Manchester – Finals

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[1] Hania El Hammamy3-0 [2] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng)  11-5, 11-9, 11-7 (39m)

[3] Diego Elias (Per) 3-0 [4] Joel Makin (Wal)  12-10, 11-6, 11-6 (59m)

CIB Hania El Hammamy is the 2021 Manchester Open champions after she beat England’s Sarah-Jane Perry.

Hania, the women’s World No.7, had lost to Perry in front of her home crowd when she surrendered a 2-0 lead to the England No.1 at the CIB PSA Black Ball Squash Open back in December. But tonight, revenge was on the card as she was in scintillating form tonight in Manchester as she outclassed her opponent, and she has now lifted her seventh PSA title following her 11-5, 11-9, 11-7 victory over World No.6 Perry.

Hania said:
“I’m so happy and relieved with that win. I think it was obvious that I was so angry in my play. I was so eager and hungry. That’s not because I wanted revenge against SJ but a lot of stuff in my mind that I want to prove to myself.

“It felt like I just wanted to prove to myself that this is what I’m capable of. I’m really glad I managed to perform like this and push, even when I was leading and SJ found her way back in the second game, I kept fighting and didn’t want to let it go easily.

“Well definitely I want to thank my parents. They go through a lot with me. I give them a hard time when I lose and they give me a hard time when I lose, too. They are the first people that come to mind when I win a tournament or have a positive week in my career. They’re watching now and I want to thank them for everything.”

“It’s definitely really special to be back here and able to have a good performance after the World Championships. It was definitely a positive week for me before going to the British Open.”

Full coverage on ManchesterOpenSquash.com

Manchester Open 2021 : Draws & Schedules

SEMIS

[3] Diego Elias (Per) 3-0 [1] CIB Marwan ElShorbagy    11-4, 11-8, 11-5 (46m)
[4] Joel Makin (Wal) 3-2 Youssef Ibrahim  11-6, 7-11, 3-11, 11-4, 12-10 (81m)

[1] CIB Hania El Hammamy 3-0 Emily Whitlock (Wal)      11-5, 14-12, 11-1 (37m)

CIB Hania El Hammamy started with her trademark excellence, taking the first game 11-5 thanks in no small part to her quality of hitting into the back, frequently trapping Whitlock.

Whitlock, though, fought back hard in the second, rescuing game ball with a lung-busting rally to level at 10-10. Although the 27-year-old produced some of her best squash as the second game wore on, it was El Hammamy who emerged victorious, winning the game 14-12 with a delightful volleyed boast.

After such a tough defeat in the second, Whitlock understandably struggled in the third, with the 20-year-old El Hammamy punishing every mistake to seal the win 11-1.

As for Youssef Ibrahim, he is for sure a quick learner. They had met only once in Gouna a few months ago, and the Golden Tiger ate Yous alive to be honest: 12-10, 11-7, 11-2 in 42m.

“Piqué au vif”, Yous pushed his opponent to the core, coming back in the 5th from 7/4 to 9/7, and managing to get 2 match balls. He couldn’t close the match but he proved today that his incredible attacking game is now backed up with a very strong fitness and I can tell you that Youssef will be joining the top 10 players very soon IsA.

Full coverage on ManchesterOpenSquash.com

Manchester Open 2021 : Draws & Schedules

QUARTERS

[4] Joel Makin (Wal) 3-2 [7] Mazen Hesham   7-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6, 12-10 (82m)
Youssef Ibrahim 3-0 [6] CIB Mohamed Abouelghar            11-9, 11-5, 11-3 (39m)
[3] Diego Elias (Per) 3-0 [8] Omar Mosaad                        11-6, 11-7, 11-6 (32m)
[1] CIB Hania El Hammamy  3-0 [7] Tinne Gilis (Bel)        11-4, 11-4, 11-1 (28m)
[1] CIB Marwan ElShorbagy 3-2 Abdullah Al Tamimi (Qat)  8-11, 9-11, 11-1, 11-7, 12-10 (58m)

Top seed CIB Marwan ElShorbagy overturned a 2-0 deficit and came back from match ball down to avoid a shock defeat against World No.38 Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi earlier today at the National Squash Centre as he progressed to the semi-finals of the Manchester Open.

