Revenge Win Sees Elshorbagy Grab Grasshopper Glory

Avenging two defeats to the world No.3 earlier in the month, world No.2 Mohamed Elshorbagy despatched Egyptian compatriot Tarek Momen in straight games in the final of the 2019 Grasshopper Cup to win the PSA World Tour Gold event at Halle 622 in the Swiss city of Zurich for the first time.

Runner-up to compatriot Ramy Ashour in the 2018 final, 28-year-old Elshorbagy played at a ferocious pace to overpower Momen and claim an 11-8, 13-11, 11-8 victory in 50 minutes.

Both players had overcome Egyptian opposition in the semi-finals, with Elshorbagy seeing off world No.4 Karim Abdel Gawad, while Momen defeated world No.8 Abouelghar in straight games.

Momen, the 2014 Grasshopper Cup runner-up, was appearing in a third successive PSA Tour final and had already beaten Elshorbagy twice in March, first in the semi-finals of the PSA World Championships and later at the same stage of the Canary Wharf Classic in London.

Elshorbagy built on a strong start to take the opener and came back from game ball down to take a crucial second game after a no let decision in Momen's favour was overturned to a yes let by a video referee decision. Momen kept on fighting in the third, but there was no stopping Elshorbagy as the former world No.1 closed out the climax.

The win marks Elshorbagy's 36th PSA Tour title - which sees the UK-based Alexandrian overtake Nick Matthew's career haul of 35 Tour titles.

"I'm really proud to win it," said Elshorbagy afterwards.

"This is the third time I'm coming back here, and a lot of great names have won this trophy like Gregory Gaultier and Ramy. To put my name besides the greats of squash is an honour, and I'm really proud to lift this trophy in front of this crowd. They've been amazing all week, and I'm really glad I won at the end.

"He [Momen] has been playing the squash of his life this season, he made three finals this month, and I know how hard it is to back it up after every tournament. He should be really proud of what he achieved this month.

"The second game was crucial, and I thought that if I could go 2/0 up it would have been a mountain to climb. I'm really glad I was able to finish that off and win the title. It's been an up-and-down season for me, but I wanted to show what I can do and play well.

"This season is far from over for me. There is still the world No.1 spot to play for this season, I'm going to be trying to get that spot back by the end of the season, and I'm going to give it my all."

ElShorbagy's win sees him take home over $17,000 in prize money and is his third PSA tournament win of the season.