Thirty-five-year-old Mohamed ElShorbagy scored a major victory at the US Open Squash Championships after the English veteran rolled back the years to beat World No.4 Mohamad Zakaria at Philadelphia’s Arlen Specter US Squash Center.
Three-time US Open champion ElShorbagy is 16 years Zakaria’s senior but put in a performance full of craft and tactical intelligence to run out an 11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 13-11 winner following 72 minutes of punishing squash.
ElShorbagy, who spent 50 months at World No.1 between 2014 and 2021, will now take on 2022 US Open champion Diego Elias after the Peruvian got the better of Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng.
“I love playing here at the US Open, every year apart from last year I made at least the quarters, so I feel it’s a good court for my game,” said ElShorbagy afterwards.
“I’m really happy with the win, I haven’t had a win like that in a really long time, and I put a lot of work in, in the summer. He’s from Alexandria, from where I come from, and I’m really proud of him for what he has achieved. We all know he’s going to be World No.1 and he is going to win everything in the sport, but he is still only 19 and he has so much to learn.
“I’m really enjoying the sport and I’m not really trying to be World No.1 anymore. But I know on my day I can cause some problems. He’s just made World No.4 and it’s unbelievable at 19 to do that. I’m happy with the way I attacked him on court, it was brutal physically.”
World No.1 Mostafa Asal and Welshman Joel Makin are also through after beating Veer Chotrani and Dimitri Steinmann and they will face off in the quarters.
In the women’s draw, 2023 champion Nour ElSherbini came back from 2-1 down to oust home favourite Amanda Sobhy, winning 11-2, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5.
ElSherbini has had a slow start to the season with last 16 exits at both the Qatar Classic and Silicon Valley Open and had to use her years of title winning experience to overturn the deficit against Sobhy in a gripping contest.
“I try not to think a lot and just tried to focus on what I should do in every point,” ElSherbini said afterwards.
“I’ve definitely not had the best start to the season and I know I had a few bad losses. I believe I wasn’t very ready for the challenge of these matches, but I’ve been getting back step by step. I feel that every tournament I’m playing a bit better and I’m building up.”
El Sherbini will play England’s Georgina Kennedy for a place in the semi-finals after she defeated Nada Abbas, while World No.1 Amina Orfi and World No.4 Sivasangari Subramaniam will also face off after wins today.
Orfi has now won 16 straight matches after beaten Hana Moataz in straight games, while Sivasangari is the only player to beat the Egyptian in her last 31 matches.
RESULTS
Men’s Second Round:
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt Veer Chotrani (IND) 3-0: 11-1, 11-6, 11-4 (38m)
[8] Joel Makin (WAL) bt Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 12-10 (60m)
Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt [6] Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) 3-1: 11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 13-11
[3] Diego Elias (PER) bt Eain Yow Ng (MAS) 3-1: 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-2 (67m)
Women’s Second Round:
[1] Amina Orfi (EGY) bt Hana Moataz (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-0, 11-9 (37m)
[5] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt Kenzy Ayman (EGY) 3-0: 11-3, 11-7, 11-3 (21m)
Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt Nada Abbas (EGY) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 13-11 (44m)
[3] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-2: 11-2, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5 (123m)