The World No.5 looked destined to exit the event at the quarter-final stage after a scintillating performance from Al Tamimi saw the Qatari No.1 make things incredibly uncomfortable for ElShorbagy on court as he dazzled the spectators with some superb winners throughout.

However, it was like two different players walked onto court for the third game as the momentum shifted completely in ElShorbagy’s favour. The 28-year-old dictated the tempo as he came back to take two games without reply, before keeping Al Tamimi at bay when match ball down in the fifth to win by an 8-11, 9-11, 11-1, 11-7, 12-10 scoreline.

“Abdullah played very well today, he had a great tactic in the first two games,” said ElShorbagy.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be honest, I was expecting him to go shorter sooner than that and I should have been smarter, knowing that he can play differently. His coach in the US is smart and knows how to play against me, I guess. I should probably have thought about that tactic he would play, my brother does that really well against me, so I should have expected it a bit, but I’m really happy with how I came back after that.

“I told myself I have to fight. Nick [Matthew] and Danny [Massaro] haven’t seen me play here in a very long time, so I didn’t want to lose in the first match after a long time. It’s good, I’m happy to have both of them here, and I was looking at Danny and he was giving me that look [telling me] to breath and giving me confidence.”

ElShorbagy will line up against Peruvian No.3 seed Diego Elias for a place in the title decider after Elias dispatched 2015 World Championship runner-up Omar Mosaad in straight games.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s World No.18 Youssef Ibrahim has continued his incredible form so far at this tournament after he followed up his round two upset of No.2 seed Karim Abdel Gawad with a 3-0 dismantling of No.6 seed Mohamed Abouelghar.

Ibrahim will compete in the semi-finals of a PSA World Tour Silver event for the first time in his career after the unseeded 22-year-old – who is a senior at Princeton University – completed a spectacular 11-9, 11-5, 11-3 victory against World No.12 Mohamed Abouelghar to continue his giant-killing form at this year’s tournament.

“I’m very happy that I’ve managed to get scalp after scalp,” said Ibrahim.

“I’m the underdog in each match. I never beat Abouelghar in practice and he’s so strong in tournaments too, so it’s a big win for me. I’m happy with the way I played every game and played the crucial points well.”

“Makin is a completely different player to Abouelghar. They’re both very physical, but Makin relies on his physicality, it makes up probably 80-90% of his game plan. Abouelghar is very attacking, I don’t expect Makin to push me to the front as much, so I will have a completely different game plan.”

Ibrahim will play Welsh No.4 seed Joel Makin – who won the British Nationals on this court last week – for a place in the final, with Makin battling to a 3-2 victory over Egypt’s Mazen Hesham in a captivating 82-minute battle.

The women’s top seed – World No.7 CIB Hania El Hammamy – kept her title challenge on track with a dominant victory against Belgium’s Tinne Gilis, winning 11-4, 11-4, 11-1 in just 28 minutes.

The Egyptian was firing on all cylinders and gave her opponent no time to attack as she cruised through to the last four, where she will take on Wales’ Emily Whitlock, who downed France’s Coline Aumard in impressive style.

“I think I played really well today, I’m so happy with my performance,” El Hammamy said.

“Playing against Tinne is never easy, playing the Gilis family is not easy. I played  Nele in the last tournament and this one against Tinne. It’s tough to be playing against someone who is improving constantly.”

Round Two

[1] Marwan ElShorbagy 3-0 [WC] George Parker (ENG)  11-8, 11-6, 12-10 (42m)
[8] Omar Mosaad 3-2 Eain Yow Ng (MAS)       12-10, 4-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4 (71m)
[7] Mazen Hesham 3-1 Lucas Serme (FRA)                11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5 (53m)
[6] Mohamed Abouelghar 3-0 Declan James (ENG)            11-6, 11-6, 11-3 (40m)
Youssef Ibrahim 3-0 [2] Karim Abdel Gawad                    15-13, 11-3, 11-9 (50m)

[1] Hania El Hammamy 3-0 Rachel Arnold (MAS)            11-5, 11-7, 11-4 (25m)
Emily Whitlock (WAL) 3-1 [8] Nadine Shahin         11-9, 11-13, 11-4, 11-4 (40m)
Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 3-0 [5] Rowan Elaraby 11-7, 11-7, 11-3 (27m)

Youssef Ibrahim
“I feel very happy, Karim and I train with the same coach – Omar Abdel Aziz and he’s one of the people that was my idol with Shabana that I followed since I was very young.

