Nour
El Sherbini, the 19-year-old Egyptian World No.7, collected the
fifth PSA World Tour title of her career after comfortably
dismissing former World No.4 Joelle King 3-0 in the final of the
2015 Carol Weymuller Open, PSA W50 tournament.
El Sherbini last tasted success in April 2014 at the Texas Open but
looked to be back to the form that took her as high as World No.4
earlier this year as she outplayed her Kiwi opponent from the start,
producing an assured display that will take her into the forthcoming
Delaware Investments US Open full of confidence.
“I was really focused and really wanted to win tonight,” said EL
Sherbini.
“I was trying to be patient and calm and just wait for the right
opportunity and that made the difference. It was also great to have
my brother here and to finally have won a tournament in front of
him.
After the match King said: “All credit to Nour, she played
impeccable squash and capitalised on every opportunity and didn’t
let me play my way into the game.”
El
Sherbini Shocks World No.1 In New York
World No.1 Raneem El Welily’s hopes of winning a second consecutive
PSA World Tour title at the start of the 2015/16 season were crushed
by compatriot Nour El Sherbini after the 19-year-old won their
semi-final encounter at the 2015 Carol Weymuller Open, PSA W50
tournament.
El Welily triumphed at the Stars On The Bund China Open in early
September to celebrate knocking Nicol David off the top of the world
rankings for the first time in nine years but the 26-year-old from
Alexandria will now be looking over her shoulder after falling to a
3-1 defeat to El Sherbini in a flamboyant encounter that re-opened
the battle to be No.1.
It was El Welily who edged a close opening game, using experience to
her advantage as she sneaked ahead 13-11, but from that point on it
was the younger Egyptian who controlled the encounter, producing
some exquisite attacking play to extend a 2-1 game advantage. El
Sherbini then stormed home in the fourth, out-playing an out of
sorts looking El Welily is every corner of the court.
“I’m really really happy I won,” said El Sherbini. “She’s my model
in squash.
“Raneem has a lot of skills and is really fast and she deserves to
be World No.1. I’m really, really happy to win this match as last
time I played her was three years ago in this very court and I lost
3-1.
“Joelle has just come from an injury and it’s great to see her
competing as before. Hopefully it’s going to be a nice match. I’ll
try to relax and forget about today and remember that there’s one
more match to go.”
El Sherbini will now take on former World No.4 Joelle King in the
final after the tournament wildcard ended the run of in-form
qualifier Joshana Chinappa after a tight 3-1 encounter.
El Welily Survives Scare At
Carol Weymuller
Twenty-four hours after watching
number two seed Laura Massaro and number three seed Alison Waters
suffer shock first round defeats at the 2015 Carol Weymuller Open
World No.1 Raneem El Welily was forced to call on all of her
experience and talent to avoid a similar fate at the hands of Indian
number one Dipika Pallikal.
El Welily began the encounter in impressive fashion as she stormed
into a two-game lead and appeared to be cruising into the
quarter-finals before 24-year-old Chennai based Pallikal produced an
inspired comeback, playing all out attack to overwhelm the Egyptian
and dictate the play as she levelled the match and forced a decider.
With El Welily struggling for consistency Pallikal pressed her
advantage at the start of the fifth but couldn’t maintain her
composure, producing a series of errors which allowed the
26-year-old from Alexandria to regain her footing in the match and
she made the most of the reprieve, taking the match 11-6, 11-7,
5-11, 7-11, 11-5.
“I feel like there’s lots of pressure on me at the moment,” said El
Welily.
“Being World No.1 and the rankings being so close makes me feel the
importance of every point. I lose my game when I play with pressure
but I am constantly learning to play with it.”
El Welily will now take on qualifier Joey Chan in the quarter-finals
after the Hong Kong number two knocked out number eight seed Rachel
Grinham 3-1 in what was just her second victory in the last three
years over the former World No.1.
