Squash: Egypt’s Elshorbagy, world no.1, reaches British Open semis

Mohamed Elshorbagy set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash against Englishman Nick Matthew in the British Open after beating Germany’s Simon Rosner in the quarter final on Friday.

World number one Elshorbagy continued his bid to win the British Open for the first time after easily defeating Rosner 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-5) in 36 minutes.

“Before the match today [coach] Jonah asked me 2 questions: 1, do you want to win the British Open? I said yes!!” The 24-year-old, who was born on the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, said on his Facebook page.

“2, which pain would hurt more, the pain in your hamstring or the pain of seeing another player holding the British Open trophy? I said of course seeing someone else holding that trophy!!!

“And from that moment I just decided to ignore the pain!! Really happy to get through in 3 and happy with how my leg was getting better and better!!! It’s a tough sport this squash,” he added.

Elshorbagy will face world number 2 Matthew in Saturday’s semi final after the latter beat Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet 3-0.

Fellow Egyptian Tarek Momen lost 3-1 to Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez but another Egyptian in Mazen Hesham will be hoping to make it to the semis when he takes on world number 3 Gregory Gaultier of France later in the day.

No Egyptians are left in the women’s contest after Nour El Sherbini lost to France’s Camille Serme and Raneem El Welily was eliminated at the hands of Malaysia’s Delia Arnold in the quarter final.

The British Open, also known as the Allam Open, is named after Egyptian-born businessman Assem Allam, who is sponsoring the tournament.

Allam is also the owner of English Premier League football club Hull City, where Egyptian winger Ahmed Elmohamady plies his trade.