Shabana's movement was somewhere near what used to be during a 7-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 win over Saturday's hero James Willstrop. His front court game and ability to jerk his opponent around was pretty well what it was too.
The Egyptian was also a different man from the subdued one who had lost to Thierry Lincou in his first match: he started slowly, worked his way into the match, recovered lost ground in a pivotal second game, and then showed some flashes of the genius which had kept him at world number one for 33 consecutive months.
“I realise how disappointing it is when you lose that,” he said. “Yes, it would be nice to get it back.”
You could sense Willstrop indulging in another bout of mock peevishness when he heard this. “He always plays well .aspx)
against me,” he muttered with pleasing dark humour. “I have to work on dealing with that backhand flick-thingy he plays.
For one and a half games Shabana didn't play it very much. During that phase Willstrop looked as though he might be able to carry on where he left off after beating another Egyptian, world champion Ramy Ashour.
But when he went 2-6 down in the second game, Willstrop bent over, as though his reservoir of energy had been depleted, and soon Shabana was draining it more.
That happened after a collision at 5-6 which left Shabana looking dazed, and caused the referee to ask if he were all right. He certainly was, and the forehand volley kill which prevented Willstrop from getting back to 6-6 set the star man moving into a phase in which he began to control of more of the rallies.
He moved quickly through to level at one game all, and when Shabana then nosed ahead at 6-5 in the third, Willstrop gazed up at the roof, as though a .aspx)
reserve fuel tank might be hidden in the rafters, ready to be lowered and injected into his flagging resources.
Willstrop conceded two penalty strokes in the next seven rallies, lost another with a serve which allowed Shabana to make a volley drop winner with a return, and put a disguised backhand drop into the tin to lose the game.
By now Shabana was hustling him, moving both between and during rallies as though his knee injury were a thing of the past, and unleashing his wonderful repertoire with a familiar flourish.
“That was a foul shot,”said Willstrop, as he went 7-9 down in the fourth, clearly heading for the end - though in truth he did not have too much reason to berate himself. Circumstances, and a reviving great player, had conspired against him.
It means that Shabana can still qualify if he beats Ashour in his last group match tomorrow (Monday). This will be a repeat of their World Open semi-final in Manchester in October, and that should surely be an encounter to savour.
By: Richard Eaton