Day SIX : Quarters Part Two

Quarter-Finals Part Two at Union Station

The second day of quarter-final action saw the semi-finalists in the bottom half of the draws decided.

After yesterday’s clean sweep there were just two Egyptians in action tonight, both winning as Nour El Sherbini and Ali Farag advanced to the semis at the expense of Tesni Evans and Paul Coll.

Elsewhere France’s Camille Serme put in a sparkling performance to beat Joelle King, and Simon Rosner was in powerful form as he won in his first appearance in the quarters to deny Saurav Ghosal.

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Rosner’s dazzling debut 

Appearing in his first quarter-final in 11 attempts, Germany’s Simon Rosner shrugged of a marathon encounter in the last round, and recovered from 2-6 down in the first to deny Saurav Ghosal in an impressive three game win.

After taking the first 11-8, Rosner maintained leads in the next two despite Ghosal’s strenuous efforts, closing the match 11-6, 11-7 with a relieved and satisfied look skywards.

“It’s big, really big, I’d never made the quarters and now I’m in the semis.

“Especially after such a hard last match, I was very pleased how I played some aggressive squash and controlled the play.

“Saurav is a very tough opponent so I had to be at my best, so I’m really happy with my performance today.”

Sherbini ends Welsh dream 

Two time champion Nour El Sherbini moved into her fourth successive Worlds semi-final with a solid three-nil over British Champion Tesni Evans.

Evans kept pace up to 6-all in the first, but Sherbini powered away to take the lead 11-7, then maintained a healthy advantage in the next two as she advance 11-5, 11-7 in half an hour.

“Tesni’s been playing well so I knew it would be tough. She was coming back in the third but I managed to finish it off. She’s in the top ten now, and even though it was 3-0, it wasn’t easy.
“I’m happy with how I played and looking forward to the semi-finals.”

Farag through to another semi 

World #1 in waiting (it won’t be long, tomorrow is the day) Ali Farag reached a second successive Worlds semifinal with a tough four game win over Paul Coll.

The Egyptian had the upper hand, just, in the first two games, taking them 11-8, 11-7 but the Kiwi struck back to open up a good lead in the third, reducing the deficit 11-4.

Farag dominated the fourth though easing through 11-1 to extend is sequence of wins over Coll to six.

“Tough, very tough. We’ve played in the last 3 events and he gets fitter and smarter each time.
“He played very well, never gave me anything. He spent a lot of time in front of me, which is all credit to him, but my length fell short a little bit, so I had to be aggressive from the fourth.

“Thanks to Nour I was able to adjust my game a little, I think I did that well, and that big long rally at the start of the fourth was crucial.”

Serme storms into semis

Camille Serme won through to a third successive World semi-final with an impressive three-nil win over fourth seed Joelle King, who had beaten the French #1 last month in New York.

But tonight Serme was on her game from the start, opened up an early lead and finished off the opening game 11-7.

King fought back to lead 6-2 in the second, but a determined Serme drew level, then doubled her advantage 11-8.

It was all Serme in the third as King’s challenge faded, taking it 11-4 in just over half an hour.

“I had to learn from losing to Joelle last month, we always say you learn more from a loss than a win so I worked on a few things.

“I didn’t think about the World Champs or the rankings, I just wanted to win so much.

“I was very happy with how I managed to keep my focus for the whole match.

“It’s the one title I have been dreaming of since I was a kid. I’ve reached the semi-final now, but the road is still very long and hard.”