Elsewhere Egyptian pairing Nour El Sherbini and Omneya Abdel Kawy
also progressed into the last eight, with Sherbini comfortably
seeing off Delia Arnold 3-0 and Kawy coming through a titanic 3-2
encounter with Jenny Duncalf.
Ibrahim Stuns Massaro in Carol
Weymuller Open
Egyptian
qualifier Salma Hany Ibrahim scored arguably the biggest scalp of
her career so far as she shocked World No.3 and former World
Champion Laura Massaro in the opening round of the Carol Weymuller
Open, PSA W50 event – a year after she was knocked out at the
quarter-final stage by the Englishwoman.
The match started at a ferocious pace with Ibrahim counter attacking
Massaro's short game to edge the opening game courtesy of a 12-10
tie-break. Massaro came out much improved in the second and the
number two seed gained governance of the 'T' as she levelled things
up heading in to game three.
Some unforced errors from Massaro enabled Ibrahim to reclaim her
lead in the third after an 11-7 triumph but Massaro dominated the
fourth to ensure parity as the match drew to its conclusion.
However, 19-year-old Hany surged into a 9-4 lead in the fifth and
resisted a late charge from Massaro to seal the victory with a
12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 4-11, 11-9 scoreline, securing her first ever
victory over Massaro in the process.
“I’m speechless,” said Ibrahim.
“It’s not that I can’t believe I won, it’s that I pushed myself so
much when I was tired. I didn’t want to lose this time after last
year but I still had a feeling that I wasn't going to win even
though I was playing well. I made myself smaller goals and just told
myself to take it one point at a time because it felt harder when I
told myself that I had to win.
“When it was 2-2, Omneya [Abdel Kawy], Raneem [El Welily] and Nour
[El Sherbini] told me not to lose my focus like last time. I’m also
impressed with my nick and boast at match ball.”
Ibrahim will meet fellow qualifier Joshana Chinappa in the
quarter-final after the Indian No.2 surprised seventh seed Emma
Beddoes in a 3-1 triumph.
The upsets didn't end there as wildcard Joelle King, the former
World No.4, stunned defending champion Alison Waters in four games
to eliminate the number three seed. The encounter featured a lot of
high-calibre squash with King eventually prevailing with an 11-6,
8-11, 14-12, 11-8 victory.
She will line up against Sarah-Jane Perry in the last eight after
the World No.12 secured her quarter-final berth courtesy of an
assured display against Kanzy Emad El Defrawy.
Preview
Carol Weymuller Open To Reach
New Heights in 2015
Squash fans attending the 2015 Carol Weymuller Open will be treated
to some of the best squash ever witnessed in New York when five of
the world’s top ten players will descend on Brooklyn’s Heights
Casino on Monday October 1st for the PSA W50 tournament.
One of the most anticipated PSA Women’s events of the year, the
Carol Weymuller has developed a reputation as a must-win tournament
and this year the draw will be headed by Egyptian World No.2 Raneem
El Welily - the dazzling shot-maker who has dominated on the PSA
World Tour so far in 2015.
El Welily has claimed three of four major titles on offer in the
calendar year and she’ll be keen to keep that run going as she bids
to overtake Nicol David as the World No.1 - but with the likes of
2013 World Champion Laura Massaro and World Nos 6-8 - Alison Waters,
Omneya Abdel Kawy and Nour El Sherbini - all the in the mix, El
Welily’s path to glory will be fraught with difficulty.
She will begin her title bid against compatriot and 2015 World
Junior champion Nouran Gohar in a mouthwatering first round
encounter before a potential quarter-final matchup with 2007 World
Championship winner Rachel Grinham.
“We’re delighted to see such a varied selection of the world’s best
players attending this year’s Carol Weymuler Open in what looks
certain to be an incredibly exciting tournament here in Brooklyn,”
said tournament promoter Linda Elriani.
“It’s a pleasure to welcome the stars of the sport to New York every
year and this year’s draw promises to continue to build on our
reputation as one of the most exciting and competitive tournaments
on the PSA World Tour and I cannot wait to see everything get
underway in October.”
