Tournament preview/roundup

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By ALAN THATCHER and MATT COLES 

Egypt’s stars again made the headlines in San Francisco as women’s top seed Nouran Gohar and former men’s world champion Tarek Momen lost in the quarter-finals of the Oracle NetSuite Open to Salma Hany and Mostafa Asal respectively.

It was a huge win for world No.9 Hany
Hany Takes Out Top Seed Gohar To Reach Oracle NetSuite Open Semi-Finals

is into the semi-finals of the Oracle NetSuite Open after she took out the tournament’s top seed, and fellow Egyptian, Nouran Gohar, in a deciding game at Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco.

Gohar came into the PSA World Tour Gold level tournament off the back of winning the CIB Egyptian Open in front of the Pyramids and she also held a 100% record over Hany, having won all seven of their previous encounters on Tour.

It was the World No.2 that was able to close out the first game 11-9, after finding herself 9-8 down, but from there, it was all Hany. The tournament’s No.6 seed won six straight points at the end of the second game to come from 5-6 down to win it 11-6 and take the match into a decider.

She then held a lead throughout the final game, but ‘the Terminator’ brought it back to 9-9. However, the World No.9 was able to win the last two points of the contest to book her place in the semi-finals.

Hany said: “I’m pretty happy. When I stepped on court today all I was thinking is that I don’t want to go home too soon from this tournament.

“I was really enjoying my time on court and every time my head went to the score and I was getting close, I just told myself to enjoy every rally and not rush the win.

“Nouran is an unbelievable player, we go way back since we were nine years old. She’s younger than me, but I learned a lot from her. She is such a fighter and to share the court with her today was a pleasure. I’m glad I came out the winner.

“I just kept my head in the rally itself and forgot about the score, I wanted to spend as much time as I could on court. I wanted to win, but I also wanted to enjoy playing here and I think that made the difference.

“I wasn’t rushing winners. When Nouran is down she gets scary and it’s like taking a piece of meat to a lion. You don’t want to look at her, you just want to focus on your game.”

The Egyptian will now face New Zealand’s World No.8 Joelle King in the semi-finals, after the Kiwi got the better of Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy in straight games to make it into the last four of a tournament for the third time in 2021.

“It was one of those matches where I wasn’t really listening to what the score was,” King said after the match.

“I have been up in the last few matches I have been up against her and she’s come back and beaten me, so there’s just no letting up with someone like her. She is so hungry, she’s an amazing player and the future of our sport. I just didn’t let up at all and I felt really good.”

US No.1 Amanda Sobhy and English No.1 Sarah-Jane Perry will meet in the other women’s semi-final on Sunday evening, after they came through their matches against Wales’ Tesni Evans and India’s Joshna Chinappa in straight games.

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In the men’s draw, World No.9 Mostafa Asal caused the lone upset of the day, beating former World Champion Tarek Momen in straight games.

It was the pair’s first meeting since their fractious battle at the CIB PSA World Tour Finals in June. Asal showed his qualities throughout to secure an 11-8, 11-6 victory to book his place in the last four.

Asal said: “It is a really difficult feeling to play so much intense squash after the World Tour Finals. I was down at the British Open and CIB Egyptian Open, some difficult times. So to be able to compete in an amazing city and in front of an amazing crowd. It’s packed today!

“All the squash fans know what happened after the match at the World Tour Finals. Tarek wrote on social media some bad stuff with me, but I have all the respect to Tarek.

“I have been watching him since I was a kid. We were at the same club so I grew up watching him play, so I said sorry to him for anything and I wanted to play a great match with him.”

Asal will face Ali Farag in the last four after the world No.1 got the better of Welshman Joel Makin 11-9, 12-10 in a pulsating contest in which both players gave it absolutely everything for 35 minutes.

Farag said: “I always love getting on court with someone who gives maximum effort. He is the prime example of 110% effort. The more respectable thing was that point that got me to 7-7. He was doing a lot of work and he then won the next two points.

“Any other player would probably have folded at that point and I thought I had the confidence, but it is a testament to his work ethic. He got a standing ovation from the crowd and rightly so!”

Top seed Mohamed ElShorbagy and New Zealand’s No.1 Paul Coll will meet in the second men’s semi-final, after they defeated Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad and Marwan ElShorbagy.

