Nour El Tayeb advances into the semi-final of the 2018 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions after claiming a huge win over World Champion Raneem El Welily on day six of the PSA World Series tournament taking place under the chandeliers of Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall in New York.
World No.7 El Tayeb, who beat El Welily in the U.S. Open title decider, went a game down to the reigning World Champion but battled back in a high-quality 43-minute affair, which she took in a 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 scoreline.
“If someone would have told me that we [El Tayeb and Farag] would both come out as winners, I wouldn’t have believed it,” El Tayeb said.
“Raneem is not just the maverick of squash, she’s one of my idols. I learn a lot from here on and off the court, she’s the most graceful, most talented Egyptian female squash player.
“I got so nervous in Ali’s match, it took me a while to get this match going and against someone like Raneem, I can’t afford to start late. I saw how Ali studied his game and was preparing for the match and I tried to do that like him. I hope he’s happy with my performance today and hopefully we can keep it up tomorrow.”
Camille Serme – moved into the last four of the women’s event with a 3-1 win over 2014 winner Nicol David.
Serme, who recovered from 2-1 down to beat Australia’s Donna Urquhart in the previous round, had never beaten David in 16 attempts until a momentous victory over the eight-time World Champion during November’s Hong Kong Open.
David had the better of the early stages as the Malaysian opened up a one-game lead, but Serme fought back, edging a tie-break to take the second before winning a further two games without reply to seal a 2-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-5 triumph in 50 minutes that will see her take on El Tayeb for a place in the final.
“Nicol was so strong in the first game, I wasn’t ready,” said Serme.
“The match from yesterday was still in my legs and in my head as well. It was such a big fight today, mentally I had to push very far and I’m just happy I came back.”
The other women’s semi-final fixture will see World No.1 Nour El Sherbini and last year’s runner-up Laura Massaro lock horns after respective wins over World No.8 Sarah-Jane Perry and World No.5 Nouran Gohar.
Semi-final action begins tomorrow from 17:00 local time (GMT-5) and will be shown live on SQUASHTV (Rest of World), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and mainstream broadcasters around the world, including BT Sport, beIN Sports, Fox Sports Australia and Astro.
Results – Quarter-Finals: 2018 Women’s J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 (33m)
[4] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [5] Nouran Gohar (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 (39m)
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [6] Nicol David (MAS) 3-1: 2-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-5 (50m)
[8] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [2] Raneem El Welily (EGY) 3-1: 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 (43m)
Draw – Women’s Semi-Finals: To Be Played January 24th
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [4] Laura Massaro (ENG)
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) v [8] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)