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Endurance World Open Final
[1] Amr Shabana (Egy) bt [2] Gregory
Gaultier (Fra)
11/7, 11/4, 11/6 (42m)
Shabana makes it three
If Gregory Gaultier turned in a masterclass last night in the
semi-finals, tonight it was Amr Shabana's turn as the Egyptian world
number one claimed his third world title with a performance he
himself acclaimed as "the best I've ever played."
 It
didn't start that well, as Gaultier got the better of the early
exchanges to establish a 4/1 lead. But Shabana steadied, as Greg's
frustration grew, querying several lets where he felt strokes were
warranted. Shabana took the next seven points, starting to show some
of his shots.
He took the lead, after 18 minutes, and in the second showed the
packed crowd his full arsenal, needing just eight minutes to double
that lead.
And so it continued. Shabana quickly went 4-1 up in the third,
Gaultier got one back then contributed three tins to go 7-2 down. It
looked like the Frenchman was finished, his head gone.
 There
followed a mad, scrambling rally and Shabana, who was flying all
over court desperately retrieving, was given a let which drew boos
from the crowd. This seemed to fire Greg up, and although he was
never likely to close that gap, he made the final few points tough
for the soon-to-be three time champion.
The match ended as Shabana followed up some fantastic retrieving by
despatching the ball to die in the back right corner. There was no
great show of emotion, just raised arms and then an emotional hug
with his opponent.
He won Saudi, he won Qatar, he won Hong Kong, he won the Arab
Championships. Now, just six weeks after Saudi he's won the World
Open for the third time, only the fourth player ever to do so.
He deserves a rest ...
 "He
surprised me at the start, he got into the lead so I had to get back
to basics, hitting it straight and cutting out his angles. I got
back to 4-all and he got a bit nervous and made a few errors.
"In the second I played like a dream, you only play like that once
or twice in your life and thank God I was able to do that tonight.
"This is one of my best matches ever, I don't think I've ever played
better than that. I had to play that well to beat Gregory Gaultier,
he's won all his matches 3/0 easily and he's 99% unbeatable.
"I know how Greg feels. He beat me in front of my home crowd in
Cairo last year, so I know exactly what it's like. I don't see
myself beating him too many times in the future and he'll get his
hands on this trophy one day for sure.
"I was blown away the first time I came to Bermuda, the island, the
way they treat the players, the spectators, the organisation, it's a
model of how every squash tournament should be."
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 "I'm
very disappointed.
I didn't expect to be feeling 100kg overweight, my legs felt heavy
after four points, and after that trying to get in front I was
forcing my shots and they were coming out loose.
"He played well tonight, I tried to stay with the pace but it just
wasn't my day. Even if I wasn't feeling the best I still tried my
hardest.
"I felt a lot of pressure on the match, I don't think I should have
lost it last year in Cairo so maybe I put too much pressure on
myself to win this one, I expected to win this tournament.
"But I have, like, eight years, so I hope I can get my hands on at
least one …"
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