Semi-finals day in Hong Kong, with the top four seeds in both Women’s and Men’s draws still in contention for the PSA Silver titles.
Top seeds Siva Subramaniam and Joel Makin both progressed in straight games, while Fayrouz Aboelkheir and Youssef Ibrahim both downed the second seeds.
Women’s Semis :
[1] Siva Subramaniam (Mas) 3-0 [4] Melissa Alves (Fra) 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 (26m)
[3] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (Egy) 3-0 [2] Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 11-9, 11-8, 13-11 (33m)
Men’s Semis :
[1] Joel Makin (Wal) 3-0 [3] Victor Crouin (Fra) 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 (55m)
[4] Youssef Ibrahim (Egy) 3-1 [2] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 11-6, 14-12, 10-12, 11-4 (52m)
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Second seeds downed as top seeds advance
With the top four seeds in both draws contesting the semi-finals there was an excellent chance of some upsets, and so it proved, with both top seeds advancing but both second seeds defeated.
Defending women’s champion Siva Subramaniam was up first, against France’s Melissa Alves. The Malaysian world #7 made a confident start, always ahead on the scoreboard as she took a two game advantage. Alves went 4-0 up in the third but Subramaniam regained control to close out the match in 26 minutes.
I played her once before so I knew she was a dangerous opponent, she said. “I just tried to find my game on this court and overall pleased with how I played. I’ll get some rest to recover from tomorrow, another day another match, I hope I can defend the title.”
Men’s top seed Joel Makin also won in straight games, but it took him more than twice as long to end the challenge of Victor Crouin. The Frenchman was in contention through every game, but won the crucial points towards the end of each to advance to the final.
“It’s always tough,” he said. “You just have to stay strong, keep up your game and play to your strengths and some cracks will start to appear, which they did at the end of the games. I’m enjoying my squash this week, feeling good on court, let’s see what I can do in the final.”
Fayrouz Aboelkheir, fresh from her Chestnut Hill Classic triumph, was meeting Amanda Sobhy for the first time, and the young Egyptian made a terrific start, leading all the way in the first two games to take them 11-9, 11-8. From 5-8 down in the third Aboelkhier recovered to take the game 13-11, a result that puts her into a second successive final and possibly a first appearance in the world’s top ten.
“It’s been a great few weeks for me,” she said, “very happy with how my squash is developing, every time I feel like I’m playing better. You have to focus on your opponent, and Amanda is so experienced, she knows how to change the game and adapt.”
Last up was an all-Egyptian affair between Karim Abdel Gawad and Youssef Ibrahim. Their last four meeting had gone the way of the lower seeded Ibrahim, and that was the case again today with the world #7 dominating the first two games before Gawad, world #4, pulled one back. Ibrahim was on song again in the fourth, closing out the win to complete the finals lineups.
“No, I don’t really prefer these really physical matches! he said. “My draw here has been really tough, you just have to think about the moment, take it opponent by opponent and recover as best as I can. This season I feel I’m finally able to trust my body and use my speed, so I’m enjoying my squash now as much as ever. It’s always going to be tough against Joel, I beat him last time but it’s going to be another battle, hopefully I can survive it.”
Earlier in the day the Legends Cup got under way with matches between Nick Matthew and Simon Rosner and Gregory Gaultier against Miguel Rodriguez. More on the Legends page.
