El Hammamy and Gohar To Meet in Repeat Of 2022 El Gouna International Final by Simon Dent May 30, 2013
- Reigning El Gouna International champion Hania El Hammamy will
reignite her rivalry with Nouran Gohar, with the two Egyptians set to
face off in the semi-finals of this year’s event at the El Gouna
Conference and Culture Center.
El Hammamy downed Welsh No.1 Tesni Evans in straight games, and the
defending champion was in control throughout the contest, on court for
just 33 minutes.
Evans started strongly, trying to back up after beating Nour El Tayeb
in the third round. El Hammamy had just enough for the first, winning
it 11-8. She was then able to continue that form into both the second
and third games, dropping just nine points across the two to book her
place in the semis.
“Always great to be able to be ready for the semi-finals in a very
short period of time during the tournament. Sometimes, I play a lot of
matches, 3-2s, I go to five and play longer than my opponents, so this
time, I am happy I am matching them in the duration of the matches,” El
Hammamy explained.
“It is amazing playing in Egypt. It is great for having the juniors to
come and root for us Egyptians. It definitely gives us a huge
motivation and a huge boost on court.”
Gohar awaits her in the semi-finals on Thursday evening, who overpowered England’s Georgina Kennedy 3-0.
The tournament’s top seed, who could return to the top of the Women’s
World Rankings if she wins the El Gouna International and Nour El
Sherbini fails to reach the final, clinched a close opening game before
the former World No.1 ruthlessly put the English No.1 to the sword.
“Firstly, I want to say how much respect I have for Gina [Kennedy]. She is such an unbelievable athlete,” Gohar said.
“It is special because we grew up playing the British Junior Open
together, it is a pleasure seeing how she has improved. It is always a
clean match against her, and I have so much respect for her. It was
great to be competing against her today.”
In the men’s draw, World No.1 Diego Elias secured his first appearance
in the semi-finals of the El Gouna International after beating Iker
Pajares Bernabeu in straight games.
The Peruvian is aiming to stay at the top of the World Rankings
following the last Platinum event of the season, with his opponent in
the last four, Ali Farag, also vying for a return to the summit.
Elias came through the heat and humidity in a tough 20-minute opener
before the 26-year-old comfortably took the second and third games
11-2.
“It is a quarter-final so there are always nerves. I am just happy I
won that first game, I think it was very important. It is tough
conditions so it is hard to get used to it, and it is even harder to
practice in the morning. It is so hot, coming in straight into the
matches, but I am happy I won the first game and then the rest of the
match,” Elias said.
“I just came into my game the way I play. With these conditions, it was
really hard. The ball was bouncing a lot, so I changed my game a little
bit. I hit a lot of lobs, there was no point in hitting the ball hard
because it was coming all the way back to the ’T’. Happy with the way I
changed my gameplan, and I am happy to be in the semi-finals.”
Four-time World Champion Farag battled back brilliantly to overcome
France’s Victor Crouin to book his place in the semi-finals.
French No.1 Crouin was in fine form in the opening stages, with his
natural attacking game being too good for Farag. However, the Egyptian
has gone behind in almost every match since winning the World
Championship final in straight games.
The comeback seemed almost invetiable, but the former World No.1 was
almost perfect throughout the next three games. He dropped just seven
points across the next three games, putting Crouin under too much
pressure, with the Frenchman hitting too many errors throughout the
latter stages.
“I am feeling very good and I think today was the best performance of
the tournament so far. It does make a difference, I keep saying
coaching doesn’t make a difference but having Karim [Darwish] in my
corner really does make a difference.” Farag said.
“He came today from Cairo, he is driving back because he has another
commitment at 8:30 in the morning, so he is driving overnight, and then
he is coming back again for my semi-final. It does make a difference,
but now that he has done it, it was huge.”
The quarter-finals of the El Gouna International 2023 continues
tomorrow (Wednesday 31 May) with the bottom half of the draw. Play
starts at 19:15 (GMT+3), with all four matches from the El Gouna
Conference and Culture Center available to watch live on SQUASHTV.
Men’s Quarter-Final Results - Top Half: El Gouna International 2023
[1] Diego Elias (PER) bt Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP) 3-0: 11-9, 11-2, 11-2 (39m)
[4] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [8] Victor Crouin (FRA) 3-1: 6-11, 11-2, 11-3, 11-2 (42m)
Women’s Quarter-Final Results - Top Half: El Gouna International 2023
