Pilley stars as champions fall

DUBAI — Australian Cameron Pilley led a series of shocks at the season-ending PSA World Series finals Friday as world No. 1 Mohamed Elshorbagy ended his tremendous season with a defeat. World champion Nour El Sherbini lost to Laura Massaro and Nicol David lost her grip on a trophy she has held for four years as Raneem El Welily, who lost her world No. 1 ranking not long ago, sealed the chance to claim the biggest title of her career. But Pilley was the big story as he became the most surprising finalist for many years. The 33-year-old Australian has never yet made the world’s top ten, let alone qualified for the eight-man World Series finals before, but after upsetting all odds with an 11-9, 11-5 win over Elshorbagy he has become the first Aussie to reach the final of the tour’s flagship event for a decade. Elshorbagy was devastated after his totally unexpected defeat. Pilley kept the ball magnetically tight along the backhand wall and continually frustrated Elshorbagy’s attacking ambitions. In the second game Elshorbagy looked jaded and seemed to feel the pressure, increasingly arguing against refereeing decisions. Once he was ordered to get on with the match but afterwards he was generous with his praise. Pilley will now attempt to emulate the achievement of his compatriot, Anthony Ricketts, who won this title a decade ago. But against Gregory Gaultier, the world champion from France, who looks completely revived after a lengthy ankle injury and who despatched the game’s fastest mover, Miguel Angel Rodriguez 11-7, 11-7, that will be very difficult. The most emotional of all the winners and losers came from the semifinal in which David played her way intelligently to a 5-2 lead in the final game but still found a tiring Welily skilful enough to push through to an 11-5, 8-11, 11-8 victory — a reversal of a world final result. The match points which David saved in the 2014 final in Welily’s home city of Cairo will live long in the memory, but now hers was the agonizing defeat as a title she has held for four years slipped away. It was nevertheless a positive effort by one of the sport’s legends, who adapted well enough to the combination of the lower tin and the shorter format here to come near to beating one of the tour’s most talented stroke makers. The Egyptian was importantly helped by a lucky back wall nick at 9-8, which made the ball roll dead. She had made her luck though by responding boldly to the momentum which David generated, and she had also eked out her energy well. “I know what it is like to win the world title, and how hard it is to keep the training going, so I am sure that Nour hasn’t been hitting the ball much,” said Massaro after beating the 20-year-old Egyptian 12-10, 11-6. The last time the Englishwoman played against Welily she won, and this time the Egyptian will be the one seeking revenge. The vibes will be different.