DUBAI // Raneem El Welily, the women who replaced Nicol David as the world No 1 following her uninterrupted 108-month reign, burst the reigning world champion’s bubble on Tuesday, defeating world No 1 Nour El Sherbini 12-10, 17-15 on the opening day of the PSA World Series Finals.
Playing her first match since she beat Briton Laura Massaro to win the world title in Malaysia last month, El Sherbini, women’s squash’s youngest world champion, was up 10-8 in the second as she battled to stay in the match, but failed to close it out and, though she saved two match points, the match was over in 29 minutes.
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“We always have good and tough matches against each other, but I am happy with the way I am playing, even though I lost, and looking forward to the next match,” said El Sherbini, who now faces two must-win matches here or risk elimination.
“It’s got harder now, but I am not going to think about it in this way. Tomorrow is another match, another day and I will focus on that; just take it match-by-match. Every match has its own situation, so will just go on court and do my best. That’s it.”
El Welily, who had defeated her Egyptian compatriot in their last duel as well, at the Windy City Open final in March, said: “It is only the first match in the pool and a best-of-three match that I won at the end with a lucky shot. It could have gone either way.
“I know she has been busy lately. So considering the bubble that she’s been over the past two-three weeks, she has actually done pretty well today, playing that way.”
France’s Gregory Gaultier, the reigning men’s world champion, avoided El Sherbini’s fate, dismissing Germany’s Simon Rosner 11-2, 11-9 in 39 minutes, while the men’s world No 1, Mohamed Elshorbagy of Egypt, also faced few problems, opening his campaign with an 11-4, 11-6 win over Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet.
Massaro, the women’s top seed and world No 2, was given a tough workout by Egypt’s Nouran Goha, but still managed to come through 11-7, 13-11 in 33 minutes.
Winner at six of the seven World Series events this season, Elshorbagy was merciless as he cruised through the opening game in a mere six minutes and then closed out the match in 21 minutes.
“The end of season has been quite tough for me,” said Elshorbagy, who has played more matches this season than any other player on the tour.
“My biggest challenge in this tournament to go over the tiredness I am have in my body. So if I lose concentration and lose a game that can go really wrong for me, so I have to be very clever in the way I play each point.”
In the day’s other matches, Australia’s Cameron Pilley defeated Egyptian Omar Mosaad 11-7, 5-11, 11-6, while Frenchwoman Camille Serme opened with a 11-9, 13-11 win over Omneya Abdel Kawy of Egypt
Australia’s Cameron Pilley, meanwhile, decided to come out “all guns blazing” against Egyptian fourth seed Omar Mosaad, the runner-up at the last world championship in November, and the tactics worked.
Having lost to Mosaad in the opening round of the El Gouna International Open last month, Pilley turned the table here to win 11-7, 5-11, 11-6 in 52 minutes.
“Overall, very happy for the win,” said Pilley, the eighth seed here. “We played each other two weeks ago in the last big event of the season in Egypt and he beat me 3-1. It was a tough proposition to beat him in Egypt, but we have played each other a few times so we kind of know how to play each other. I was very pleased with how I played.
“I have never played this format [best-of-three] at a professional event, so I didn’t really know how to go about it, but I thought, ‘well, I am generally a good starter, so I will come out all guns blazing and try and really take my game to him’, and it paid off.”
In the opening match of the tournament, Frenchwoman Camille Serme defeated Omneya Abdel Kawy of Egypt 11-9, 13-11 in 23 minutes.
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