World No.28 Nour El Tayeb has reached the quarter finals of this tournament for the first time since 2019 after she held off England’s Georgina Kennedy.
A strong showing from El Tayeb saw her power into a 2-0 lead and, while Kennedy was able to halve the deficit, the former World No.3 scrapped to victory in a nail-biting fourth game to complete a 14-12, 11-3, 6-11, 11-9 victory.
“Maybe I wasn’t prepared mentally for this, but in the fourth I was thinking already about my flight back home to Farida [daughter], and I think this made me relax a bit,” El Tayeb said.
“I’m glad to be in another quarter final, I’m super happy to have a day off tomorrow, I need to relax and take some time off before I can go again in two days. I want to win matches like this rather than lose and go back with less confidence. Winning this match gives me a lot of confidence, even though it wasn’t the best squash in the world.”
El Tayeb’s quarter final opponent will be Belgium’s Tinne Gilis, who put in a superb performance to oust World No.16 Nada Abbas.
Gilis followed up her second round upset of No.4 seed Amanda Sobhy with aplomb and will attempt to reach a first ever PSA World Tour Platinum semi final when she takes on the Egyptian on Tuesday.
“I am just enjoying my squash so much,” said Gilis.
“I was injured last year, I wasn’t out for too long but it just made me think a lot. I was just happy to back on court and I told myself to enjoy my time on court and enjoy every day. Every day is different, even if I have a bad day, I can have a good day tomorrow. I am seeing every day as a new day and a new start.”
The other two winners were World No.1 Nouran Gohar and World No.6 Sarah-Jane Perry, and they will go head-to-head in the quarter finals following respective wins over Malaysia’s Aifa Azman and Scotland’s Lisa Aitken.
The third round of the El Gouna International continues tomorrow (May 30) and play begins at 13:00 (GMT+2) at the El Gouna Squash Complex and 18:45 at the El Gouna Conference and Culture Center. Action from the Squash Complex will be shown live on the PSA SQUASHTV YouTube channel, while matches from the Conference Center will be shown on SQUASHTV.
For more information on the El Gouna International, visit the tournament website or follow the event on Twitter, Facebook and Insta
Results - Men’s Third Round (Top Half): 2022 El Gouna International
[1] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-1: 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 (68m)
[6] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt [WC] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-7, 11-1 (27m)
[8] Fares Dessouky (EGY) bt Baptiste Masotti (FRA) 3-1: 9-11, 11-4, 11-3, 11-9 (55m)
[3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Borja Golan (ESP) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 (46m)
Draw - Men’s Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played May 30th
[3] Mostafa Asal (EGY) v Joel Makin (WAL)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) v [5] Diego Elias (PER)
[7] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v Mahesh Mangaonkar (EGY)
Raphael Kandra (GER) v [2] Ali Farag (EGY)
Draw - Men’s Quarter Finals (Top Half): To Be Played May 31st
[1] Paul Coll (NZL) v [6] Tarek Momen (EGY)
[8] Fares Dessouky (EGY) v [3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)
Results - Women’s Third Round (Top Half): 2022 El Gouna International
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt Aifa Azman (MAS) 3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-3 (28m)
[6] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt Lisa Aitken (SCO) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 16-14 (40m)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt Georgina Kennedy (ENG) 3-1: 14-12, 11-3, 6-11, 11-9 (41m)
Tinne Gilis (BEL) bt Nada Abbas (EGY) 3-0: 12-10, 11-6, 11-4 (40m)
Draw - Women’s Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played May 30th
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v Rachel Arnold (MAS)
Olivia Fiechter (USA) v [5] Joelle King (NZL)
Sivasangari Subramaniam (EGY) v Donna Lobban (AUS)
Nele Gilis (BEL) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Draw - Women’s Quarter Finals (Top Half): To Be Played May 31st
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [6] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v Tinne Gilis (BEL)
