ElShorbagy targets return to number one spot in squash world rankings

Egyptian ElShorbagy advanced to the last four of this tournament for the first time after he overcame England’s World No.12 Daryl Selby by an 11-5, 13-11, 11-6 scoreline – and afterwards signalled his determination to return to the top spot in the World Rankings.

“At the beginning of the match I struggled a little bit,” said ElShorbagy. “We both played a really high quality match in a good spirit like always, it was a good battle. It’s my first year here and I’m absolutely loving it.

“The goal for me this season is to get my World No.1 spot back. I didn’t play very well last season and I want to prove to myself that I can still get the wins when I play well.”

Willstrop, the 2016 runner-up, advanced to the semi-finals of the Oracle NetSuite Open for the second successive year courtesy of a 3-0 triumph against Australia’s World No.15 Ryan Cuskelly.

The match was much closer than the scoreline would suggest, with Cuskelly pushing Willstrop hard and not giving ‘The Marksman’ any room to breathe as he narrowly went down 11-9, 12-10, 11-9 in 59 minutes.

The other men’s quarter-final matches will take place on September 28 as Karim Abdel Gawad, Nick Matthew, Tarek Momen and Diego Elias aim to join ElShorbagy and Willstrop in the semi-finals.

In the women’s event England’s top two players Laura Massaro and Sarah-Jane Perry will go head-to-head in a repeat of March’s British Open final after they managed respective wins over Egypt’s Salma Hany Ibrahim and Australia’s Donna Urquhart.

Birmingham-based Perry, meanwhile, surged into the semi-finals after beating Urquhart in straight games at the Bay Club San Francisco.

The World No.6 was dominant for the majority the match and didn’t drop a single point in the second game as she powered to an 11-9, 11-0, 11-9 victory to earn her place in the last four.

The other women’s semi-final will see Malaysian eight-time World Champion Nicol David line up against Dipika Pallikal Karthik. David came back from a match ball down to avoid a shock defeat to England’s Victoria Lust, while Pallikal Karthik overcame United States No.2 Olivia Blatchford.

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Results – Quarter-Finals (Top Half): 2017 Men’s Oracle NetSuite Open
[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [7] Daryl Selby (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 13-11, 11-6 (50m)
[4] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [8] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 3-0: 11-9, 12-10, 11-9 (59m)

Results – Quarter-Finals (Top Half): 2017 Women’s Oracle NetSuite Open
[1] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [8] Salma Hany Ibrahim (EGY) 3-1: 11-5, 12-14, 11-4, 11-7 (47m)
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [7] Donna Urquhart (AUS) 3-0: 11-9, 11-0, 11-9 (25m)
Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) bt [6] Olivia Blatchford (USA) 3-0: 13-11, 11-6, 11-9 (35m)
[2] Nicol David (MAS) bt [5] Victoria Lust (ENG) 3-2: 11-5, 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 12-10 (76m)