El Tayeb Downs World No.1 El Welily In Philadelphia Thriller by Nathan Clarke
photos squashpics.com
October 14, 2015
- World No.8 Nour El Tayeb won arguably the match of the week at the
2015 Delaware Investments US Open, PSA World Series tournament, as she
knocked World No.1 Raneem El Welily out of the competition in a
thrilling high-quality quarter-final encounter in Philadelphia today.
The pairing, two of the best and most audacious shot-makers on the
women’s tour, put their friendship on hold at Drexel University as they
came out firing, hitting winners for fun as they traded points, rallies
and games in a high octane encounter that went all the way to a fifth
and decisive game in front of an enraptured crowd.
After almost 70 minutes of action and some of the most physically
punishing rallies seen on the stunning all-glass show court all week
and with the scoreline reading 2-2 and 9-9, a fortuitous nick handed El
Tayeb match ball and she duly converted to record one of her best ever
wins and move into the semi-finals.
“Raneem and I are great friends off court and it took me a little while
to forget that tonight but I had to keep telling myself she’s just
another opponent and pretend I don’t like her very much,” said El
Tayeb.
“I wanted to win just as much as she did and I gave everything to beat
her and to make the semi-finals means so much to me. But I didn’t come
here to beat the World No.1 and then lose in the next round so I’ve got
to recover and prepare now for the semi-finals as best I can and give
it my all.”
The win handed El Tayeb just her second every victory over El Welily
and it was made all the more remarkable due to a dramatic turn of
events in the third game as the match looked to be heading towards a
premature end when El Tayeb screamed out in pain after a heavy fall.
But the 22-year-old returned to court following an injury time out and,
despite her visible discomfort, played through the pain to book a place
in the US Open semi-finals for the first ever time.
“I still felt pain in my shoulder (after the fall) but it’s the
quarter-final of the US Open and opportunities like this might not come
again so I just had to push through and forget about it and I owe a lot
of thanks to my fiancé Ali (Farag) for keeping me motivated to push on.”
Elsewhere there was double delight for French squash enthusiasts as
Gregory Gaultier and Camille Serme out-classed their quarter-final
opponents, Simon Rösner and Nour El Sherbini, respectively, to reach
the last four of the men’s and women’s events.
32-year-old Gaultier, a two-time US Open winner, demolished German
out-classed Rösner in an emphatic straight-games triumph while Serme
was similarly ruthless as she dispatched 2014 runner-up El Sherbini,
the Egyptian World No.7 - also in straight games.
“Beating Simon 3-0 is a good performance and one I’m happy with,” said Gaultier.
“He’s No.6 in the world and close to the four guys so he’s a very
dangerous opponent but I was very fluid in the first two games - I feel
confident and I’m really enjoying my squash.
“I’ve felt good all week and as long as I play well that’s all that
matters. I’ll keep doing my routines during the day off tomorrow and
stay as healthy as possible and do all the things that I need to do to
stay in the best shape for the semi-final.”
Gaultier will now face World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy, the defending
men’s champion who defeated French number two Mathieu Castagnet, for a
place in the final while Serme will take on El Tayeb.
“I’m really pleased to be in the semi-finals especially be beating such as dangerous player 3-0,” said Serme.
“I’m looking forward to playing again on Friday and hopefully I can play well again.”
Draw - Quarter-finals: Women’s Delaware Investments US Open
[8] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) 3-2: 7-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9 (69m)
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [7] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 (37m)
[16] Dipika Pallikal (IND) v [6] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) - To be played Oct 15
[5] Laura Massaro (ENG) v [2] Nicol David (MAS) - To be played Oct 15
Draw - Quarter-finals: Men’s Delaware Investments US Open
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 3-0: 15-13, 11-8, 11-8 (54m)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [7] Simon Rösner (GER) 3-0: 11-4, 11-3, 11-9 (46m)
Daryl Selby (ENG) v [6] Omar Mosaad (EGY) - To be played Oct 15
Fares Dessouki (EGY) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG) - To be played Oct 15
