ATCO PSA Dubai World Series Finals Squash

Finals day of the ATCO PSA Dubai World Series Finals, appropriately, featured two matches between the top two female and male players in the world - who all happened to be Egyptian.

FINALS

[1] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) 3-1 [2] Raneem El Welily (Egy)   11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5 (41m) [1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egy) 3-1 [2] Ali Farag (Egy)        9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-8 (52m)

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Sherbini Claims

Nour El Sherbini claimed the World Series Finals title for the first time with a four game win over Raneem El Welily - the pair’s 8th major final in 16 months!

Top seed Sherbini, last year’s beaten finalist, raced out of the blocks to take the first with some sublime winners, and led 6-3 in the second before Welily started to find her range and levelled 11-9 as Sherbini tinned on game ball.

The third was close up to 6-all, but Sherbini finished strongly, reclaiming the lead on a stroke. Sherbini moved 6-3 up in the fourth, and although Welily, now under constant pressure, recovered to 6-5 Sherbini reeled off the last five points to wrap up the title.

“This is the best match we’ve played in the whole season,” said El Sherbini.

"We know each other’s game so you have to try and change your tactics and your game

“I’ve reached the semis twice and last year I reached the final, so this time it had to be mine and I just wanted to prove that I deserved to be at the top of the game right now.

“This tournament was really important for me and that’s why I’ve been pushing hard from the first match.”

ElShorbagy retains

Defending men’s champion Mohamed ElShorbagy faced world #2 Ali Farag for the men’s title and although the top seed led in the middle of the first, it was Farag who finished stronger, aided by some uncharacteristic ElShorbagy errors, to take the lead 11-9.

ElShorbagy stormed back to take the second 11-3 and established a 9-3 lead in the third. Farag fought back to 9-all only for two errors to give the lead to ElShorbagy.

The fourth started evenly, but for 4-all top seed moved ahead to 10-6 and although Farag was able to save two match balls ElShorbagy was not to be denied as he retained the crown.

“It’s been an amazing week here in Dubai,” said ElShorbagy. “There have been some great matches all and I’m very proud to have been part of this event at the end of the season and to have won it. “Ali and I have played so many battles this season and I’m happy that we managed to end the season playing against each other – he’s a great guy and great player and I look forward to being back on court battling with him again next season.”

Egyptians Mohamed ElShorbagy and Nour El Sherbini - the respective men’s and women’s World No.1s - triumphed on a thrilling final day of action at the 2017/18 ATCO PSA Dubai World Series Finals to claim the prestigious season-ending titles inside Emirates Golf Club today.

Overcoming compatriots Ali Farag and Raneem El Welily - the respective men’s and women’s World No.2s - ElShorbagy and El Sherbini etched their names onto the trophies to bring the curtain down on what has been one of the most competitive and thrilling seasons in the history of the PSA World Tour - with ElShorbagy successfully defending the title title he won twelve months ago and El Sherbini claiming the coveted crown for the first time in her career.

In what was the tournament’s third consecutive staging in Dubai, it was Farag who started stronger against ElShorbagy in the men’s final to take the opening game as he looked to exploits the tired legs of ElShorbagy - with the 27-year-old from Alexandria having reached 12 finals from 14 events played during the campaign.

But ElShorbagy showed just why he’s know as ‘The Beast’ on tour as he showed tremendous fighting spirit to level the match before prevailing in a physically punishing third game to set up the platform for victory - which sees him end the season as World No.1, World Champion and World Series Finals champion.

“It’s been an amazing week here in Dubai,” said ElShorbagy.

“There have been some great matches all and I’m very proud to have been part of this event at the end of the season and to have won it.

“Ali and I have played so many battles this season and I’m happy that we managed to end the season playing against each other - he’s a great guy and great player and I look forward to being back on court battling with him again next season.”

After the match Farag said: “Mohamed has been proving day in and day out that he is the best player in the world. Every time I feel like I match him, he keeps fighting back  - I will work hard over the summer to try and match him next season.”

