Shabana Shocks Matthew In ToC Quarter-Final

Egypt's four-time world champion Amr Shabana pulled off a major upset in the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions when he defeated world No1 Nick Matthew in a five-game quarter-final thriller in the first PSA World Series squash event of the year at Grand Central Terminal in New York.

Shabana was at his sublime best to get past the second-seeded Englishman who has arguably been in the best form of his career in recent months since winning the 2013 PSA World Championship in Manchester in November.

Despite victories by Matthew in each of their last four meetings, it was the 34-year-old from Cairo who showed his world class calibre this time to seal the 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 2-11, 11-9 victory.

"That was probably one of the best matches that I have played in a long time," said Shabana, the No7 seed.

"Nick is the world champion and the world No1 and he's beaten me in the last four or five games that we played - so I had to play at my very best to beat him. I had a game plan and I stuck to it and thankfully it worked.

"Every time you lose you learn something new and even today I felt he was pushing very hard. He's probably the best guy out there at the moment but we're all competitors and you can't always win and thankfully today it was me who snuck the victory today."

Shabana is enjoying his 14th appearance in the event since making his debut in 1999 - three years before Matthew. The 'Maestro of Cairo' won the title in 2006 and 2007 - but will now be making his first appearance in the semi-finals for three years.

Shabana will face England's James Willstrop in Thursday's semi-finals after the fourth seed from Harrogate overcame fellow countryman Peter Barker 11-7, 5-11, 12-10, 11-5.

"It's not been my best week of squash," said 30-year-old Willstrop after the match. "But I improved again a little bit today.

"Pete gave me a lot to think about but I'm through to a semi-final and I'm old enough now to know that you can turn things around and get through the rusty patches.

"I'm not playing badly - but I haven't set the world on fire.

"Every player would say that Shabana is at the top of their list. His ball striking and natural purity is great and I enjoyed watching him play Nick. It was a long game but he's used to it and he's strong so I don't think that will have a big impact.

"It excites me to be in the semi and I'm going to enjoy that for 48 hours. I like playing here and I like playing Shabs so I'm looking forward to it."

Image courtesy of SquashPics.com