El Gouna International Day Six: ElShorbagy Fights Back to Down Coll

England’s Mohamed ElShorbagy put on a vintage performance for the El Gouna crowd as he fought back from a game down to beat New Zealand’s Paul Coll.

Coming into the game, El Shorbagy – who has been closing in on a return to World No.1 in the latter half of the season – had enjoyed a good recent record against the Kiwi, winning their last two meetings, with ElShorbagy’s 3-1 win in the final of the New Zealand Open late last year their last contest.

Today, Coll was the first man to stake his claim to the semi final.

After a watchful opening period in game one, the encounter burst into life as both men tested each other around the court. Coll initially pulled away, only to be dragged back to 8-8. After winning two punishing to reach game ball, Coll converted at the first time of asking to take the lead.

ElShorbagy, who has had a strong season after a challenging campaign the year before, dominated the second game, with the England No.1 at his aggressive, attacking best as he restored parity with a deserved 11-4 win.

‘The Beast’ continued to control the centre of the court in game three, with the two-time champion’s firepower too hot for Coll to handle, with the ascendent ElShorbagy moving into the lead after taking the game 11-5.

Coll, a runner up last year and in 2021 when he lost out to ElShorbagy in the final, attacked early in the fourth game.

After that strong start, however, the 31-year-old began to falter and errors began to creep into his game, with ElShorbagy taking full advantage to book his place in the semi finals with an 11-9 win.

Afterwards, ElShorbagy said: “Every time I play Paul, I know it’s going to be brutal. And when you play him in hot conditions, even more brutal!

“I’m an honest player and I know he’s not at his best this season, and he would have known that I was not at my best last season, so we haven’t really played each other at the same [level] for a while. I think the last time was the US Open last year when we both played well at the same time.

“I could feel on court, that he was feeling ‘I just want to get this season over and focus on next one,’ a little similar to how I was last year. Us athletes are human beings, you can lose motivation and it’s part of the sport. You can have a tough season, a tough time mentally.

“He hasn’t had any time to train over the summer for two years now. Over the summer it was COVID and last year the Commonwealth Games and he’s had a brutal time to come straight into this season. I understand that, so that’s why when I lost the first tough game, normally you’d be worried but today I wasn’t as much, because I know he’s not playing the way he normally does and I had to take full advantage of that, just as all the players who have played him in the last few months did.

“But, at the same time, for the sake of the sport you want all the best players to be playing at their best. I really hope he comes back next season. I know we have another one [World Tour Finals] but in terms of PSA event with all the players, I hope for the sport that he’s back to his best again and plays the way we all know he does.

“I remember to first year of the tournament, each year it gets better and better. I’m very proud to know such an inspired person like [Amr Mansi]. I’ve seen his journey since he was a player on the PSA World Tour and I looked up to him as a junior in Alexandria.

“Every year it gets better and better and to be here, it’s an amazing venue and an amazing crowd. It’s a great event to have at the end of the season. Everyone loves coming here. The weather [on court] is tough but you have to deal with it.

“I have no doubt the tournament will get better and better every year.”

Result
[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Paul Coll (NZL) 3-1: 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-9 (61m)

Watch the other quarter finals live on SQUASHTV or follow the scores on the PSA Live Scores page.