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SHABANA
CELEBRATES WORLD OPEN HAT-TRICK IN Final:
[1] Amr Shabana (EGY) bt [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
11-7, 11-4, 11-6 (42m) Following
an impeccable display of near faultless squash on an all-glass court at the Fairmont
Southampton Resort in Bermuda,
HI-TEC’s world number one
Amr Shabana beat France's Gregory
Gaultier, the world No3, in straight games in the final of the Endurance
World Open Squash Championship to become only the fourth player
in history to lift the world title for a third time. The
triumph marks Shabana's 20th PSA
Tour title and, after lifting his fourth successive PSA
Super Series trophy in under five weeks, it also his extended his
unbeaten run to 20 matches. The
Egyptian left-hander quickly took control of the encounter, playing a
succession of sensational winners to record his historic 11-7, 11-4, 11-6
victory in 42 minutes.
Shabana's
brilliance could not have been better demonstrated than by the
championship-winning rally in which Gaultier played a seemingly
irretrievable shot - which the Egyptian miraculously returned before
smashing the ball out of the Frenchman's reach to clinch the title. In
paying tribute to his opponent, Shabana said: "Greg is a true
champion. But I was able to stop him today. In the second game,
I played like a dream. You can only play like this once in your
life." When
asked if he had thought he could win the four titles in a row that he did -
the World Open preceded by the Saudi
International, Qatar Classic
and Hong Kong Open since the
end of October - the Egyptian replied: "When I am seeded one, I
try and win each match at a time - and then when I get into a run, I try and
keep winning. "I
don't think I have ever played as well as today," added Shabana.
"To beat Greg after the way he has been playing this week - he beat
everybody 3/0 - I had to play the best squash of my life. Wearing
the new HI-TEC 4:SYS Squash
shoes, Shabana’s triumph marks a perfect build up ahead of next Octobers HI-TEC
World Squash Championships 2008, in For
now though all thoughts go to our new World Champion, a HI-Tec player on a
role and in the form of his life.
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