World No.2 Mohamed got the better of compatriot Gawad in the longest match of the tournament so far.

The pair battled it out for 57 minutes at Embarcadero Plaza and treated the crowd to some incredible action, with the first two games of the contest going to tie-breaks.

Both players saved several game balls in the first, before the ‘Beast of Alexandria’ took it 16-14, but Gawad fought back in the second game. He saved two match balls before taking the second 12-10 to force the match into a decider.

ElShorbagy was able to take back control in the final game, winning 11-5 to eventually book his spot in the last four.

ElShorbagy said: “He has been struggling with a big injury in his foot and he’s getting back. Every tournament you watch him, he is getting better and better. It would be stupid of any other top player to think that he is past his time, he is sending warnings to everyone.

“He is the most talented player of my generation and to watch him, I’m a fan of his game. There were moments during the match when I just kept clapping for him because it was too good.

“The only thing I did was fight and accept there are some points where he is going to make me look like a fool, but all I wanted to do was win the last point.

“You have to study your opponent before you get on court, it’s like a business, you need to know the people you go into business with. I need to know their character, I need to know their breaking point – I need to know everything about their character to study them. I’m just glad I came out as winner.

“I prefer playing in the afternoon, I remember [Amr] Shabana once told me that the best time for matches is the morning because if you win you get to live the rest of the day as a normal human being. If you lose you can take a flight back home.”

Coll is into the last four in San Francisco after battling back from a game down to defeat Mohamed’s brother Marwan ElShorbagy.

The Kiwi, who won last month’s British Open and is now at a career-high World No.3, found himself behind after the first game, with ElShorbagy putting the ball in all the right places on the glass court.

However, Coll was able to fight back, and was soon level after winning the second game 11-5. He then went on to take the third 11-6 to set up a semi-final clash with the older ElShorbagy tonight.

Coll revealed: “I think it was a tricky match before the first game to be honest. Down that backhand was so tight all game. He’s so good at controlling the pace.

“I kept trying to switch it but it’s such a cold ball that trying to get it past him on the forehand was quite tricky. It was a real battle of accuracy and who could get on the volley and apply the pressure from there.

“I was a bit short and wasn’t using my height in the first game and he probably hit six or seven outright winners. I had to find my length a bit more and get him out of the service box area.

“I play the older one next! Unfortunately for us squash players, there’s two of them out there. They are both world class players and it’s going to be tough. I’m going to learn a lot from today. I think I’m playing at night time, which is a different challenge again but I’m going to learn from that first set today, where I got it wrong and come out better. If I don’t start better then it’s going to be the same story, so I’ll learn from that and start better tomorrow.

“When you are playing these top class players you have to review the match point by point. There’s no point waiting until it’s over to review it. I had to work out what was going wrong in that first set and make a change straight away because if I waited until after the match, I would’ve been off the court 2-0. I’ll analyse and I’m sure my coach will send me some thoughts and we’ll sort that out and focus on tomorrow.”

The semi-finals of the Oracle NetSuite Open take place today with play starting at 18:45 (GMT-7), with glass court action from Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco live on SquashTV.

Oracle NetSuite Open 2021, San Francisco, USA.

Men’s Quarter-Finals:
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [6] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 2-1: 16-14, 10-12, 11-5 (57m)
[4] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [5] Marwan ElShorbagy (NZL) 2-1: 6-11, 11-5, 11-6 (39m)
[7] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [3] Tarek Momen (EGY) 2-0: 11-8, 11-6 (32m)
[2] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [8] Joel Makin (WAL) 2-0: 11-9, 12-10 (35m)

Men’s Semi-Finals:
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v [4] Paul Coll (NZL)
[7] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v [1] Ali Farag (EGY)

Women’s Quarter-Finals:
[6] Salma Hany (EGY) bt [1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) 2-1: 9-11, 11-6, 11-9 (35m)
[5] Joelle King (NZL) bt [4] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) 2-0: 11-5, 11-5 (25m)
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [7] Joshna Chinappa (IND) 2-0: 12-10, 11-6 (21m)
[2] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [8] Tesni Evans (WAL) 2-0: 11-3, 11-9 (18m)

Women’s Semi-Finals:
[6] Salma Hany (EGY) v [5] Joelle King (NZL)
[3] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v [2] Amanda Sobhy (USA)

Pictures courtesy of PSA

 

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