“He’s the guy that played the best squash on tour, he’s the guy that I watched the most, that’s a bit of an advantage because I know how he plays and he hasn’t seen me play that much. I will take that as an advantage, but we play a lot in practice as well. He’s unbelievably talented and I will play a similar style, I’m left-handed but we are both very attacking.

“I had to take the game for him, if I waited in the back then he is very deceptive in every corner of the court, so I had to keep myself disciplined in this tournament and not be too flashy or excited. I wanted to keep my nerves down, it’s a massive win – I didn’t want to play Karim because we are friends off court and someone I looked up to, he is one of the people I love to watch but I’m very happy to win.

“I had a really bad injury since the beginning of the year, I wasn’t able to train properly or get strength and conditioning because I had a really bad knee injury, so I wasn’t giving it 100%. Thankfully before Chicago, my knee was fine and my body was fine so I was able to get a few months of good physical training.”

Mohamed Abouelghar
“I was a bit nervous before the match. I’ve played Declan so many times and when you play him on a court where he trains on a regular basis it give him a bit of an advantage. So I just wanted to make sure I hit my marks in the beginning and not give him any openings. I’m happy with how I played.

“I’ve been working on my length game and being more patient. Youssef likes to go for it and he’s an extremely talented guy, so I need to take what I’ve done today into tomorrow and hopefully get the win.”

Omar Mosaad
“The last few of months have been hard for me, last April I lost my Dad and got coronavirus as well, so I had a month-and-a-half of not doing anything, so of course to get back again is hard.

“In the World Championships I tried hard to reach the last 16 but George Parker played really well. I know it’s going to take time to get back again and confident and I’m really happy with the game today because it was a tough match with a lot of pressure.”

Nadine Shahin said
“I think I just didn’t find my length or my shots today, I was tinning a lot and [Whitlock] was more controlling in the T. She didn’t really let me get into my pace… I didn’t really feel in control today.”

 

ROUND ONE:

Adrian Waller (Eng) 3-2 Youssef Soliman           7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9 (85m)
Youssef Ibrahim 3-0 Mohamed ElSherbini                         11-6, 11-7, 12-10 (39m)

The draws for the men’s and women’s Manchester Open, PSA World Tour Silver tournament, have been released with the tournament set to take place at Manchester’s National Squash Centre from 9th to 13th August.

CIB Marwan ElShorbagy and CIB Hania El Hammamy will headline the men’s and women’s line-ups respectively this time around in Manchester, as two new champions are guaranteed following the release of the draws.

Marwan, along with the other top eight seeds, receives a bye into the second round where he will face either England’s George Parker or Scotland’s Greg Lobban as he looks to follow in older brother, Mohamed’s, footsteps by getting his hands on the title.

The World No.5 has tough competition on his side of the draw with the likes of Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez, Peru’s Diego Elias and compatriot Omar Mosaad all possibly standing in his way en route to the final.

At the opposite end of the draw is former World No.1 and World Champion CIB Karim Abdel Gawad. His first match will see him face either Youssef Ibrahim or Mohamed ElSherbini as he looks to get his hands on his first title of the season. In the bottom half of the draw with him are Wales’ Joel Makin, Mazen Hesham and Mohamed Abouelghar.

Meanwhile, the women’s draw is led by World No.5 CIB Hania El Hammamy, with the likes of English No.1 Sarah-Jane Perry, Wales’ Tesni Evans and India’s Joshna Chinappa all included in the high-quality draw.

Hania will begin her tournament against either Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold or Low Wee Wern depending on the outcome of their round one clash, while a potential meeting with India’s World No.10 Chinappa awaits in the semi-finals.

At the opposite end of the draw, Perry will get under way against either compatriot Julianne Courtice or Jasmine Hutton. Her side of the draw could see a battle of the Brits ensue in the semi-finals with Welshwoman Evans seeded to meet her in the last four.

Manchester Open 2021 DRAWS