2010 Hong Kong Open: Ramy on Top of the World
“Now I’m world number one it’s great, but we’ve still got lots of big tournaments coming up and my aim is to keep playing well and keep winning," said Ramy, upon winning the 2010 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open.
The grueling final lasted 90 minutes. Both players went nip and tuck until Ashour proved the better sportsman. Frenchman Gregory Gualtier took the first set 12-10. Nevertheless, Ashour came up in the second set only to bag it 11 points to 9.
Similar to his second set win, Ramy took the third set 11 points to 9 once again. Gualtier was not going to let the professional off easy. The athlete defeated the Egyptian 11 points to 9 in the fourth set of the match.
After more than an hour, the sportsmen were evenly matched. However, it was Ashour who clinched the deciding set to be crowned champion. Gregory was defeated 11 points to 9 in the final set of the match.
In the words of Ashour, “That was a quality match – I’ll watch it over and over again to see what I did right, what I did wrong, and learn from it." Followed by a statement that said it was nevertheless, a great feeling to win there at last.
Ashour worked his way up from the initial few rounds to make a place for himself in the quarterfinals of the championship. Britain's James Willstrop was defeated 11-2, 11-8 and 11-4 by the Egyptian sportsman.
Furthermore, Ramy was made to play fellow country-man Karim Derwesh. Ashour thrashed Derwesh 11-5, 11-8 and 11-9 in straight sets. Alongside, Frenchman Gregory Gaultier defeated Egypt's top seed Amr Shabana in his draw of the quarter-finals to reach the semi-finals. Shabana was eliminated upon losing 5-11, 7-11 and 4-11 to Gualtier.
England's Peter Barker was made to face defeat after Gregory bagged a three set to one win over him. The Frenchman took the first set 11-9.
However, the second set went in favour of Barker as he took it 8-11. Gaultier showed no mercy and took the remaining two sets 11-5 and 11-8 to make it to the finals. Unfortunately though, the professional was annihilated by Ashour and came in second.
The 22 year old Egyptian professional clinched the World no. 1 spot after defeating Britain's Nick Matthew in the 2009 Saudi International Squash tournament final.
Ashour became the youngest ever squash professional to be ranked no. 1 in the World since the 'Khan' era. However, in the year 2010, Matthew bounced back and took the number 1 spot.
Although, it wasn't long before Ramy came out victorious at the 2010 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open, only to be ranked no. 1 in the World once again.
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