Day Four Glass :

 

Gohar Tested by Moataz

World No.2 Nouran Gohar earned her spot in the last 16 of the CIB PSA World Championships after a testing encounter with fellow Egyptian Hana Moataz as glass court action got under way.

Gohar and Moataz were meeting for the first time on the PSA World Tour and both have a similar style of play, aiming to take the ball early and hit with pace. Gohar boasted the superior accuracy today though and came out firing to take the opening game in comfortable style.

Moataz responded well though and pushed up the court and onto the ’T’ to become the aggressor in the second, duly levelling after sneaking the second game 11-9.

Gohar, who has reached the final of the last three PSA World Championships, went through the gears to take the third game and dropped just two points in a one-sided fourth game to seal the win.

Next up for the 26-year-old is a round three meeting with No.12 seed Sabrina Sobhy.

“Hana has been in pretty good form recently and beating players above her,” said

“I knew it was going to be tough out there and I’m glad I’ve had a match like this to make me sharper for the rest of the tournament. I was very happy with the way I came back after the second and executed my plan. There’s some stuff to get better at but overall I’m happy with my performance today.

“In the past I’ve been put in these situations before and I haven’t made the right decisions at the time and experience plays a big role in that. Also, I don’t panic and I focus on what I have to do and have everyone in my corner. We didn’t talk much about the score as this can happen, and every tournament I’ve played I’ve lost one or two games like this and it’s all about how to finish the game in a good way. I just need to keep taking the momentum into the next matches and I know I can better at that.

“Me and Sabrina [Sobhy] go way back, since juniors, and we’ve played every single Junior Open and I have so much respect for her. I think she’s a very talented player and a very nice person as well. It’s always very clean and fair when you play her, with some great retrievals. I’m sure it will be an enjoyable one but a tough one.”

Result

[3] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt Hana Moataz (EGY) 3-1: 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 11-2 (42m)

Coll Conquers Cardenas

New Zealand’s Paul Coll continued his title challenge with a victory over Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas in straight games.

The 32-year-old was on it from the word go and made the rallies long and physical to sap away the energy of World No.22 Cardenas. Cardenas initially stuck with the Kiwi in the opening stages of the game but eventually fell away physically as Coll closed out the opening game.

There was no let up from the World No.2 in the second or third games either as he played high-tempo squash and nullified Cardenas superbly to record an 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 win in 40 minutes.

Coll, a runner-up at the 2018-19 PSA World Championships, will go up against Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng for a place in the quarter-finals.

“I wanted to try not going into a retrieving passive stage, I tried to hit on the volley and hit the simple shots when they came,” said Coll.

“I’m very happy with how I played to get through in three sets. I haven’t seen much of his [Leonel Cardenas] play but I’ve seen his results. He had a big win in El Gouna, fighting back from 2-1 down against Joel [Makin] so I knew he was going to be tough, he could hang in there and put some work in.

“I couldn’t let up and I wanted to try and keep him working the whole time and not let him into the game after seeing what he did in the last tournament.

“I’ve got to try and play well every round and take it as it comes. Everyone is targeting the World Champs, even the lower ranked guys – if they get through another round it’s more prize money and points. They’re going to come at you so you can’t take them lightly.”

Result

[2] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Leonel Cardenas (MEX) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 (40m)

El Hammamy Storms Past Alves

Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy continued her attempts to win a maiden PSA World Championship title with a dominant performance against France’s Melissa Alves.

El Hammamy stepped up her comeback from the injury that kept her out of action at last month’s El Gouna International with victory over England’s Lucy Turmel in the previous round and the World No.3 made short work of Alves, winning 11-3, 11-4, 11-7 in 29 minutes.

The Egyptian, who has reached the semi-finals on two previous occasions, will take on Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam next. 

The match gives El Hammamy the opportunity to gain revenge for her shock defeat to the World No.13 in the final of April’s London Classic.

“I’m very happy to get through in three,” said El Hammamy.

“It’s always tough playing against Melissa, she’s a very attacking player and she hunts the volley a lot. I had to try and keep the ball away from that area and I tried to pick up balls as much as I could and made it hard for her. I’m glad I managed to get through in three.

“I watch my opponents before and you’ve got to have a good game plan. Any player would like to take the middle, so taking position is vital as a squash player. I tried to take the middle as much as I could as she likes to volley. It was probably a battle of who was going to take the middle better.

“I lost that final [London Classic] against her [Sivasangari Subramaniam] and all credit to her, she was unbelievable all tournament. She deserved that win, but I’m definitely prepared and I know what to expect. I’m going to watch the match and see what mistakes I made and hopefully in two days time I can perform better than last time.”

Result

[2] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt Melissa Alves (FRA) 3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-7 (29m)

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