Squash: Matthew downs Shabana to reach world semis
Nick Matthew beat Amr Shabana 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 to reach world squash championships semi-finals.
MANCHESTER (AFP) - Nick Matthew strengthened his assertion that even at the age of 33 he can reclaim the world title, producing a performance which denied fellow former champion Amr Shabana a semi-finals place on Thursday.
Matthew, who won the world title in Al Khobar and in Rotterdam, was enduringly efficient in the way in which he crafted a straight games victory over Shabana, four times the former world champion.
The Englishman s 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 victory over the Egyptian was however only really in doubt for a game and a half, after which Shabana s lack of match play following a lengthy illness became increasingly apparent.
"He is such a great player. Sometimes I sit back in the corner and I admire it," said Matthew.
"Then I remember I have to compete against it. I was nervous at the beginning, but the cheer I got from the crowd when I walked on relaxed me, so thank you to Manchester for that."
The value of a world championship only 60 miles from his Yorkshire home became increasingly apparent for Matthew, who identified his tactics correctly and executed them calmly.
This included extending the rallies early on -- one of them last more than eighty shots -- before identifying moment to risk the drops with more frequency.
By the end of the second game Shabana had ceased to run all of them down, and the outcome was becoming predictable.
There were some trademark disguises and a familiar facility for mixing the short and the long games, but Shabana s touch was not as he would have liked it to be.
Early in the third game he raised his arms to the heavens and blew ironic kisses after succeeding with a feather-light backhand volley drop.
Better may yet be to come from the 34-year-old, and Matthew was in no doubt that Shabana has it in him still to be a force when he has had more time to train and has played more tournaments.
Asked whether beating such a great player was as good as it gets, Matthew was not prepared to allow that it was.
"Happy as I am now I have to think it s a step long the way," he said.
"I have to keep my feet on the floor. If I do the same thing on Sunday (the day of the world final), then I will think it is as good as it gets."
Matthew will on Saturday play the winner of Ramy Ashour, the Egyptian who took away his title in Doha almost a year ago, and Saurav Ghosal, the first Indian ever to reach the World Championships quarter-finals.
