Satomi Watanabe (Photo PSA)
Japan’s World No.7 Satomi Watanabe came through an entertaining five-game duel with Amanda Sobhy at The Wimbledon Club to reach the semi-finals of the Optasia Championships.
Watanabe, who secured her biggest PSA title when she won the 2024 Optasia Championships, has recorded her third straight semi-final appearance at this tournament after prevailing by an 8-11, 14-12, 11-6, 6-11, 11-7 scoreline.
The 27-year-old came back from 2-0 down to defeat the American No.2 at the same stage of the Optasia Championships almost exactly a year ago, and she managed to claim the victory once again to set up a clash with World No.1 Hania El Hammamy next.
“Amanda and I have played a lot of times before and the head-to-heads are really even. It’s always a really tough battle, an enjoyable battle, and I always love playing Amanda,” said Watanabe afterwards.
“I obviously lost to her in Chicago [at the Windy City Open] recently, so I think it was a home advantage for me today and I’m very happy to get through.
“It means a lot to be playing here. All the supporters are great and all my support team are here, so I’m definitely looking forward to tomorrow’s semi-finals.”
Defending champion El Hammamy held off a strong showing from unseeded Malaysian Rachel Arnold in three games to reach the last four for the second time in as many years.
El Hammamy could still face World No.2 Nour El Sherbini in the title decider after El Sherbini beat Nada Abbas in straight games to set up a semi-final clash with local favourite Georgina Kennedy. El Sherbini will take the No.1 ranking off El Hammamy if she betters her fellow Egyptian’s result at this tournament.
“I always enjoy playing against Satomi, she’s attacking as well,” said El Hammamy.
“We’ve played twice this season and we played here in the semis last year, so it’s going to be a rematch and I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a long time since my last event at the beginning of February. I think two days ago, I was a little bit edgy, and now I’ve gotten used to the venue and the tournament. I was way sharper and ready for today.”
Meanwhile, men’s World No.1 Mostafa Asal has now made it 21 successive matches without dropping a single game after defeating former World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy 3-0.
Asal, who has now won 63 consecutive games, was at his explosive best from the outset and completed an 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 victory to set up a meeting with Welshman Joel Makin, who beat ElShorbagy’s younger brother, Marwan.
“He’s a legend of the game, he’s so clever, and his IQ in squash is second to none,” said Asal afterwards.
“He’s very impressive in his tactics and he does a lot of mathematics on the squash court. He’s a beast, there is no way I would be playing like that at 35 years of age. He’s one of the characters that changed squash. He’s battled through lots of legends like Ramy [Ashour] and we’ve been watching him since we were kids in El Gouna.”
Elsewhere in Wimbledon, No.2 seed Karim Gawad and No.3 seed Diego Elias have set up a semi-final showdown after claiming clinical straight-game wins over Youssef Ibrahim and Noor Zaman.
“Noor is a very dangerous player, so I had to be at 100 per cent since the first point of the match, and I’m very happy that I did that,” said Elias afterwards.
“Noor is very exciting to watch and it’s great to have another Pakistani player near the top of the rankings. I’m happy I could control the pace of the game, my lines were working really well. It’s been a while since I’ve been playing at this level. I’m very happy to be slowly getting back to my level and hopefully I can keep getting better.”
Quarter-final results:
Men’s: [1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [7] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 (45m); [4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [6] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 (46m); [3] Diego Elias (PER) bt Noor Zaman (PAK): 3-0: 11-2, 11-7, 11-5 (28m); [2] Karim Gawad (EGY) bt [5] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 13-11 (54m)
Women’s: [1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt Rachel Arnold (MAS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 (37m); [3] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt [5] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-2: 8-11, 14-12, 11-6, 6-11, 11-7 (62m); [4] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt [8] Farida Mohamed (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 15-13 (33m); [2] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt [6] Nada Abbas (EGY)3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 11-2 (26m)
