World No.1 Raneem El Welily and World No.3 Nour El Tayeb will face off in a blockbuster quarter-final contest at the CIB PSA Women’s World Championship after the pair claimed respective wins over England’s Alison Waters and Egypt’s Salma Hany in round three in front of Cairo’s famous Great Pyramid of Giza.
El Welily - who is the only female to win a professional squash tournament in front of the Pyramids - and El Tayeb met at the semi-final stage of last season’s World Championship in Chicago, with El Tayeb taking the honours after 64 minutes of intense squash.
The pair have met three times already this season, with El Tayeb winning two of them, including her semi-final triumph two weeks ago at the FS Investments U.S. Open. They will now meet against the backdrop of the iconic Egyptian landmark courtesy, with both players claiming comfortable 3-0 wins in their third round fixtures.
“I’m pleased with the way I played, I couldn’t have asked for a better performance today,” said El Welily afterwards.
“Alison is such a strong player, she is one of those players that I have seen since day one and she, along with Laura [Massaro], Jenny [Duncalf] and many other English girls took the game to a new level. I’m always pleased to be with Alison on court, I was just trying to stay in every rally as much as possible and not let anything go loose.
“Nour [El Tayeb] is at the top of her game right now and playing very good squash. She has had very good results so far this season, and I know it’s not going to be an easy match, but I’m definitely up for the challenge.”
El Tayeb said: "I was just getting used to the court and the conditions, so I’m very glad to stick in the first game. The first game is very important and builds a lot of confidence so it was important to take that one.
“It’s all the pressure combined in one event – it’s the World Championship, Pyramids – everything. I’m playing well so I want to keep the momentum going as well and I’m very glad to be in the quarter-finals. I hope I can come back the next round and play well.”
England’s Sarah-Jane Perry continued her fine record at the Pyramids as she got the better of fellow Brit Tesni Evans, dominating the Welsh World No.9 to win by an 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 scoreline.
Five of their previous 10 matches had gone the distance to five games, with Evans winning their last match in five during the semi-finals of May’s Manchester Open. But it was a one-sided affair this time around as Perry established her game plan on the match right from the off, and she will play the in-form World No.4 Nouran Gohar in the next round.
“She has beaten me three out of the last four times,” said Birmingham-born Perry afterwards.
“The last time we played was in Manchester and we both had match ball, but she won. Today, I just wanted to play how I wanted to play and stamp my authority on the game and hopefully that was good enough, so I’m really pleased with that."
Results – Third Round (Top Half): 2019-20 CIB PSA Women’s World Championship
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt [11] Alison Waters (ENG) 3-0: 11-1, 11-3, 11-4 (24m)
[5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [13] Salma Hany (EGY) 3-0: 13-11, 11-5, 11-4 (30m)
[7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [9] Tesni Evans (WAL) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 (38m)
[4] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [26] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 (24m)
Draw - Third Round (Bottom Half): To Be Played October 28th
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) v [15] Yathreb Adel (EGY)
[14] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)
[6] Joelle King (NZL) v [10] Annie Au (HKG)
[12] Joshna Chinappa (IND) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Draw - Quarter-Finals (Top Half): To Be Played October 29th
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
[7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v [4] Nouran Gohar (EGY)
