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Fri 31st,
Day Three |
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Quarter-Finals:
[1] Dipika Pallikal (Ind) bt [5] Nouran El Torky
(Egy)
11/6, 4/11, 11/8, 11/6 (37m)
[4] Nour El Tayeb (Egy) bt [9/16] Salma Hany (Egy)
11/7, 11/6, 11/1 (21m)
[1] Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy) bt [9/16] Raphael
Kandra (Ger) 11/7, 7/11, 11/9, 11/8 (44m)
[4] Andrew Wagih (Egy) v [8] Farhan Zaman (Pak)
11/8, 11/7, 11/8 (25m)
[8] Maria Toor Pakay (Pak) bt [9/16] Kanzy El
Defrawy (Egy) 6/11, 11/4, 11/9, 8/11, 11/8 (47m)
Nour El Sherbini (Egy) bt [2] Heba El Torky (Egy)
11/8, 8/11, 11/9, 11/13, 11/8 (61m)
Aurangzeb Mehmund
(Pak) bt [9/16] Lucas Serme (Fra)
8/11, 11/9, 7/11, 11/8, 11/8 (93m)
[2] Ivan Yuen (Mas) bt [6] Amr Khaled Khalifa
(Egy)
11/3, 11/8, 11/7 (39m) |
Sherbini & Aurangzeb
gatecrash the semis
After two days of two rounds it was back to sanity with the
quarter-finals today, with a definite Egyptian flavour to them -
six girls and three boys gave Egypt over 50% of today's
competitors, underlining their recent dominance at junior and
senior level.
If Dipika Pallikal is to win India's first-ever world
squash title the chances are she'll have to beat four Egyptians
in a row to do it, and if Mohamed El Shorbagy is to
retain the boys' title there's a good chance he will have to
beat players of different nationalities in each of his five
matches ... the luck of the draw!
In the event both top seeds came through with only minor scares
- both dropping a game - but the story of the day has to be the
performances of unseeded (or seeded so low it doesn't really
count) Nour El Sherbini and Aurangzeb Mehmund.
Sherbini's recent form suggested at the very least a close match
with compatriot Heba El Torky, the second seed, and so it
proved. At 2-1 and 9-4 the game looked up for Sherbiny, but she
staged a stirring comeback to reach the semi-finals at just 13
years of age.
Mehmund's story is equally remarkable. Having despatched the
fifth seed in a marathon five-setter yesterday, he repeated the
performance, prevailing over Lucas Serme in the longest match of
the tournament.
Another special mention goes to Maria Toor Pakay, who
becomes Pakistan's first ever girls' semi-finalist (she was
probably the first quarter-finalist too).
The other semi-finalists are Ivan Yuen, Nour El Tayeb,
and Andrew Wagih. As the saying goes ... read all about
it ...
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[1] Dipika Pallikal (Ind)
bt [5] Nouran El Torky
(Egy)
11/6,
4/11, 11/8, 11/6 (37m)
[4] Nour El Tayeb (Egy) bt [9/16] Salma Hany (Egy)
11/7,
11/6, 11/1 (21m)
Dipika & Nour through to semis
The first pair of matches featured three Egyptians - that's
going to happen more and more - so one was bound to reach the
semi-finals.
The all-Egyptian clash went to seeding, although Salma Hany made
Nour El Tayeb work hard in the first two games, Nour diving
headlong several times, as she does. Salma's challenge faded in
the fourth though, and Nour finished it off comfortably.
Dipika faced the younger of the El Torky sisters in a clash of
styles. Dipika loves to hit her winners, and Nouran just loves
running. The Indian's shots were going in in the first game, but
she made error after error in the second, some forced by
Nouran's tenacious play, some unforced.
Consistency returned to Dipika's game in the third, but she was
caught at 8-all and the match was in the balance. Three crisp
winners soon put the crowd's fears to rest, and Dipika was in
control from the start of the fourth as she moved into the
semis.
 “I’m
so happy to be in the world junior semi-finals!
“I started well, but she led in the second. I was able to pull
it back and take that game, and I think there was something
wrong with her in the third, I was able to win that quickly.
“I’m really looking forward to the semi-finals, although it will
obviously be tough against Dipika in her home town …”
 “The
first was quite easy and I got overconfident. The pressure hit
me in the second, I was going for too much.
“I kept telling myself to stay grounded in the third, if I
hadn’t won that then I think the match would have gone the other
way so it was important to win that one.”
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[1] Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy)
bt Raphael
Kandra (Ger)
11/7, 7/11, 11/9, 11/8 (44m)
[4] Andrew Wagih (Egy) bt [8] Farhan Zaman (Pak)
11/8, 11/7, 11/8 (25m)
Egyptian double act
Only two Egyptians in the next pairing, but both came through.
Andrew Wagih made short work of Farhan Zaman, attacking
constantly and always looking in control, Zaman presumable
feeling the effects of yesterday's tough match.
 Shorbagy
started confidently enough, but made a few errors at the start
of the second which gave Raphael Kandra a foothold in the match,
which seemed to give him confidence as he took the second to
level.
It continued to be tight, but Shorbagy's experience - he is
world number 17 after all - helped as he closed out the third
from 6-8 down, and a tit-for-tat fourth from 8-all, Kandra
finishing the match in a crumpled heap at the back of the court
after vainly chasing the ball one last time.
