Day Seven of the GillenMarkets British Open in Birmingham, with four more quarter-finals from the bottom half of the draws.
Tonight’s matches all went the way of the higher seeds in straight games as Nour ElSherbini, Olivia Weaver, Diego Elias and Paul Coll booked their semi-final places.
Women’s Quarters :
[2] Nour ElSherbini (Egy) 3-0 [8] Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 (30m)
[3] Olivia Weaver (Usa) 3-0 [9/16] Nele Gilis-Coll (Bel) 12-10, 11-8, 11-5 (47m)
Men’s Quarters :
[2] Diego Elias (Per) 3-0 [5] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Eng) 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (39m)
[3] Paul Coll (Nzl) 3-0 [6] Marwan ElShorbagy (Egy) 11-7, 11-4, 11-2 (42m)
MATCH REPORTS :
Convincing Sherbini win to reach 8th BO Semi | Weaver downs Nele to reach first BO Semi
Diego too strong for 3-time champ Mohamed | Coll crushes Marwan to set up Elias clash
El Sherbini reaches eighth BO semi-final with convincing win over Sobhy
[2] Nour ElSherbini (Egy) 3-0 [8] Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 (30m)
In the day’s opening match, four-time British Open champion and World No.2 Nour El Sherbini took down USA’s World No.10 Amanda Sobhy to reach the semi-final. The pair are familiar with each other’s games, having met 18 times on tour ahead of today’s clash, with the Egyptian comping out on top in 12 of those.
El Sherbini made a quick start today, earning a 6-2 lead as her backhand dominated left-handed Sobhy’s forehand. The American closed the gap, but could not get ahead, with ‘the Warrior Princess’ taking the opener 11-7.
El Sherbini started game two in identical fashion, dominating play to take an early lead before Sobhy began to eat into her advantage. Once again, though, the Egyptian had enough to hold onto her lead, doubling her advantage with an 11-8 win.
Sobhy went on the attack as the ball softened in game three, landing several winners early on as she took a 6-2 lead. El Sherbini, however, was able to reel in the American, piling on the pressure as she took nine of the next ten points to get the job done in three games.
“Me and Amanda go way back since the juniors. Now we’re joking about now we’re some of the oldest players on tour!
“Seeing her play like this is really inspiring. I don’t think I’ve ever told her this but she’s a really inspiring person and I can’t believe that in less than a year [after suffering a ruptured achilles in the final of the Hong Kong Open] she’s back in the top 10 and it shows what she’s capable of and what an amazing player she is.
“I’ve always had a lot of battles against her and I’m glad to see her back playing like this and I’m sure there’s a lot of improvement from her to keep pushing the top players next season and I’m sure she will be a different player next season.
“I think this is the hardest thing ever [backing up after winning the World Championships]. Having the end of the season with the biggest tournaments is tough and I try to keep the same mentality I had in the Worlds here. I didn’t spend much time back home – I went to Prague to train for a week and if I stayed back home I wasn’t sure if I was going to play so I wanted to leave everything back home and focus and get back on track and try to play the same as the Worlds.”
Weaver downs Gilis-Coll to reach first BO semi
[3] Olivia Weaver (Usa) 3-0 [9/16] Nele Gilis-Coll (Bel) 12-10, 11-8, 11-5 (47m)
USA’s World No.4 Olivia Weaver is through to the semi-finals of the GillenMarkets British Open for the first time after defeating Belgian World No.13 Nele Gilis-Coll in straight games.
Philadelphia-born Weaver has enjoyed a excellent season on the PSA Squash Tour this year, picking up three titles and strengthening her grip on the World No.4 position.
Gilis-Coll came into today’s match having seemingly rediscovered the form that saw her reach World No.4 last year with the 29-year-old impressing in wins over Egypt’s Sana Ibrahim and English No.6 seed Georgina Kennedy to draw a line under a difficult season.
The Belgian made an excellent start tonight, leading for most of game one as she kept the ball away from Weaver’s strength in the centre.
Gilis-Coll had two game ball opportunities at 10-8 but couldn’t convert, with the American taking full advantage to force a tie-break and then move into the lead with a 12-10 win.
