CAIRO, Sept 3: World champion Amr Shabana was close to losing his World Open squash title to his best friend before reaching the quarter-finals at the Giza pyramids on Saturday.

The local hero was 2-8 down in the third game and had to save three game balls before surviving 11-6, 5-11, 11-9, 11-10 against Mohammed Abbas.

Shabana not only had the pressure of immense home expectations but was also playing an opponent against whom it was more difficult to rouse any killer instinct and who knew every aspect of his style inside out.

Until Abbas unaccountably put an over-ambitious volley boast down when he had a long lead in the fourth game, he looked well capable of taking charge.

But after being given a sniff of a chance, the champion took six points in a row.

When Abbas led 10-7 in the next game he made errors on two of the next three points, including a controversial penalty point decision when the referee deemed the unseeded player had struck the ball too close to himself.

But Shabana did strike a high percentage of winners at the front of the court, with drops and volley drops, and, after four months away from competition, may be gradually gaining confidence-building match practice.—AFP