ElShorbagy Survives Close Call At PSA Worlds

Former world No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy narrowly avoided defeat against fellow Englishman Nathan Lake in round one of the PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family.

ElShorbagy, who became World Champion when he beat younger brother Marwan ElShorbagy in the 2017 final, found himself 2/1 down and staring down the barrel of an early exit at the University Club of Chicago in what was his 757th match on the PSA Squash Tour.

The 34-year-old held firm though, winning the fourth game to draw level, before powering to victory in a one-sided decider, setting up a fascinating clash with 17-year-old Mohamad Zakaria next.

"I was in survival mode when I found myself 2/1 down," said ElShorbagy afterwards.

"Sometimes you just have to dig in and play a game which makes you feel uncomfortable on court. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but today it worked for me. I'm very happy to get through and tomorrow is another day.

"This event is a journey. It's going to be a long 10 days and it will be very tiring. The top players want to be in these positions, you want to have the tiredness because that means you have the pressure and expectations on you."

Last year's World Championship runner-up Mostafa Asal is also through to the next round after he overcame England's Nick Wall in straight games.

In the women's event, world No.2 Nour El Sherbini - who like Asal fell in last year's title decider - got her attempts to win a record-equalling eighth World Championship trophy under way with a comfortable win over England's Kiera Marshall.

El Sherbini - who is aiming to match Nicol David's haul of eight World Championship titles - beat Marshall 11-3, 11-6, 11-3 and will play fellow Egyptian Nardine Garas next.

"I'd never played Kiera before, and it's always tricky playing an opponent that you've never watched before," El Sherbini said afterwards.

"I'm obviously very confident and hopefully it goes well. I'm looking one step at a time and taking it step by step. I've been training well, so we'll see.

"I'm not thinking about it [the eighth World Championship] really. I don't want to look that far ahead, I just want to focus on how I want to play and perform. It's the longest tournament we have, so I have to take it match by match, but I definitely want to win the tournament, that's the goal."

US No.1 Olivia Weaver also made a winning start in Chicago, beating Aifa Azman in straight games. The world No.4 will take on another Malaysian player - Rachel Arnold - in round two.