Nicol falls on day of semifinal shocks

TWO world No. 1s, Mohamed Elshorbagy and Nour El Sherbini, and a nine-year former world No. 1, Nicol David, were all casualties of an extraordinary semifinal cull of favourites at the British Open yesterday.

Elshorbagy lost his title and became certain to lose the top ranking when he was beaten 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5 by Nick Matthew, a 36year-old Englishman who becomes the oldest British Open finalist since Hashim Khan, the Pakistani regarded as the father of modern squash, in the 1950s.

Elshorbagy’s fellow Egyptian El Sherbini also lost her title, but could remain the world No. 1, after a 5-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-6 loss to Laura Massaro, the 33-year-old 2013 British Open champion.

The match was a mirror-image reversal of their final in the last World Championships, in Kuala Lumpur, where the Egyptian came from two games down to win.

With Malaysian squash great Nicol beaten 11-8, 7-11, 13-11, 11-7 to Sarah-Jane Perry (pix), the seventh-seed, in the other women’s semifinal, it meant that for the first time since 1953 three of the four British Open finalists were English.

The transformation from last year, when Egypt became the first country in the professional era to provide all four finalists, was complete when Ramy Ashour, the sport’s injury-ravaged star, was forced to retire yet again with a hamstring problem.

That happened after Greg Gaultier had taken the first game 11-9, and enabled the Frenchman to reach his fourth British Open final in five years. – AFP