 “It’s
good to win quickly, I should have something left for tomorrow.
I knew he had a hard match yesterday, so I was going for my
shots, putting it short and making him work hard, trying to have
short rallies.
“I’ve played Shorbagy all through juniors, he beat me three
times in the British Junior Open, and ever since the draw came
out I’ve been targeting this semi-final, and each match here has
been a step towards it. Now I’m there I know I’ll be focussed
for it.
“This is my last tournament as a junior, I don’t want tomorrow
to be my last match, so I’ll be giving it my best.”
“He surprised me a bit – it’s always hard to play left-handers,
you can’t see where the ball’s going. I tried to keep it on his
backhand but that was good too, I tried slowing it down and
lobbing but he coped with that as well.
“So I just started playing a basic game, keeping it tight and
dropping only when he boasted me. At 6-8 down in the third I
could have been in big trouble, I was glad to win that one.
“It maybe wasn’t my best squash ever, but there’s a lot of
pressure on me here, so I’m just glad to be through. I’ve been
playing Andrew since we were ten, so it should be a good match
…”
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[8] Maria Toor Pakay (Pak)
bt [9/16] Kanzy El
Defrawy (Egy)
6/11, 11/4, 11/9, 8/11, 11/8
(47m)
Nour El Sherbini (Egy) bt [2] Heba El Torky (Egy)
11/8, 8/11, 11/9, 11/13,
11/8 (61m)
Surprise Surprise ...
Three Egyptians again, and two surprise semi-finalists.
Then again, given that Maria Toor Pakay is the eighth
seed and was playing a 9/16 in Kanzy El Defrawy maybe not
so much of a surprise, although the Egyptians tout Kanzy as a
future world champion.
It was a see-saw match, with first one then the other gaining
control. Maria's extra power told at times, at others Kanzy's
speed and shotmaking held sway.
After the first four games were shared, Maria opened up a 7/1
lead int he decider, and although Kanzy pulled a few back, but
Maria held to to clinch a historic semi-final place for
Pakistan, at her first attempt.
 The
all-Egyptian match featured second seed Heba El Torky and
unseeded Nour El Sherbiny. Cut and dried you would think,
unless you knew that 13-year-old Nour had won their last three
encounters, winning 3/0 in the ATCO Open in Cairo last month -
and has been beating all the other Egyptians too.
Heba started well, her dynamic aggressive style taking her to
the first game, but in the second Nour came back into it,
picking off those volleys that she so loves. Heba came back to
take the third, and when she hit a boast to go 9/4 up in the
fourth she marched to the front pumping her fist in the air.
It proved to be premature, and as she proved so adept at in
Cairo, Nour clawed her way back into the match, levelling at
9-all. Heba had two chances to take the match, at 10-9 and
11-10, but Nour levelled and surely had the momentum for the
decider.
She did, but only just. It was close all the way, nothing in it
for 16 tense points up to 8-all, but again it was the younger
player who found the edge in the endgame, and we had a
13-year-old world semi-finalist.
 “It
was a tough match, I got ahead in the fifth but got nervous when
she started coming back. I’m very happy, to be in the world
junior semi-finals for my first time in the event is just
fantastic.”
 “I
wasn’t nervous at all at the start, there’s no pressure on me to
do anything and I’d beaten her before so I knew I had a chance
if I just played my game.
“I did get nervous in the fourth, I knew I could win this game
but I was losing so I just relaxed, got my concentration back
and managed to win it, and then the fifth.”
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Aurangzeb Mehmund
(Pak) bt [9/16] Lucas Serme (Fra)
8/11, 11/9,
7/11, 11/8, 11/8 (93m)
[2] Ivan Yuen (Mas) bt [6] Amr Khaled Khalifa
(Egy)
11/3,
11/8, 11/7 (39m)
Mehmund wins a Marathon,
Yuan eases through ...
Second seed Ivan Yuan enjoyed a relatively untroubled
passage into the semi-finals with a straight-games win over Amr
Khalid Khalifa, ending Egyptian interest in this quartet.
 It
was far from an untroubled passage fro his semi-final opponent
though, as Pakistan claimed another semi-final place as
Aurangzeb Mehmund survived a brutal 93-minute encounter with
France's Lucas Serme.
Lucas led two games to one, and will be rueing letting a 9-3
advantage slip in the second game. Aurangzeb fought like a tiger
though, apparently not feeling the effects of his 70-minute
marathon from yesterday - although he was certainly feeling it
by the end of the match.
And just like the previous match on this court, it was the
Pakistani who forged a useful lead in the decider, then hung on
to fend off a spirited comeback that had the French support on
its feet and earned Aurangzeb a conduct warning for coaching.
So, an Indian and a Malaysian join a gaggle of Egyptians in the
semi-finals ... predictable enough, but not many would have put
Pakistan down for two places ...
 “I’m
playing pretty well, I have a lot of confidence at the moment. I
was playing my shots and moving him around in the first and that
gave me confidence.
“It was neck and neck in the second, at the end I tried to go a
little faster and put more pressure on the ball and finally got
him.
“I haven’t played either Lucas or Aurangzeb before, so it should
be interesting.”
Happy? Yes! Tired? Yes!
Aurangzeb doesn't speak English ...
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