Sherbini Stays Hot in Texas by Howard Harding April 12, 2014
- Malaysian favourite Low Wee Wern suffered at the hands of the sport's
teenage 'giant-killer' when she crashed out of the Women's Champion
Fiberglass Texas Open to 18-year-old qualifier Nour El Sherbini in the
quarter-finals of the Women's Squash Association Gold 50 event at The
Downtown Club at the Met in Houston, USA.
The Egyptian produced
one of the shocks of the millennium last month when she downed
Malaysia's world number one Nicol David at the WSA World Championship
to become the event's youngest ever finalist.
Wee Wern, ranked seven
in the world, was hoping to avenge her compatriot's home soil defeat.
But it was world No13 El Sherbini that again prevailed in Houston,
taking 46 minutes to claim her surprise semi-final berth 11-3, 11-8,
10-12, 11-6.
Alexandria-based El
Sherbini (pictured above, left, with Wee Wern), who later this year
could win the World Junior title for a record fourth time, now takes on
third seed Camille Serme for a place in the final.
French number one
Serme, the world No6, ended the run of Australia's eighth seed Rachael
Grinham - beating the 37-year-old former world champion, who made her
Texas Open debut in 2002, 8-11, 17-15, 11-6, 11-4 in 47 minutes.
The other semi-final
will be the clash predicted by the seedings - featuring Madeline Perry,
the defending champion from Ireland, and Dipika Pallikal, India's
top-ranked player who is making her Texas Open debut.
Second seed Perry,
ranked eight in the world, avenged her defeat to Emma Beddoes in last
month's WSA Gold Windy City Open by beating the English qualifier 11-7,
9-11, 11-6, 11-8 in 48 minutes.
Fourth seed Dipika
Pallikal - with coach Sarah Fitz-Gerald, the Australian legend who won
five world titles, in her corner - had to resist a determined fightback
by Guyana's unseeded Nicolette Fernandes before prevailing 11-4, 11-6,
10-12, 10-12, 11-5 in 64 minutes.
RESULTS: Women's Champion Fiberglass Texas Open, Houston, USA
