Perry Conquers 2015 Champion To Lead English Trio Into Tournament of Champions Semi-finals by Nathan Clarke
photos PSA
January 17, 2016
- England's Sarah-Jane Perry, World No.11, triumphed in a remarkable
rollercoaster encounter with 2015 tournament winner Raneem El Welily,
World No.3, in New York today (Jan 17) to reach the semi-finals of the
iconic 2017 J.P. Morgan Tournament Champions and secure her first ever
appearance in the last four of a PSA World Series tournament.
Perry halted home favourite Amanda Sobhy, 2016 runner-up, in an epic
five-game thriller yesterday but showed no signs of fatigue as she
raced to a 2-0 game lead over El Welily. But the wheels looked to have
come off the track as the Egyptian levelled up at 2-2 before taking a
4-1 lead in the decider.
A sublime run of nine consecutive points however swung the match back
in favour of Birmingham-based Perry as she completed the 11-7, 12-10,
10-12, 5-11, 11-5 win to set up a seismic clash with compatriot Laura
Massaro, guaranteeing an English finalist.
"That's my first win over Raneem, to reach my first ever World Series
semi-final, and I get to play here again inside Grand Central Terminal
tomorrow - so I'm very pleased and very proud," said Perry.
"I've been working hard on and off court for the past year and I've got
more confidence and belief in myself. And having that self-belief is
imperative at this level because I was 2-0 up and all of a sudden she
was back and I was down in the fifth - so I had to really work hard to
make sure I got back on track.
"I didn't realise I won 9 points in a row. I was just focusing on each
point, getting my discipline back, and refusing to stop believing and
I'm excited about the semi-finals tomorrow.
"I've played Laura many times and it's a massive match. I'm just going
to focus on trying to play how I want to play and do my best."
Perry will take on Massaro, World No.5, after the 33-year-old from
Preston dominated last eight opponent Omneya Abdel Kawy, World No.9,
winning 11-4, 12-10, 11-6, while World No.1 Nour El Sherbini kept her
title defence alive with a narrow victory over 8x World Champion Nicol
David in a thrilling 64 minute battle.
El Sherbini will now meet Camille Serme, World No.4, after the
Frenchwoman knocked out World No.2 Nouran Gohar in a hugely impressive
3-1 win that was inspired by a newly adopted training technique - yoga.
"Nouran beat me twice last year in very tough five game battles so I
knew it would be hard today,' said Serme, who beat El Sherbini 3-1 in
the U.S. Open final last October.
"But I had no pressure on me. She's No.2 in the World and I felt like
the pressure was on her - I just focused on what I needed to do, which
is exactly what I done at the U.S. Open as well, so I'm very, very
happy.
"I'm trying to get into the same state of mind as I was in
Philadelphia. I started Yoga recently and anytime I feel nervous I use
the respiration techniques to try and let it go - and it seems to be
helping!"
In the men's draw it was another No.11, James Willstrop, who backed up
his headline grabbing defeat of perennial rival Nick Matthew - his
first win in 20 attempts over his old adversary - with an accomplished
3-1 win over New Zealand's Paul Coll to reach his first World Series
tournament semi-final since the 2013 Kuwait Cup.
33-year-old Willstrop, the 2011 tournament winner, utilised his
exquisite court-craft and ball placement to counter the unrelenting
physicality of the 24-year-old, ending Coll's 10-match winning streak,
and set up an intriguing battle with Egyptian World Champion Karim
Abdel Gawad.
"I'm very happy to get through today because he's flying at the moment
and arguably one of the in-form players out there - to break that run I
had to play very well," said Willstrop.
"I had to make sure I didn't lose sight of the end goal. He makes the
court so small with his physicality and speed that you have to keep
putting the work in, move him around as much as possible and try to
break him down
"You have to put the ball in good areas against guys like Nick and Paul
because they're such wonderful athletes. I've done that well in the
past two rounds and I'm excited at the chance to be out on that stage
against tomorrow and I'm keen to soak it up.
"But there's no reason that I can't look to progress further. I feel
alright and if I'm beating players like Paul then I'm set to go and
hopefully I can produce it again. It's my favourite event - the venue
speaks for itself - and there's nothing like being here. I've had some
great moments here and hopefully I'll have a few more still to come."
Results - Men's Quarter-finals (Top Half): 2017 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions
James Willstrop (ENG) bt [Q] Paul Coll (NZL) 3-1: 7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 (82m)
[2] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt [8] Simon Rösner (GER) 3-1: 2-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 (52m)
Draw - Semi-finals (Played Jan 18)
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v [3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
James Willstrop (ENG) v [2] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Results - Quarter-finals: 2017 Women's J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [6] Nicol David (MAS) 3-2: 11-5, 6-11, 11-6, 13-15, 11-8 (64m)
[5] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [3] Nouran Gohar (EGY) 3-1: 11-5, 9-11, 14-12, 11-9 (69m)
[4] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [8] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 12-10, 11-6 (35m)
[11] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [2] Raneem El Welily (EGY) 3-2: 11-7, 12-10, 10-12, 5-11, 11-5 (56m)
Draw - Semi-finals (Played Jan 18)
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [5] Camille Serme (FRA)
[4] Laura Massaro (ENG) v [11] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
