Abouelghar topples Gawad

KINGSTON UPON HILL, UK — World champion Karim Gawad was prevented from achieving the world No. 1 ranking for the first time in his career when he lost to his best friend in the second round of the British Open Thursday. Gawad was beaten 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7 by Mohamed Abouelghar, the world No. 23 with whom he is rooming, just when he was on the brink of climbing to the summit. The man from Cairo was twice within a point of going two games up before being blown away by a display of uninhibited hitting by Abouelghar, who has rarely managed to maintain such exceptional standards against a top level opponent for so long. Abouelghar finished the match with a blaze of four unstoppable winners and then explained why he had thought he had a chance of beating his far better known friend. “I knew that the ranking situation put him under pressure, and so I just went for my shots,” he said. “When I do that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Today it did. “I have mixed feelings about it. I really wanted him to take it (the number one ranking) and I know how had he works. I just played for myself, and I had no pressure.” The upset means that a third Egyptian, Mohamed Elshorbagy, can still hang on to the world No. 1 ranking he has held for 28 months, 15 of them consecutively, if he wins the British Open for a third successive time Sunday. However Gregory Gaultier can also regain the top spot if he wins the title. The only Frenchman ever to have won the British Open, he signaled an enduring capacity to win it again with a devastating 9-1, 9-3, 9-2 over Cameron Pilley, the World Series Finals runner-up. Gaultier, 34, on Friday plays Mathieu Castagnet, his unseeded compatriot, while Elshorbagy plays Ali Farag, his seventh-seeded Egyptian compatriot Earlier, squash legend Nicol David also reached the quarterfinals and refuted suggestions that she might be retiring some time soon. The 33-year-old record-breaking former world No. 1 from Malaysia beat Joey Chan, the world No. 17 from Hong Kong, 11-4, 14-12, 9-11, 11-2 and afterward made it clear that her motivation was as great as ever. “I still love it passionately and deeply, and I will play as long as I can,” she said. “If I wake up and still feel like doing it, I will do it,” said David, who went more than a year without a title until she triumphed in Colombia a fortnight ago. The five-time former British Open champion may still be capable of making a challenge for a sixth on the evidence of her intriguingly inventive performance against Chan. To grab a semi-final place she will have to beat Camille Serme, the former British Open champion from France. The second seed beat Nour El Tayeb, the 11th seeded Egyptian, 11-8, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9 after a contentious finish. Serme was awarded a conduct stroke to reach 10-8 in the fourth game after Tayeb accidentally hit her with the ball, and two rallies later she completed the win with a penalty point when Tayeb hindered her swing. Although David is seeded four places below Serme, she has never lost to her. — AFP