Seven-time World Champion Nour El Sherbini moved one step closer to a record-equalling eighth Worlds title after the Egyptian overcame England’s Georgina Kennedy in straight games to reach the last four of the PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family.
Despite the 3-0 scoreline, it was a match which saw El Sherbini dig in against a tenacious Kennedy, with two of the three games seeing El Sherbini prevail on the tie-break.
El Sherbini had won all 10 of the pair’s previous meetings on the PSA Squash Tour, but it was Kennedy who looked like she would throw the form book out of the window at Chicago’s Lakeshore Sport & Fitness as she raced out of the traps to take an 8-1 lead.
The fast-paced nature of the match exposed a sluggish start from El Sherbini, but the World No.2 slowed things down and begun to pick Kennedy off, taking 10 points in a row to go a game ahead.
Kennedy’s attacks at the front of the court had dropped off, with her drops to the front of the court starting to clip the side walls and go in high to allow El Sherbini to move in and attack.
El Sherbini twisted and turned her opponent, who was frequently equal to the task thanks to her impressive speed and agility. However, the Egyptian was always making her play one more shot and the percentages were in El Sherbini’s favour as she played the crucial points well to double her lead on the tie-break.
Kennedy did push ahead to a game ball in the third but couldn’t convert, with El Sherbini holding firm to secure an 11-8, 12-10, 12-10 win.
El Sherbini has now reached a 10th successive World Championships semi-final and will play either United States No.1 Olivia Weaver of Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam for a place in the title decider as she attempts to match Nicol David’s tally of eight World Championship titles.
“I’m very lucky to win this match, it could have been 3-0 the other way,” said El Sherbini.
“I tried to dig in and tried to play every point, even if I wasn’t hitting my targets or playing the game plan that I wanted to play. Gina was really good and was attacking way better than me today. I’m glad to win and I’m glad I kept fighting for every point.
“If you’re not feeling good and you’re opponent is playing really well, but you win in the end, then there are a lot of positives to take. We’re playing in the biggest tournament of the season and we’re into the semi-finals, so I will try to be more positive than negative.”
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Result
[2] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt [8] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 12-10, 12-10 (37m)
