El Weleily Celebrates Maiden Tour Success At Heliopolis
Egypt's world junior squash champion Raneem El Weleily
celebrated her long-awaited maiden Tour title success in stunning style
at the On The Run Heliopolis Open when she beat compatriot Engy
Kheirallah in the final of the women's $20,000 WISPA World
Tour event at the Heliopolis Sporting Club in Cairo.
The 20-year-old third seed from Alexandria, who studies in Cairo,
is based at the host club - so the gallery was packed with fans eager to see the
first ever final in the 14-year history of the event featuring two Egyptians.
The more experienced Kheirallah, a former world No12, took the
opening game and, at 10-all, was poised to move into a two-game lead.
But the local club star drew level - and then began to take
control of the match until, after exactly one hour, she clinched her
breakthrough title in a 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-5 scoreline.
"It’s my first WISPA title - I am so happy to take the title in
my home club," said the tearful El Weleily after rushing straight from the court
to hug her mother and father in the crowd.
"I want to thank my mother, father and brother - and my coach
Cherin Adel and Ahmed Mataany," added the new champion - whose third attempt to
qualify for a Tour event was at the last staging of this event, six years ago.
“I want to thank you for holding the event as I remember the last
Heliopolis Open was in 2003 - I played in it, I was almost 14 years old, and now
winning in my club that is great!"
The triumph marks the latest milestone in El Weleily's impressive
brief career to date - which has included title successes in six British
Junior Open Championships (at U13, U15, U17 and U19); victory in the senior
Egyptian National Championships; and, in August 2007, the second
successive World Junior Championship crown, repeating the 'double' only
achieved once before, by today's world number one Nicol David.
Top Seeds On The
Run In Cairo
The shock departure of both top seeds in the On The Run
Heliopolis Open not only provides the first local interest in the final in
the 14-year history of the event – but also guarantees an Egyptian winner of the
women's $20,000 WISPA World Tour squash event at the Heliopolis
Sporting Club in Cairo.
Fourth seed Engy Kheirallah served up the first semi-final
upset when the 27-year-old from Cairo beat Rebecca Chiu, the No2 seed
from Hong Kong, 11-6, 3-11, 11-8, 11-4.
"It’s the first or second time I've played Rebecca – which is why
I didn’t know how to play her at the beginning - but I became more confident
later and in the fourth I became aggressive and managed to take the game," said
Kheirallah, celebrating her seventh WISPA final, but her first since August
2007.
"I am still fresh - and hope it will be an all Egyptian final!"
added the triumphant Egyptian.
Chiu was not happy with her performance: “I didn’t play well
today, lots of errors and I was impatient. I am not happy," said the former
Asian Games champion.
The second match was between the first seed Rachael Grinham,
the world No3 from Australia who was based at the Heliopolis club for eight
years, and Egyptian Raneem El Weleily, the third seed who currently plays
for the host club.
Grinham won the opening game and was leading 6-3 in the second
when, wrong-footed by her opponent, she fell and injured the tibialis posterior
tendon in her ankle.
After a three-minute injury break, the Australian returned to the
court and finished the game – won by El Weleily – before instructing the referee
that she was unable to continue.
The unexpected success takes 20-year-old El Weleily into her
fifth Tour final – where the world junior champion from Alexandria will be
looking for her maiden title triumph.
Past winners of the Heliopolis Open, which was launched in 1995,
include some of the biggest ever names in the women's game – including
Michelle Martin, Leilani Joyce, Sarah Fitz-Gerald and Carol
Owens.
Grinham Forges On At Heliopolis
Rachael Grinham
is one match away from extending her lead as the current player with the most
WISPA World Tour final appearances after despatching Dutch opponent Orla
Noom in the quarter-finals of the On The Run Heliopolis Open, the
women's $20,000 WISPA World Tour squash event at the Heliopolis
Sporting Club in Cairo.
The top seed from Australia took just 18 minutes to overcome the
No7 seed 11-5, 11-3, 11-9 – and will now face Egyptian Raneem El Weleily
for a place in her second final in Egypt in a week, and the 52nd of her career.
Third seed El Weleily was made to battle for 41 minutes before
getting the better of unseeded compatriot Heba El Torky, the 18-year-old
world No44 from her own hometown Alexandria, 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8.
El Torky was unable to repeat two recent wins over her
higher-ranked opponent, who is based at the Heliopolis club: "Raneem is playing
in her club – besides, I don’t like to play her as we are team-mates! I was
also breathless in the first two game, but I continued. She played very well,
and thank God I played well too as I changed my game. Now I will take a rest as
I have played nine matches in the last month," explained teenager El Torky.
There will also be hometown interest in the other semi-final
where fourth seed Engy Kheirallah takes on Hong Kong's Rebecca Chiu,
the No2 seed. Kheirallah - originally from Alexandria but now living in Cairo
with her husband Karim Darwish, the men's world number one – beat
16-year-old qualifier Nour El Tayeb, also from Cairo, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.
"I am happy I won in three - I was very sharp, I played well,"
said 27-year-old Kheirallah afterwards. "Nour is a very talented player - I had
to be focused so that I didn’t give her any easy balls as she has very sharp
shots."
Chiu beat long-time national rival Christina Mak, the
eighth seed, 11-6, 11-6, 11-0.
“We know each other's game, we are team mates," said 30-year-old
Chiu, the world No14. "We train and play a lot against each other - almost a
hundred times - so I don’t like to play her! I am happy to pass through to the
semis."
El Torky & El Tayeb Tie Up Heliopolis Upsets
Significant upsets by local teenagers Nour El Tayeb and
Heba El Torky in the first round of the On The Run Heliopolis Open
have ensured that half of the players lining up for the quarter-finals of the
women's $20,000 WISPA World Tour squash event at the Heliopolis
Sporting Club in Cairo are Egyptian.
El Tayeb, a 16-year-old qualifier from the Egyptian capital,
twice stemmed fight-backs by fifth seed Manuela Manetta to beat the
Italian 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 2-11, 11-6 in 37 minutes.
"It was the most difficult match of my life, she is fit and
fast," admitted the reigning British Junior U17 Open champion. "I was
impatient, but I played well in the third - I changed my game as my coach Hatem
Hassan told me. He told me to keep her behind me and be patient, which I did!
I am happy with the win as it is in my club."
El Tayeb will now face compatriot Engy Kheirallah after
the fourth seed from Alexandria beat promising Egyptian Nour Elsherbini.
The 13-year-old, also from Alexandria, was making her WISPA Tour debut after
beating two higher-ranked fellow countrywomen in the qualifiers.
But 27-year-old Kheirallah, ranked 21 in the world, was too
strong for the youngster, winning 11-5, 5-11, 11-8, 11-7.
"It was a good match - we both played a good game," said
Elsherbini afterwards. "I was very happy to play Engy as it is the first time."
Unseeded Heba El Torky stopped South African Tenille Swartz,
the sixth seed, 3-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 to set up another all-Egyptian
quarter-final clash with third seed Raneem El Weleily, an 11-4, 11-8,
11-6 victor over Hong Kong's Elise Ng.
"It is difficult to beat Tenille as she beat Engy last week -
that was all what I had on my mind," said the triumphant El Torky later. "She
is a very difficult player as she goes for every point. I had to change my game
and be patient and persistent."
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