El Shorbagy starts British Open title defense with win

Mohamed El Shorbagy KINGSTON UPON HULL, United Kingdom — Mohamed El Shorbagy admits he got exactly what he didn’t want to begin the defense of his British Open title Tuesday, but managed to handle the discomfort anyway. The world No. 1 from Egypt’s well-taken 11-7, 12-10, 11-4 win over Nicolas Mueller, the former top-20 player from Switzerland, suggested he has been developing the knack of keeping the mindset he needs. “I said to my brother (Marwan) that Nicolas Mueller was the one guy I didn’t want in the first round — and I got him,” El Shorbagy admitted. “It was the best I ever saw Nicolas play in Chicago last month. He can be very dangerous and today I had to be focused the whole match.” Winning the second game, in which Mueller was only prevented from taking an 8-7 lead by El Shorbagy’s successful video appeal against the referee’s penalty point decision, was doubly important. Not only did that prevent difficulties from becoming prolonged, it assisted with El Shorbagy’s need to preserve energy early in the tournament, ready for probable big battles later. He kept the pace high, his mind calm, and the ball tight, and was prepared to play out the rallies for as long as it took. Eventually Mueller, who often attacked creatively, was pressured into landing three drop shots into the tin in the last four rallies of that pivotal game. It supported El Shorbagy’s contention that he has continued to improve his mentality, something which came under scrutiny again after his failure to get past the third round of the World Championships at Washington in November. He may indeed need to show it again, because his second-round match is against James Willstrop, the former world No. 1 who was his conqueror in that sensational World Championship upset. The 32-year-old Englishman, now ranked 13, proved again that on his day he can still beat anyone. Competing only a short distance from his Yorkshire home Willstrop overcame Tarek Momen, the world No. 6 from Egypt, 5-11 , 11-4, 11-6, 11-7. Earlier three of the women’s front-runners progressed, but with less trouble. Laura Massaro, the world No. 1 from England, needed only 26 minutes to come through 11-2, 11-5, 11-6 against Olivia Blatchford, an American qualifier, while Raneem El Welily of Egypt, her predecessor at the top, took five minutes less to win 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 against Nele Gilis, a Belgian qualifier playing on a glass showcourt in a competitive match for the first time. Camille Serme, the British Open titleholder from France, needed just a little longer to get past Fiona Moverley, a qualifier playing in her home city, 11-7, 11-6, 11-3 — but perhaps this was not entirely surprising. — AFP