El Sherbini, the 22-year-old from Alexandria who has occupied the World No.1 position unchallenged for the past 26-months, underlined her dominance over the rest of the field as she swept El Welily aside in a one-sided 11-3 opening game.

El Welily, who scalped El Sherbini to win the 2017 World Championship final, managed to find her footing in the second game but it proved to be in vein as El Sherbini regained the upper hand to move 2-1 ahead, before controlling the fourth game to seal the win courtesy of an 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5 scoreline.

“It feels amazing to have won this title,” said El Sherbini.  

“I was proud just to be one of the eight players who came here. It’s been a long season so I’m really proud and happy to end the season with this title.

“This season has been one of the most successful of my career but there are still improvements to be made and I can still become a better player.

“Raneem and I keep playing each other and battling against each other on court, but we both go to Russia together in just a few days to cheer on Egypt in the World Cup. It’s difficult when you pay against the same player so many times.

El Welily said: “All credit to Nour tonight, she played very well. I was maybe a little slow and not at my best on court. I’m happy with my week and my season but there are certainly things to work on over the summer, hopefully next season will be even better.”

Given that we had four Egyptians in each of the men’s and women’s pools, two all-Egyptian finals, there’s a lot of extra material available on PharaohSquash ...

In the Papers

After the conclusion of the Pool matches the semi-finals of the ATCO PSA Dubai World Series Finals took place at Emirates Golf Club tonight.

DRAWS | LIVE SCORES | TWEETS | GALLERIES | REPORTS

SEMI-FINALS  (best of 3) [1] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) 2-1 [6] Camille Serme (Fra)            11-7, 9-11, 11-8 (39m) [2] Raneem El Welily (Egy) 2-0 [3] Nour El Tayeb (Egy)                11-7, 11-9 (19m) [2] Ali Farag (Egy) 2-0 [8] Nick Matthew (Eng)                             11-5, 11-7 (23m) [1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egy) 2-1 [3] Simon Rosner (Ger)   12-10, 10-12, 11-3 (47m)

Top seeds through to all-Egyptian finals in Dubai

Both finals of the World Series Finals will be contested by the world’s top two players in two all-Egyptian matchups.

Defending champion Nour El Sherbini won through after an intense clash with Camille Serme, a repeat of last year’s semi. 

Sherbini took the lead but Serme responded well to level. At 8-6 in the third Serme received a conduct stroke for opening the door to query a decision, and though she reduced the arrears, Sherbini finished it off.

“It’s always a tough match playing Camille,” said El Sherbini. “The court is really hot today and maybe it suited her game more than me. I’m so sorry for the conduct stroke, but that’s the rule and we have to deal with it.

“I’m really hungry to win it, it’s my third year here and I haven’t won it yet.”

Raneem El Welily reached the final for the first game with a 2-0 win over nour El Tayeb, who made a valiant effort to come back in the second, but it was too late to stop Welily.

“I think best of three makes me more conservative,” said Welily, “but Nour just keeps attacking, so when she was coming back in the second it was all I could do to hold on. I’m just grateful I made it and looking forward to another final against Nour.”

Ali Farag beat Nick Matthew in straight games, bringing an end to the Englishman’s illustrious career, and he’ll meet defending champion Mohamed ElShorbagy in the men’s final.

“It’s extremely emotional,” siad Farag, “I knew that if I was close to winning that they were going to be the last few points of Nick’s career. It’s great to make the final, but I don’t want to talk about it at all. Only such a legend would get a standing ovation for around 10 minutes, I grew up watching him and this is Nick’s day.”

ElShorbagy faced Simon Rosner in a repeat of last year’s semi in which the German had match ball, and this was just as tight. The first two games were shared, 12-10 each, but ElShorbagy raced away with the third to reach yet another final.

