ISM March 2017

WINDY CITY OPEN
GREGORYGAULTIER&RANEEMELWElILY
CROWNEDWINDYCITYOPENCHAMPIONS
Gregory Gaultier won his 36th
Professional Squash Association
(PSA) World Tour title with an
impressive 5-11 11-8 11-2 11-4 victory
over surprise finalist Marwan
ElShorbagy to win the 2017
Windy City Open presented by
Guggenheim Partners & EquiTrust
Life Insurance Company - while
Egyptian Raneem El Welily added
the 2017 title to her 2015 and 2016
crowns with a 10-12 11-7 11-7 11-7 win
over Nour El Sherbini.
Gaultier, competing in his 75th PSA World Tour final, has been
in scintillating form so far in 2017. After finishing as runnerup
at January’s Tournament of Champions and winning the
Swedish Open in February he proved too much for ElShorbagy,
the 23-year-old Egyptian appearing in a World Series
tournament final for the first time in his career.
The Frenchman started slowly, looking nervous as he struggled
to settle into his customary high paced tempo resulting in the
opening game going the way of a more composed ElShorbagy.
However, Gaultier’s big game experience came to the fore
as he pushed on to secure the honours and win his 13th PSA
World Series title.
Gaultier, the champion in 2014, started this year’s campaign
with impressive straight game victories over Englishmen Joe
Lee, Daryl Selby and James Willstrop and secured his place in
the final following an intense and highly charged three game
victory over Spaniard Borja Golan after the Spanish No.1 had
inflicted a shock quarter-final defeat over World Champion
Karim Abdel Gawad.
World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy also saw his hopes of winning
the title for the second consecutive year dashed in the quarterfinals
when his younger brother Marwan, despite failing to take
more than a solitary game in their seven matches, prevailed 1-11
11-8 13-11 5-11 11-8 under the chandeliers of the University Club
of Chicago.
“I am really happy - it’s amazing to win these kind of major
titles so it will be nice to see my name on this beautiful trophy
once again,” said Gaultier. “It’s a lovely place to play and I have
been coming here for a long time. I have a lot of friends here
and have always enjoyed coming back.
“Marwan caused me a lot of trouble in the first game. He
has got a lot of confidence from this week winning some big
matches, especially from beating his brother the World No.1. He
proved this week that he is a top player - he came through five
tough matches to reach this stage which, was a tougher week
than me.
“I had to find a solution and to put more pace into it and get in
control because when I was playing at his rhythm he was just a
better player than me.”
El Welily meanwhile, in a repeat of the 2016 final, put in the
best performance of her year to stop World No.1 El Sherbini
in forty-two minutes - playing superb squash from the off and
using her backhand drop to devastating effect to punish any
loose play from her opponent. Despite losing a close first game
10-12 it looked comfortable for El Welily as she returned to the
form that took her to World No.1 in 2015.
“I’m very, very happy, it’s fantastic to win here again for the
third time,” said El Welily. “Chicago feels like my lucky city - I’m
always happy to be here.”
During the trophy presentation it was announced the 2018
Windy City Open will become the most lucrative PSA World
Tournament ever, boasting a $500,000 prize fund that will be
split equally between Men and Women.
06 | March 2017 INTERNATIONALSQUASHMAGAZINE
www.isportgroup.com/InternationalSquashMagazine