racket of the hard-hitting man from Cairo as he wrapped up the win 11-6,
11-7, 8-11, 11-8
"Omar is a very high quality player -
he's been inside the top four before so I knew I had to be focused from
the very first point against him tonight," said ElShorbagy.
"I've been having an incredible
season, but this time of the season is very dangerous because there are
still a few events to play before the summer break and you have to stay
sharp mentally.
"I'm here to give it my best shot to
win and there are still some big events to come which I want to win to
finish the season strong.
"I have a huge challenge in this event but that is the kind of challenge that I train for."
ElShorbagy will now face Tarek Momen,
the man he beat to win the Qatar Classic in October, in the
quarter-finals in what promises to be a compelling encounter after the
World No.6 put in a hugely impressive
display to defeat Spaniard Borja Golan 3-0.
Momen, known on Tour as ‘The Viper’,
has played some of the best squash of his career this season, reaching
three finals including at last week’s Canary Wharf Classic where he also
lost out to ElShorbagy,
and continued to play relentlessly efficient squash to take out Golan
12-10, 11-4, 11-3.
“I’m happy with the way I played today,” said Momen.
“Borja is a very tough opponent and I
hadn't played him for five years so I didn’t know what to expect. I knew
had to be very focused.
"In the first game he gave me a scare,
I was 9-3 up and he played some ridiculous squash and all of a sudden
he was back and almost winning the game. So I’m happy that I managed to
scrap that one out and
then in the next two I think I played really well.”
The other winners on day two of action
were former World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad, who recorded a routine
win over Scottish qualifier Greg Lobban, while England's former World
No.1 James Willstrop secured
his place in the last eight with a 3-0 win over India's Saurav Ghosal.
Result - First Round (Bottom Half): 2018 Grasshopper Cup
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt [Q] Greg Lobban (SCO) 3-0: 14-12, 11-9, 11-8 (43m)
James Willstrop (ENG) bt [8] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 3-0: 12-10, 11-9, 11-4 (49m)
[5] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Borja Golan (ESP) 3-0: 12-10, 11-4, 11-3 (41m)
[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [Q] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 3-1: 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8 (47m)
Draw - Quarter-finals
[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [6] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
[7] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [4] Simon Rösner (GER)
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v James Willstrop (ENG)
[5] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)
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