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Fri 25th Mar -
QUARTER-FINALS:
Serme and Gohar storm into semis
 Quarter-finals day in Hull as the 'Wimbledon of Squash'
approaches the final stages, and it was Camille Serme and
Nouran Gohar who stole the headlines.
World Junior Champion Gohar beat third seeded compatriot Raneem
El Welily while France's defending champion Serme repeated her
win in last year's final over Laura Massaro, now the world #1
and the last remaining English hope.
 They'll
meet for a place in the final while Nicol David and
Nour El Sherbini will replay their 2012 final in the other
semi after wins over Omneya Abdel Kawy and Amanda Sobhy.
The men's quarters all went with seeding as Ramy Ashour
and Karim Abdel Gawad won their all-Egyptian matches
against Ali Farag and Marwan Elshorbagy. Gawad is now up against
another Egyptian in Mohamed Elshorbagy, the defending
champion who beat Colombian Miguel Rodriguez, while Ashour is
set to face world champion Gregory Gaultier, who
maintained his dominance over Simon Rosner.
Brief reports below, more detail on the Egypt and
Tecnifibre reports ...
Quarter-Finals
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egy) 3-0 [6] Miguel Rodriguez (Col)
11/8, 11/8, 11/9 (47m)
Karim Abdel Gawad
(Egy) 3-1 Marwan ElShorbagy
(Egy)
11/9, 11/7, 4/11, 12/10 (65m)
[5] Ramy Ashour (Egy) 3-1 Ali Farag (Egy)
11/8, 11/8, 9/11, 11/6 (56m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 3-0 [7] Simon Rösner (Ger)
11/6, 11/6, 11/8 (47m)
[5] Camille Serme
(Fra) 3-0 [1] Laura Massaro (Eng)
11/8, 11/5, 11/7 (39m)
[8] Nouran Gohar
(Egy) [3] Raneem El Welily (Egy)
11/9, 11/6, 9/11, 11/9 (70m)
[4] Nour El Sherbini (Egy) 3-0
[7] Amanda Sobhy (Usa)
11/4, 11/7, 14/12 (33m)
[2] Nicol David
(Mas) 3-1 [6] Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy)
11/4, 12/14, 12/10, 11/2 (46m)
Gawad denies all-Shorbagy semi
 Karim
Abdel Gawad, appearing in his first British Open quarter-final,
denied the Elshorbagy brothers another meeting in the
semi-finals as he beat Marwan in a tough final match of the day
at the Airco Arena.
 On
top in the first two games, Gawad seemed to suffer more from a
20-minute break at the start of the third when a spectator
injured himself and needed treatment.
Marwan quickly established a winning lead in the third, and kept
the momentum as he earned a game ball in a fiercely contested
fourth.
Gawad took the final three points though, to complete the
semi-final lineup.
Serme does it again
Defending champion Camille Serme beat England's Laura Massaro,
as she did in last year's final, but this time the Frenchwoman
took just three games to complete the win as she controlled the
match from start to finish.
 Serme
pulled clear from early in the first - Massaro serving out on
game ball -took a 6-1 lead before taking the second
comfortably,and established a big enough lead in the third to
hold off the Englishwoman's attempted comeback.
 Massaro
never really looked herself, but Serme's play probably had a lot
to do with that.
"You never know what can happen on court, but I have played
two English ladies in this tournament, and beaten them, so I was
a bit hoping for a hat trick !" said Serme.
"Very happy to beat Laura of course, and even more honoured as
it’s the first time I beat her as #1 in the world. I'm going to
try and enjoy one more match, two if I can …"
Shorbagy too strong tonight
Top seed and defending champion Mohamed Elshorbagy is through to
the semi-finals after beating Colombian sharpshooter Miguel
Rodriguez in three tough games.
The speedy Rodriguez was never quite able to turn the game into
the fast paced affair he loves as Elshorbagy kept a tight rein
on affairs, staying just enough ahead in all three games.
"I hate losing. I’m probably the world number one in the
world because I’m the one in the world that hates losing the
most!" said Shorbagy.
Gohar takes out third seed Raneem
 World
Junior Champion recorded one of the wins of her life - and she's
had a few - as she beat third-seeded compatriot Raneem Welily in
four close games to reach the British Open semi-finals.
There was little to choose between them in any of the four
games. Gohar took the first two, but it wasn't as if Welily was
playing badly, Gohar just finished better,
 The
senior player recovered from 4-6 down to take the third, but
Gohar turned the tables as she came from 7-9 down to earn match
ball which she took at the first attempt.
"It was a very very very tough match, it means a lot… it
means so much, " she said.
"Raneem is my best friend, she is my little sister, playing her
was tough, beating her was tougher. I’m so happy I beat her but…
"
Gaultier in charge
World Champion Gregory Gaultier seems to be improving match by
match on his return to competitive action.
After going 0-4 don in the first game he resumed his usual
dominance over Simon Rosner, and try as he might the German
couldn't break the French General's stranglehold on the match as
he moved into his fourth consecutive British Open semifinal.
David through to eighth semi
 Five-time
champion Nicol David was on great form at the start of the match
with Omneya Abdel Kawy. The Malaysian enjoys a heavy H2H
advantage and it seemed to tell as she breezed through the
first.
 Kawy
recovered well though, took a close second and almost managed it
again in the third, but having regained the lead David regained
her dominance in the fourth - letting out a little "whoop" as
she hit a lucky winner to reach match ball - to reach yet
another semi-final, and a rematch with Sherbini.
"In the second and third she was just giving it her all with
nothing to lose," said David. "I knew I had to force my game so
I got tighter and deeper and got the crucial points when I
needed them most to put it all together at the end."
Ramy wins high-class encounter
 They'd
never met before but Ramy Ashour and Ali Farag put on a
wonderful show at the Airco Arena, a high-qualify match that
kept the crowd entertained throughout. Ashour was on top for the
first two games, moving well and playing his deft shots - once
corkscrew crosscourt was a beauty!
 Farag
was never far away though, and managed to take a close third, to
his own delight, but Ashour was back on top from the outset of
the fourth and moved into the semis looking very much the
part.
"This was not an easy match and it's not an easy sport," said
Ashour. It was a great match, I really enjoyed that, but don't
let him trick you into believing he's the underdog anymore."
Sherbini first through
 Nour
El Sherbini became the first semi-finalist after she beat Amanda
Sobhy in a repeat of their ToC final earlier this year.
The Egyptian was on top in the first two games, firing in
winners as she does, then clawed back from 2-8 down in the third
as Sobhy simply hit too many tins.
The American had a couple of game balls but in the end it was
Sherbini who took the spoils.
"It’s definitely an advantage to win 3/0, the third could
have gone either way," she said. "So happy to reach the semis."
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