"The closest Simon got to me was here last year, so i didn't want to play him here,” said ElShorbagy. "But when I lost the second after being so close to being in the final, it spurred me on. "If I'd played flat out yesterday I couldn't have played like that today."

Matthew bows out of Professional Squash as Egyptians dominate Semi-Finals Day in Dubai

England’s Nick Matthew has played the final match of his glittering 20-year-career after he lost out to World No.2 Ali Farag on a day that saw an Egyptian quartet claim victories to reach the title deciders at the ATCO PSA Dubai World Series Finals taking place inside Emirates Golf Club.

37-year-old Matthew was set to retire after defeat to Germany’s Raphael Kandra at last month’s Allam British Open meant he failed to qualify for the World Series Finals, but a hamstring injury sustained by World No.3 Marwan ElShorbagy saw the Yorkshireman get a late call-up.

Three wins out of three saw Matthew top Group A but his tournament - and career - came to an end at the hands of Farag earlier today as he fell to a 11-5, 11-7 defeat. Matthew, the most successful male English squash player of all time, bows out with 35 PSA World Tour titles – including three PSA World Championship crowns – to his name, while he also claimed a trio of Commonwealth Games gold medals.

“I dared to dream for a second that I could go all the way but Ali was slightly too good tonight. Even a week ago, if you’d have offered me a semi-final place here I wouldn’t have believed it," said Matthew, who will now take on a coaching and ambassadorial role at England Squash.

“A few people this week have been trying to talk me out of retirement but that’s not happening. I’m 100 per cent going to stay in squash, I’m going to have a rest this summer, I’ve got some camps in the US and I’ll have a lot of family time and regroup.

“I’ve got a great role which I’m looking forward to doing with England Squash and I’ll be growing my academy around the world. I’m still going to play, I’m not going to totally stop, I’m too competitive.”

Farag said:

“It’s extremely emotional, I knew that if I was close to winning that they were going to be the last few points of Nick’s career.

“I didn’t want to talk about it at all because I think the more I talked about it the more it would have gotten into my head. Only such a legend would get a standing ovation for around 10 minutes."

Farag will play World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy in the final after the defending champion came through a cracker of a semi-final encounter with Germany’s Simon Rösner in a repeat of their meeting at the same stage of last year’s event.

Rösner squandered match ball on that occasion against eventual winner ElShorbagy and, while he wasn’t able to quite get in a winning position again, he made life difficult for the reigning World Champion, but ultimately succumbed to a 12-10, 10-12, 11-3 defeat which sends ElShorbagy through to an 11th final of the season.

"Every time it gets tough in any match I always tell myself that I live for these kind of moments, these are the moments I was born for,” said ElShorbagy.

“Ali’s fresh, he’s playing well and we haven’t played since last November. It’s great to have the last match of the season between the World No.1 and No.2, definitely.”

The top two players in the women’s game will go head-to-head in the final as Nour El Sherbini and Raneem El Welily claimed wins over France’s Camille Serme and World No.3 Nour El Tayeb.

El Sherbini, a losing finalist at last year’s tournament, picked up where she left off after topping Group B with a 100 per cent record as she overcame Serme by an 11-7, 9-11, 11-8 margin to ensure that she will take on El Welily in a sixth major final this season.

“It’s always a tough match playing Camille,” said El Sherbini.

“It was really hard from the first point and I have no idea what I would have done if it was longer than this [best of three] because I was tired.

“I’m really hungry to win it, I never won it before and this is my third year in a row coming here. It’s the second final so hopefully this time it’s going to be my title.”

El Welily, meanwhile, came through a quick-fire victory over El Tayeb to reach the final of this tournament for the first time since 2016.

“Nour is a really tough opponent,” said El Welily.

“This season has been great for her and we’ve had great battles. But it’s the end of the season, it’s the last tournament and the last push. We’ve all had tough pool matches and I’m happy with the way I pushed myself, even if at the end I let go and gave her a slight opportunity which she almost took."

Semis Stats

Selection of local press coverage from Day Three ...