World No.1 Raneem El Welily will appear in the semi-finals of the 2019-20 CIB PSA Women’s World Championship in front of Cairo’s historic Great Pyramid of Giza after her quarter-final fixture with World No.3 Nour El Tayeb was cut short after just three minutes.
El Welily and El Tayeb have met in all three PSA World Tour events they have played this season, with El Tayeb winning two of them, including their last meeting earlier this month in the U.S. Open semi-finals.
But she shook hands with her opponent after conceding seven points in a row in the opening game, meaning El Welily moves through to last four for the seventh successive time. El Welily is the only female squash player to win a tournament in front of the Pyramids and she is now one win away from appearing in the final in front of the last remaining wonder of the ancient world.
Meanwhile, World No.5 Nouran Gohar will feature in the third World Championship semi of her career after overturning a one-game deficit against England’s Sarah-Jane Perry to win 9-11, 11-8, 13-11, 12-10 in 57 minutes.
U.S. Open champion Gohar has been one of the form players on the women’s tour over the past six months, winning the British Open and reaching the final of the El Gouna International. She came close to going 2-1 behind, but fought back from two game balls down to take the lead, before closing out the decider on the tie-break.
“I don’t show a lot of emotion on court, so to do that shows a lot,” said 22-year-old Gohar.
“I reached a semi-final here [in Egypt] twice I think, one of them was in El Gouna, so Egypt is my lucky place and I play my best squash here because the crowd give me great energy, even when at the beginning I wasn’t at 100 per cent. They had to give me that push to play and I didn’t want to disappoint them.
“I’m going to enjoy my rest day as a normal athlete because the last time I had an exam. I’m going to try and recover really well because each point was really tough. She didn’t give up at all, I was up in the third and the fourth but it was like she was leading. I’m really looking forward to my semi-final match now in a couple of days.”
Results - Quarter-Finals (Top Half): 2019-20 CIB PSA Women’s World Championship
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt [5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) 3-0: 7-0 ret. (3m)
[4] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 3-1: 9-11, 11-8, 13-11, 12-10 (57m)
Draw - Quarter-Finals (Bottom Half): To Be Played October 30th
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) v [14] Hania El Hammamy (EGY)
[6] Joelle King (NZL) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Draw - Semi-Finals (Top Half): To Be Played October 31st
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [4] Nouran Gohar (EGY)
