Abouelghar & Gohar Gatecrash World Tour Finals Semis

Egyptians Mohamed Abouelghar and Nouran Gohar secured unexpected places in the semi-finals of the 2018/2019 CIB PSA World Tour Finals as compatriots Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini, the men's world No.1 and defending women's champion respectively, saw their title challenges come to an end as group stage action drew to a close on day four of the season-ending tournament taking place at the Mall of Arabia in Cairo.

The first four days of the tournament have used a round-robin, best-of-three games, group stage format, and Farag bowed out despite a 2/1 victory over New Zealand's Paul Coll. His compatriot Abouelghar - the lowest seed in the event - defeated world No.4 Karim Abdel Gawad 2/0 to ensure that both he and Gawad qualify for the semi-finals with eight points, one more than last year's runner-up Farag.

Abouelghar dominated an off-the-pace Gawad - who had already qualified before stepping foot on court - winning 11-9, 11-3 to finish top of Group A and mark his World Tour Finals debut with a semi-finals spot.

"I was watching Ali's match with Paul Coll," said Abouelghar.

"We were both joking about it, but I didn't know the calculations before. I had it in my mind, like the Liverpool [Football Club] scenario, that anything can happen in sport and if I have the right attitude, then I can pull anything through, and I'm happy I did.

"I think the motivation for both of us was different. I came here to give myself one more chance and he was already qualified, so I think the motivation was different. I was happy I took advantage of that and I'm so happy to be in the semis. I've never had a good win in Egypt, so to have it now and on a big stage like this then I hope it doesn't stop here and keeps going."

World No.3 Tarek Momen was the other man to earn his spot in the semi-finals after he dispatched Peru's Diego Elias. Momen, the 31-year-old from Cairo, dominated his opponent in the opening game and recovered from a second game blip to win 11-2, 4-11, 11-8 in 46 minutes, booking a spot in the last four of the event for the first time.

Momen finishes second in Group B behind defending champion Mohamed Elshorbagy, who maintained his 100 per cent record with a comfortable win against Germany's Simon Rösner on day three.

Momen said: "I was really happy I remained calm, I kept talking positively to myself, I kept telling myself to forget about the lead and the physical advantage, forget about everything, it's just two points so [I had to] fight for them and get the win.

"I'm happy with that and how I recovered after playing a perfect first game. Then I kind of played too much to the front and he capitalised on that. I saw the momentum shift, and I'm very happy I was able to get the win eventually."

In the women's event, British Open champion Nouran Gohar continued her superb form to send El Sherbini to a shock group stage exit, recovering from a game down to win 6-11, 11-5, 11-7 and secure top spot in Group B.

The pair come from different parts of Egypt - Gohar from Cairo and El Sherbini from Alexandria - and it was the sixth-seeded Gohar, playing in her home city, who established her hard-hitting style on the match to ensure she will face France's Camille Serme in the semi-finals, which will be a repeat of the British Open final.

"I have so much respect for Nour, and the way she is playing recently is unbelievable," said 21-year-old Gohar.

"I think there is [a slight rivalry between the different cities in Egypt], especially the club where Nour comes from as it is a big club and has had very good juniors in the past such as Elshorbagy and Nour and they have a really tough game to play against. There is always a rivalry between Cairo and Alexandria, and this competitive thing, I think it's the main reason we are good at squash in Egypt."

El Tayeb finished second in Group B after dismantling England's Sarah-Jane Perry 11-0, 11-5, while Serme dispatched Wales' Tesni Evans 11-5, 13-11 to ensure she finished second in Group A behind world No.1 Raneem El Welily, who had already qualified for the semis.

"From the beginning, I saw that Tesni was not moving as well as usual," said 30-year-old Serme.

"But she is such a fighter and whatever happened I knew she was going to give it her all in the second. She tried to find some good solutions and it almost worked, it was a good tactic, but I'm happy that I found my solutions in the end. Every match is tough and everyone deserves to be in the semis, but I feel lucky that it's me and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."