Friday, March 29, 2024

Wagih denies Sharpes to lift London crown

Egyptian proves scourge of the English as he is crowne at the Cumberland

london36Surrey’s Charles Sharpes was unable to round off one of the best weeks of his PSA Tour career with a win as he lost 3/0 to higher-ranked Egyptian Andrew Wagih Shoukry in the final of the $15,000 London Open at the Cumberland Club last night.

Although the 22-year-old from Kingston-upon-Thames was seeded fifth to Shoukry’s seventh, the Egyptian is ranked one place higher in the world list at 72 and he underlined why in his 33-minute victory.

Sharpes mounted strong resistance in the second game, but in the end the effort he contributed in his surprise 3/2 win over county team-mate Joe Lee, the tournament’s top seed, the previous night was his undoing as he went down 11-7, 12-10, 11-5.

“Gutted to lose tonight,” Sharpes tweeted afterwards. “Body was feeling it a bit from yesterday’s match but all credit to him. He played well. Great week for me nonetheless.”

Sharpes was Shoukry’s fourth English victim in a row, as he had defeated Kent veteran Ben Ford 3/0 in round one, Gloucestershire qualifier Tom Ford 3/0 in the quarter-finals and Essex’s Richie Fallows 3/1 in the semi-finals.

Fallows had taken out two seeds on his way to the last four – county team-mate Ben Coleman (no.8) 3/0 in the first round and second-seeded Scot Alan Clyne 3/1 in the last eight.

Yathreb Adel made it an Egyptian double when she beat Belgium’s Nel Gilis in three in the WSA women’s final.

Meanwhile in the inaugural $5,000 Courtcraft Nick Matthew Academy Steel City Open in Sheffield, Leicestershire’s George Parker was denied victory in his first PSA Tour final by top-seeded Scot Greg Lobban.

The 18-year-old eighth seed, who had produced some of the best squash of his career to reach the final, went down 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 in 31 minutes.

Earlier, the recently-crowned British junior champion had upset second-seeded compatriot Nathan Lake (Gloucestershire) 3/1 in the quarter-finals, before ousting another Englishman, no.4 seed Adam Murrills (Cheshire), 3/0 in the semis.

Report courtesy of EnglandSquashAndRackets.com

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