Top seed Mohamed El Shorbagy (left) in action against India’s Saurav Ghosal during their pre-quarter-final match yesterday.
Fans at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex has something special in store for them today as the El Shorbagy brothers Marwan and Mohamed go head-to-head in quarter-final clash of the PSA World Championship.
The El Shorbagy brothers are akin to the Williams sisters of tennis and yesterday the two booked their places in the quarter-finals after winning their respective last-16 matches.
Also making it to the quarter-final stage were Paul Coll of New Zealand and Sahed Salem of Egypt.
Today, all eyes will be on the elder of the two El Shorbagy brothers, Mohamed – who already boasts a formidable record in Doha after reaching World Championship finals here in 2012 and 2014 in addition to winning three Qatar Classic titles. Mohamed dispatched India’s Saurav Ghosal in straight games 11-6, 11-8, 14-12 to book his spot in a ninth World Championship quarter-final.
The El Shorbagy siblings became the first brothers in history to contest the final of the prestigious World Championship two years back when they met in the title decider of the 2017 championship in Manchester with Mohamed winning the title in a dramatic five-game thriller to finally lift the biggest title on the men’s tour.
“This is my fourth tournament this season and this will be my third meeting with him (Marwan),” said World No.2 Mohamed.
“It is normal because we both play in the later stages of the tournament. It is a unique situation for our sport, but we both give something different to the sport and I am glad to be a part of it.”
Marwan also claimed a 3-0 victory as he made it five wins in a row against an out of sorts Mohamed Abouelghar. World No.8 Abouelghar was fortunate to make it through his round two match with Hong Kong’s Leo Au after two controversial decisions stroke decisions in the closing stages of the fixture, and he never really got going in his match with the lower ranked El Shorbagy.
The World No.10 dominated proceedings and managed the cold court conditions well as he did all the attacking against a passive Abouelghar, who is normally one of the top shot-making talents on the PSA Tour, winning 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 in just 30 minutes.
“Mohamed is a very good player, he plays at a very fast pace and likes to go short quickly, so I had to make sure I started really sharp and started better than I did two days ago (against Nicolas Mueller),” Marwan said.
“I just want to focus on the rest of the day, I have some stretching to do and when tomorrow comes I will think about it (playing his brother), I don’t have to think about it today.”
New Zealand’s Coll prevented it from being an Egyptian clean sweep today as he prevailed in a brutal match with 2015 runner-up Omar Mosaad which, at 119 minutes, is the longest World Championship fixture since 2017.
He will take on Egypt’s World No.16 Salem, who upset Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez to win in four games. Rodriguez had won seven of their previous eight matches on the PSA Tour coming into the match and prevailed in a scrappy 102-minute battle the last time they met at March’s Grasshopper Cup, despite Salem holding three match balls against the World No.9.
Day Five: Round Three
RESULTS
(4) Paul Coll (NZL) bt (12) Omar Mosaad (EGY) 3-2: 9-11, 14-12, 11-9, 6-11, 16-14
(14) Zahed Salem (EGY) bt (8) Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9
(9) Marwan El Shorbagy (EGY) bt (7) Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-4
(1) Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) bt (10) Saurav Ghosal (IND) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 14-12
Today's Quarter-Finals: (Play begins at 16:00)
(2) Tarek Momen (EGY) vs (6) Diego Elias (PER)
(5) Simon Rösner (GER) vs James Willstrop (ENG)
(4) Paul Coll (NZL) vs (14) Zahed Salem (EGY)
(9) Marwan El Shorbagy (EGY) vs (1) Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
