It’s semi finals day at the 2021-22 CIB PSA World Championships in Cairo, with four thrilling matches in store tonight at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation – and all of the action will be shown live on SQUASHTV and the channels of our broadcast partners
Here’s the Order of Play for tonight (All times are local GMT+2)
[1] Nouran Gohar (Egy) v [4] Amanda Sobhy (Usa)
First up is World No.1 Nouran Gohar against Amanda Sobhy of the United States, with the latter attempting to become the first American ever to reach the final of the PSA World Championships.
While the pair’s head-to-head record is locked at six wins apiece, it is Gohar who has had the better of their recent meetings, with five straight wins against the World No.4.
Gohar, the runner-up at the 2020-21 PSA World Championships in Chicago, hasn’t dropped a single game to Sobhy in their previous five meetings, with Sobhy’s last victory against the Egyptian coming at the 2019 Manchester Open when she stormed to a 3-0 win in just 26 minutes.
The average match time between the pair stands at just 33 minutes – so expect lots of high-octane attacking squash and short, sharp rallies.
Our friends over at SquashLevels predict that Gohar will keep up the red-hot form that has seen her collect seven PSA World Tour titles this season and predict her to win 3-0 against Sobhy once again, giving her a 93 per cent win likelihood.
If Sobhy can get firing and keep Gohar from inflicting her relentless hard-hitting style on the match though, the American could achieve a historic win – it’s all to play for.
[1] Paul Coll (Nzl) v [3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egy)
Next onto court is World No.1 Paul Coll against former World No.1 and 2017 World Champion Mohamed ElShorbagy in what will be their 13th meeting on the PSA World Tour.
It is ElShorbagy who has dominated their head-to-head meetings ever since they first played in 2017, with the powerful Egyptian winning nine of their 12 previous fixtures.
However, following a run of just one win in their opening 10 encounters, Coll has finally been able to get stuck into the 44-time title winner and has won their last two encounters – though ElShorbagy’s last victory against the New Zealander came in the semi finals of this tournament when it was held in Chicago last summer.
After a poor run of form by his exceptional standards – ElShorbagy had failed to make it to the quarter finals at his last three major events – ‘The Beast’ has shown signs of being back to his best in Cairo this week and, armed with a new coach in former rival Gregory Gaultier, has powered through to the semi finals without dropping a game, dispatching the dangerous Fares Dessouky and 2016 World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad en route.
In contrast, Coll’s progress through the draw almost came to an end at the hands of 2019-20 World Champion Tarek Momen. Momen fought back from two games down to force a decider, which Coll eventually won to bring a brutal 122-minute match to a close.
Coll has spent over 100 minutes more on court than ElShorbagy so far – with ElShorbagy’s time on court totalling 132 minutes compared to Coll’s 236 – but SquashLevels are still backing the man from New Zealand to pull through. If ElShorbagy brings his ‘A’ game though, we could well be looking at a fifth World Championship final for the 31-year-old.
[2] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) v Nour El Tayeb (Egy)
Nour El Tayeb’s remarkable return to the PSA World Tour following the birth of her daughter continued with a sensational victory over Allam British Open champion Hania El Hammamy to reach the semi finals of the sport’s biggest event for the first time since the 2018-19 event.
Her path to a second World Championship final is blocked by World No.2 Nour El Sherbini, who specialises in the PSA World Championships with five trophies to her name at just 26 years of age.
With 16 wins to El Tayeb’s six, the head-to-head record is in El Sherbini’s favour and ‘The Warrior Princess’ has won her last three meetings against El Tayeb.
El Tayeb’s last win over her fellow Egyptian came at the 2019-20 CIB PSA World Tour Finals, while you have to go back to the 2018 Windy City Open for her most recent win against El Sherbini over a best-of-five games format.
SquashLevels predict that El Sherbini will have just too much for El Tayeb tonight, though they think the fixture will go all the way to five games.
El Tayeb never gives in though and if she finds her targets at the front of the court, could claim a major upset in Cairo.
A win for El Sherbini would see her equal the legendary Nicol David’s record of eight women’s World Championship finals.
[2] Ali Farag (Egy) v [4] Mostafa Asal (Egy)
Mostafa Asal also has the chance to make history as he bids to become the youngest player to reach the final of the men’s World Championship since the great Jansher Khan in 1989.
The 21-year-old will need to arrest a run of form against Farag which has seen him win just one of 11 matches against the World No.2, while he has never beaten his compatriot in a best of five format.
Alongside the World Championship trophy – which he has already lifted twice – Farag has the chance to replace Coll at the summit of the men’s PSA World Rankings if he goes onto win the tournament, though he will need a helping hand from ElShorbagy, who would need to beat Coll tonight if Farag is to top the rankings on June 1.
Farag boasts a four-match winning streak against Asal, whose only win against Farag came at the 2020-21 CIB PSA World Tour Finals, which used a best-of-three games scoring format.
After winning the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions earlier this month and besting nemesis Marwan ElShorbagy in the previous round, Farag looks full of confidence and SquashLevels’ prediction bears that out with a potential 3-2 win for Farag on the cards.
Asal cannot be written off though and the ‘Raging Bull’ could outline his World Championship title credentials with a statement win over the defending champion.
Make sure you tune in toSQUASHTV tonight to watch all the action unfold.
