World champion Nick Matthew faces an Egyptian ambush in Qatar

New world No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy seeded to meet Gregory Gaultier in PSA world final
By NATHAN CLARKE – Squash Mad PSA Correspondent

The draw for the 2014 Qatar PSA World Squash Championship has been made and will see current champion Nick Matthew, the Englishman from Sheffield, begin the defence of his title against a qualifier when the 2014 competition gets underway at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha on November 14.

The 34-year-old Matthew faces a tricky route to the final if he is to defend his title, with potential encounters against four-time World Champion Amr Shabana, who knocked him out of the US Open at the semi-final stage, and Mohamed Elshorbagy, the 23-year-old Egyptian who will top the PSA World Rankings for the first time in his career on November 1st, standing in his way.

Bristol-based Elshorbagy, originally from Alexandria, Egypt, will go into the tournament as one of the favourites, having recently claimed his fourth consecutive PSA World Tour title at the 2014 Delaware Investments US Open to extend his current unbeaten streak to 18-matches.

Elshorbagy and Matthew are seeded to meet in the semi-finals when a place in the final will be up for grabs, with either four-time runner-up Gregory Gaultier or two-time champion Ramy Ashour seeded to await them in the decider, and Elshorbagy is determined to keep up his rich vein of form.

“The World Championship is coming up in three weeks and I’m really looking forward to it,” said Elshorbagy.

“Hopefully I can make it very tough for all the other players every time I go on court and keep my momentum going to win it.

“I’m feeling very confident at the moment but I’m not fooled by that and know I still need to keep focused and work even harder to keep my game at the top.

“Many people think that when you get to World No.1 you have reached the end of the ladder but for me this is just the beginning – I don’t just want to get to this level, I want to extend it and I’m going to be working even harder ahead of the World Championship.”

2014 Qatar PSA World Squash Championship: First Round Draw:

[1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [Qualifier] Mazen Hesham (EGY) v Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS)
Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v Karim Ali Fathi (EGY)
[WC] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) v [10] Omar Mosaad (EGY)
[15] Laurens Jan Anjema (NED) v [Qualifier] Alister Walker (BOT) v [Qualifier] Cameron Pilley (AUS) v Joe Lee (ENG)
Chris Simpson (ENG) v [7] Peter Barker (ENG)
[6] Borja Golan (ESP) v Leo Au (HKG)
Henrik Mustonen (FIN) v [Qualifier] Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [Qualifier] Olli Tuominen (FIN) v [14] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY)
[13] Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v Shaun Le Roux (RSA)
Zahed Mohamed (EGY) v [Qualifier] Adrian Grant (ENG) v [Qualifier] [Qualifier] v [4] Ramy Ashour (EGY)
[3] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [Qualifier] Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Alan Clyne (SCO)
Nasir Iqbal (PAK) v [Qualifier] Steven Finitsis (AUS) v [16] Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[9] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW)
Max Lee (HKG) v [Qualifier] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
Adrian Waller (ENG) v[5] Amr Shabana (EGY)
[8] Daryl Selby (ENG) v Stephen Coppinger (RSA)
Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v [Qualifier] Eddie Charlton (ENG) v Tom Richards (ENG)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [11] Tarek Momen (EGY)
[12] Simon Rösner (GER) v [Qualifier] Campbell Grayson (NZL) v [Qualifier] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v [Qualifier] [Qualifier] v [2] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY)

Pictures from Squash Mad archive and courtesy of PSA