The American had the better of Gilis-Coll in the second game, leading throughout as she moved two games ahead 11-8. With a commanding advantage, Weaver pressed on in game three, wrapping up the win in straight games with an 11-5 victory.
“I don’t think I can say being down in game one is a perfect start, but I think I’m getting better at not panicking when the start of a game doesn’t go as planned and adapting to the court and seeing what my opponent is going to be doing.
“We haven’t played since Hong Kong and we always have such high quality battles, and she’s been playing amazing this week beating Gina [Kennedy] and Sana [Ibrahim]. I knew I was going to have to be up for it, I tried not to panic and tried to feel out the court and I felt as the match went on I continued to find better lines and trust myself more.
“I’ve had a few tournaments this year where my first round or two haven’t been as competitive and I haven’t needed to dig myself out of a hole and problem solve much and then I feel as thought that first match is more of an adjustment. I feel really confident coming out of that match and beating Nele 3-0 and I’m really happy with how I finished that match and I can’t wait for the next round.”
Elias too strong for three-time champ ElShorbagy
[2] Diego Elias (Per) 3-0 [5] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Eng) 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (39m)
Peruvian World No.2 Diego Elias put in his best performance of the tournament so far as the 28-year-old downed England’s three-time British Open Mohamed ElShorbagy.
The British Open is one of the few titles to have evaded Elias so far, with a defeat in the 2023 final the closest the 2024 World Champion has come.
Elias’ tactics were clear from the beginning, with the Peruvian engaging the 34-year-old ElShorbagy in a brutal three-minute long opening rally of the match.
The second seed slowly turned the screw throughout the first game, testing ElShorbagy’s legs as he took the opener 11-6.
ElShorbagy looked to have righted things when he took a 5-2 lead in game two, only to be derailed by for a sudden collapse, with mistakes creeping into his game as Elias took eight unanswered points en route to doubling his lead 11-6.
The fifth seed earned a lead again at 5-4 in game three, but once again could not hold out, with Elias grinding ElShorbagy down to take the match 11-7.
“It’s always very hard playing Mohamed. He’s been one of the best for so many years and one of the best of all time. I’m always very nervous and today I wanted to play very solid, keep the rallies long from the start and I think that worked. After that I knew he was going to start going short a bit too early and I could counter.
“The glass floor is much harder than the normal floor. I’ve been working on my movement since I was very young and coming from Peru I didn’t have many players to play with and it was just me and my dad doing a lot of ghosting and that helped me until now.
“I love playing here, the crowd is amazing. They put a lot of energy out there and they cheer! It’s always nice to to be playing here and I can’t wait to be back tomorrow.”
Coll crushes Marwan to set up Elias clash
[3] Paul Coll (Nzl) 3-0 [6] Marwan ElShorbagy (Egy) 11-7, 11-4, 11-2 (42m)
In the last match of the evening two-time champion Paul Coll of New Zealand recorded his fourth win in a row against English No.1 Marwan ElShorbagy to set up a semi-final clash with Elias.
Coll and ElShorbagy had already met four times this season ahead of today’s clash, with Marwan winning their first battle at the Egyptian Open only for Coll to win the three since, including in the final of the New Zealand Open in March.
ElShorbagy started tonight’s contest brightly, racing into a 7-3 lead in game one as the Englishman picked his shots perfectly, hitting his targets consistently to move within four points of the lead.
Coll refused to give up any easy points though, upping the physicality as he took control of proceedings.
The switch in tactics worked well as ElShorbagy began to make an uncharacteristic number of errors, and Coll took full advantage to rattle off eight points in a row to take an unlikely lead in the contest.
From here, it was only one way traffic, with Coll dominating game two 11-4 and then easing past a seemingly disinterested ElShorbagy 11-2 in game three.
“We’ve played each other four times in the last three months and it gets hard and you know what each other’s doing and they work out your game plan. Today I really thought about the execution of my game plan – I’m glad I could stick to it and I’m happy with that performance.”
“I’m more where I want to be mentally . I had a great trip back home to New Zealand and played one of my funnest tournaments in front of a home crowd in front of 1,000 people. It was amazing to play back home.”
