Tournament of Champions – Quarter Finals: Marwan Masterclass In New York

No.5 seed Marwan ElShorbagy avenged his Open De France final defeat to Victor Crouin at this years Tournament of Champions as he defeated the Frenchman in three straight games to move into his first semi-final in New York.

ElShorbagy’s concentration was impeccable from the start as he got in front of the Frenchman and never surrendered his position. ‘The Jackel’ is renowned for his smart squash and displayed this once again as he moved the ball into the space on the court with consistent quality to take the first two games in no time at all, 11-5, 11-1.

The crowd were trying their best to rally behind Crouin and give him the boost that he desperately needed. This was to no avail unfortunately as ElShorbagy was in no mood to stay on court any longer than he needed to as he was quickly moving to the next servers box to pile the pressure onto the young Frenchman. After just 26 minutes, ElShorbagy took the match, winning 11-4 in the third to move into his first Tournament of Champions semi-final, where he will face Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez.

ElShorbagy had this to say after his win:

“I’m really happy with the way I played today. Victor is a fantastic player and what he’s been doing since the start of the season is fantastic, which is really good to see. You could see in his last match, the way he was playing against the World No.1 was amazing and he can only improve. He will get into the top five and definitely a potential World No.1 for sure.

“I’m feeling good on this court, you know when you’re hitting good lines it takes it very well and that’s what my game is all about. I’m just focusing on hitting good lines and it’s working well so far and I’m happy to be in the semi-finals and looking forward to another rest day tomorrow.”

“Hopefully Miguel is to going to beat two El Shorbay’s in the same tournament, he’s been having a great week, 37 years old and reaching there semis of a moot event is really inspiring and he’s aplayer I always admire. coming out of Colombia dadn winning the births and getting top 5. he’s one of the eat both amines ever tp play so I really oolong forward to going on court why this once again.

Result:

[5] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Victor Crouin (FRA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-1, 11-4 (26m)