World number one Mohamed El Shorbagy dethroned world champion Nick Matthew and reached the World Open final after a semi-final of extraordinary controversy both on and off the court on Thursday.
The Egyptian beat the Englishman 11-9, 11-5, 11-8, but the score gave little indication of the drama which pervaded a full hour of thrust and counter-thrust, or the extraordinary incident in the later stages of the first game which profoundly affected the mood of the match.
This followed some pre-match verbal jousting which certainly intensified the mood of the contest.
El Shorbagy’s physicality and aggression eventually made him a worthy winner, but his route to victory might have been very different but for a frenzied and confusing five-minute dispute involving both players and the English referee near the end of the first game.
Asked to adjudicate on Matthew’s claim that El Shorbagy had interfered with his backswing, the referee at different times appeared to give all three possible decisions –- let, no let, penalty point –- with both players leaving the court to make their case, and both getting him to change his mind.
Eventually no let was awarded, enabling El Shorbagy to draw level at 9-all, but only after he had called Matthew’s appeal “cheeky”, and appealed successfully to the video review system.
“I don’t think I have ever seen anything like that,” said Matthew. “It was a farce. And I don’t understand why the video did not show the interference. I really feel hard done by with that.”
El Shorbagy capitalised on the outcome well, playing two long and forceful rallies to close out the crucial first game, dominating the second game, and tenaciously halting a bold Matthew fight-back in the third.
“Before the match there were a few words between us but we have great respect for each other,” said El Shorbagy.  
Previously he had suggested the 34-year-old Matthew was past his best, with Matthew responding by saying his young rival had only been number one for “five minutes,” only for El Shorbagy to warn Matthew he would need to sit down between games because he wouldn’t be able to handle the pace.
El Shorbagy’s pace did increasingly prevail, though Matthew sometimes handled it well, even if he will not this year supersede the legendary Australian Geoff Hunt as the oldest male world champion of all time.
“I think I proved him wrong,” Matthew asserted. “He had to play bloody well to beat me.”
El Shorbagy may have to play to the very same high standard again on Friday, as the final is against his extraordinary compatriot, Ramy Ashour, just as it was in the world final he lost here two years ago.
Ashour has not played a tournament for six months and has endured an operation on his hamstrings, yet survived a monster first game to beat the top-seeded Gregory Gaultier in straight games.
Ashour also saved two game points before winning 17-15, 15-7, 15-5, with his racket skills apparently as brilliant as ever, and his movement surprisingly effective.
Afterwards Gaultier, like Matthew, was upset about a refereeing decision, believing Ashour’s departure from the court to tend to a badly grazed elbow should have been penalised at 13-13 in the crucial first game.
It was, Gaultier claimed, an existing injury, and therefore according to the rules a point should have been awarded to him.
But well as the Frenchman often played he could not cope with an inspired opponent whose appetite appears to have been greatly intensified by his lengthy absence.
If El Shorbagy is to win his first world title it is unlikely to come easy.
Source: AFP