PSA Report: Rodriguez reaches first World Series Final as defending champions bow out
World No.14 Miguel Angel Rodriguez has become the first South American squash player ever to reach a PSA World Series final after he ended the giant-killing run of German qualifier Raphael Kandra to reach the title decider of the prestigious Allam British Open on a day that also saw the defending champions exit the event held at Hull’s Airco Arena.
Rodriguez, the 32-year-old from Bogota, had followed up an opening round scalp of 2013 champion Ramy Ashour with wins over Omar Mosaad and World No.2 Ali Farag to reach the last four, but he was up against one of stars of the tournament, with World No.37 Kandra ending Nick Matthew’s final British Open in round two before claiming a massive win over World No.3 Marwan ElShorbagy yesterday.
Kandra – the first German to reach the semi-finals of this tournament – troubled Rodriguez at times during the opening stages of the match until, with the scores poised at 1-1, the Colombian former World No.4 took control and he completed an 11-5, 5-11, 11-4, 11-3 triumph to secure a top eight place on the PSA World Series Standings, which sees him become the last player to qualify for next month’s ATCO PSA Dubai World Series.
“I think we both didn’t have anything to lose,” said Rodriguez following his win.
“I had a little bit of pressure, this is a World Series semi-final, so the emotions you feel on court while you are playing are difficult. The first two games were edgy but then I was moving much better and I felt good physically, my shots were deeper, and I think that was the key. I was patient and that helped.
“It’s huge [to be in the final], this is one of my dreams when I was a kid and I told myself at the beginning of the year that I wanted to reach a final, I have and I’m very proud.”
Rodriguez will be up against World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy in the final after the Egyptian powerhouse overcame last year’s winner and three-time British Open champion Gregory Gaultier to reach his third final at the sport’s longest-running tournament.
ElShorbagy and Gaultier contested a highly-entertaining five-game battle, with 27-year-old ElShorbagy’s physicality giving him the edge over his French opponent, 35, to claim an 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 3-11, 11-5 win which sees him book his place in a fifth World Series final of the season.
“The first thing I told him after that match was that I absolutely missed him throughout the whole season,” said ElShorbagy.
“There are players that can beat you on the day, great players, but there are players who have the consistency to keep it going the whole season. I miss playing against someone who does that, because he has been injured most of the year, but we are the best two players in the world.”
Meanwhile, World No.1 Nour El Sherbini and World Champion Raneem El Welily will contest their fifth major final of the season after they achieved wins over title holder Laura Massaro and 2015 winner Camille Serme, respectively.
El Sherbini will appear in her third British Open final after she bested her English opponent in 70 minutes by an 11-13, 11-4, 11-13, 11-7, 11-5 scoreline that saw her come back from 2-1 down to win.
The Egyptian – who became the first female Egyptian to win the British Open in 2016 – will now compete in a fifth World Series final of the season after avenging her defeat to Massaro in the semi-finals of last year’s tournament.
“I’m really happy to win this match,” said the 22-year-old Egyptian following her win.
“It’s always really tough to play Laura in Hull, she was playing so good here but I’m really happy that I managed to get back and win the fourth and happy to be in another final.
“The British Open is one of the biggest tournaments we have on the tour, it’s an honour to win it once and hopefully I can go on to do it again.”
El Welily reached her maiden British Open final courtesy of a 3-1 victory over France’s Serme, winning 11-7, 4-11, 12-10, 11-6 in 43 minutes to complete a three-strong Egyptian presence across both the men’s and women’s title deciders.
The World No.2 has claimed most of the big titles on the PSA World Tour but the prestigious ‘Wimbledon of Squash’ is one of the few missing from her expansive collection. El Welily took one step closer to getting her hands on the iconic trophy today though after taking a crucial tie-break in the third game en route to completing the victory in four games.
“It’s very special and I’m very happy to be in my first final at the British Open,” El Welily said.
“I haven’t been very lucky in previous years and I’m a little bit gutted to be missing Ramadan back home, but at least I’m in the final and that will make up for it.”
The finals begin at 15:00 on Sundayand will be shown live on SQUASHTV (Rest of World), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and will be broadcast on mainstream channels around the world, such as BT Sport, beIN Sports, Fox Sports Australia and Astro.
