El Sherbini Battles Past Kennedy To Reach Qatar Classic Semis

4 Oct 2024

Women's world No.1 Nour El Sherbini came through a tricky quarter-final match against England's Georgina Kennedy to book her place in the semi-finals of the QTerminals Qatar Classic at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha.

El Sherbini had beaten Kennedy in all nine of their previous matches, but her English opponent tested the seven-time World Champion in Doha. After fighting back from a game down to level, Kennedy held four game ball opportunities but was unable to capitalise as the top seed came back to restore her lead.

The Egyptian pressed on in the fourth and dropped just a handful of points as she closed out an 11-6, 7-11, 14-12, 11-5 win in 40 minutes to claim her 13th successive win on the PSA Squash Tour.

"I'm proud to win this match," said El Sherbini.

"We haven't played for a long time, but she was playing amazing. It wasn't going my way in the middle of the match, but I tried to be patient, tried not to make errors, I tried to be focused for every point and I'm definitely pleased to win this match.

"The goal is to be consistent as much as I can. It's hard to keep at the same level for a long time and I think this is the difference between the top players."

El Sherbini will go up against defending champion Hania El Hammamy next in a repeat of last year's final. World No.3 El Hammamy - who beat El Sherbini in five games during the 2023 title decider - scored a routine 3/0 win against Belgium's Tinne Gilis to book her last four berth.

No.5 seed Olivia Weaver has reached the semi-finals of the Qatar Classic for the first time following an almighty tussle with Belgium's No.4 seed Nele Coll. It was a high-quality match, with both players hitting all four corners regularly throughout a series of high-octane, gruelling rallies.

The US No.1 eventually prevailed after 72 minutes of action to set up a semi-final meeting with World Champion Nouran Gohar, who beat World Junior Champion Amina Orfi.

"I don't think it's been under an hour when Nele and I have played," said Weaver afterwards.

"She's such an unbelievable competitor and retriever, and you have to earn every single point. I haven't beaten her in a while on tour. She's had some unbelievable battles and I really wanted this today. I'm really pleased I bounced back after that second game. I stuck to it, I found my length and I reasserted myself in the middle. I'm very relieved to get through that."

Welshman Joel Makin is the only unseeded player to reach the last four stage after he overcame Egypt's Fares Dessouky in the men's quarter-finals.

World No.9 Makin has been in spellbinding form so far this week, beating No.2 seed Paul Coll in straight games in round one, before a 3/0 win against Frenchman Baptiste Masotti in the last 16. He added Dessouky to that list to ensure he will play the in-form Mostafa Asal for a place in the final.

"I was really sharp, I thought, but he wasn't anywhere near his best," said Makin.

"It's one of those when you can be winning comfortably, but it was down to his error count rather than me playing well. I was containing him, but once he switched he was very dangerous. He's got world-class skill, but it's not about that. I've had two really good matches, that wasn't as good, but that's professional sport."

Asal - who has won both the CIB Egyptian Open and Paris Squash so far this season - made it 13 wins in a row as he came from behind to beat 2016 winner Karim Abdel Gawad 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7.

"Karim is like a big brother to me," said Asal afterwards.

"I'm super proud and it's an honour for me to share the court with him. I was 11 years old the first time and he bagelled me twice, I always remember this. He has a big heart and he is a legend, he won the World Championships in 2016 and I was a kid supporting him and going to watch him."

World No.1 and defending champion Ali Farag ended the run of Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller and will play World Champion Diego Elias in the semi-finals. Elias got the better of former World Champion Tarek Momen.