We’re down to the penultimate day of another thrilling British Open at Birmingham’s Rep Theatre, with just eight players remaining after an epic week of squash.
Play begins at 15:00 (GMT+1), with all the action being shown live on SQUASHTV and on the channels of the PSA’s broadcast partners. Live scores will also be available here.
Nour El Sherbini V Nour El Tayeb
Play begins with an all-Egyptian clash as defending champion Nour El Sherbini goes up against Nour El Tayeb for the 26th time in their careers. The form book suggests this is the World No.1’s match to lose, with El Sherbini winning their last six meetings and 11 of the last 12.
El Tayeb has looked dangerous this week in Birmingham, though, and will draw confidence from a battling five game win over talented shotmaker Salma Hany from 0-2 down in the quarters, as well as more routine wins over Rachel Arnold and Hana Ramadan earlier in the competition.
El Sherbini, meanwhile, has rarely looked troubled, with ‘the Warrior Princess’ dispatching Sivasangari Subramaniam, Satomi Watanabe and Olivia Weaver with minimal fuss.
Ali Farag V Joel Makin
The second match of the day sees the last British player standing, Joel Makin of Wales, facing World No.1 and reigning British Open champion Ali Farag of Egypt.
Makin wowed the crowd in the last round with a stunning win over newly-crowned World Champion Diego Elias of Peru, with the relentless energy of the World No.9 helping him to a 3-1 win and become the first Welshman since 2000 to reach the semi-finals, following impressive wins over Youssef Ibrahim and former World Champion Tarek Momen in the earlier rounds.
Farag, meanwhile, is yet to drop a game after taking out a trio of compatriots Omar Mosaad, Mohamed Abouelghar and Mazen Hesham.
With just one win in seven meetings with Farag, Birmingham local Makin will have to be at his very best to delight the home crowd once again.
Nouran Gohar V Hania El Hammamy
Expect fireworks whenever these two are on court.
One of the modern game’s most intriguing rivalries, Gohar v El Hammamy is rarely dull, with the pair having engaged in some real epics in recent seasons.
Gohar goes into the match with the wind in her sails, having clinched a first ever World Championship title last month, though El Hammamy will back herself after recording two victories over Gohar since the turn of the year.
Mostafa Asal V Paul Coll
Good luck predicting a winner for this one!
A match truly on a knife edge, with little to separate the former World No.1s. Coll seemed to have the measure of Asal in recent weeks, racking up three consecutive wins over ‘the Raging Bull’ between February and April of this year, only for the young Egyptian to come roaring back with a spectacular 3-2 win in the semi-final of this year’s World Championship.
Both men have competed well and spent nearly identical amounts of time on court, with Asal beating Karim El Hammamy, Marwan ElShorbagy and Timothy Brownell in a total of 115 minutes, while Coll got the better of George Parker, Miguel Rodriguez and Eain Yow Ng in 117.
