World No.3 Hania El Hammamy will take on arch-rival and World No.1 Nouran Gohar in a blockbuster semi-final at the PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family after she stormed to a 3-0 win over fellow Egyptian Nada Abbas in Chicago.
All six of their previous matches had gone the way of El Hammamy, and she extended that win streak with an 11-6, 11-5, 12-10 victory to earn a spot in her third PSA World Championships semi-final in a row.
Abbas came into the match off the back of a huge comeback from two games down against World No.5 Amina Orfi in the previous round. However, the World No.14 wasn’t able to back that win up as she quickly succumbed to a 2-0 deficit.
Winners into the front of the court from Abbas saw her stretch El Hammamy to go a game ball up in the third, but El Hammamy wasn’t to be denied as she kept the ball out of the tin to complete the win in straight games.
El Hammamy and Gohar will now meet for the 32nd time on the PSA Squash Tour, with Gohar leading 22-9 on their head-to-head record.
Gohar got the better of El Hammamy in the semi-finals of last month’s El Gouna International, but El Hammamy prevailed when they met in the final of January’s J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions.
“It’s very tough playing against an opponent who had a huge win the other night,” said El Hammamy.
“I really believed that she played really well, and I knew she wasn’t going to stop there and she would believe that she could come at me today and win. There were some nerves today, but I’m really proud of the way I finished in the third and found a way back into it. I tried as much as I could to cut the errors out and told myself at 10-9 down not to hit the ball into the tin.
“I know how hard I’ve worked to improve [dealing with the nerves], two years ago the nerves would show to everyone off court. I’m trying not to show it to my opponent or the crowd, I still have work to do to not show any nerves, but it’s normal, we’re playing in the World Championships and everybody is going to be nervous. It’s a matter of who can control their emotions and their nerves.
“I’m sure she [Gohar] will be nervous as well. No matter how well you’re playing on the day, if you’re emotional then you’re going to lose. If the other player is slightly stronger than you mentally she will find the edge.
“I think I need to prepare myself mentally rather than with the squash. We’re both going to kill ourselves and we’ll play for as long as it takes to reach that final.”
