Sivasangari Subramaniam (Photo PSA)
Eight time world champion Nour ElSherbini booked her spot in a sixth final at the Windy City Open, overcoming stiff resistance from Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam.
It took 52-minutes for the top ranked Egyptian to get past Sivasangari 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 in the semi-finals, the first time that a match between the duo had stretched the full distance.
ElSherbini stormed out of the blocks in game one, firing the ball in short and testing the movement of the Malaysian No.1 early in the match. Once ElSherbini found her rhythm of hitting winners, the game was over quickly, 11-6 to the No.3 seed.
Subramaniam wanted to show the Chicago crowd that she herself could hit winners just like her opponent, and that she did. The World No.6 rattled off the points and held off a comeback from ElSherbini to equalise.
The next two games followed a very similar pattern to the first two games as ElSherbini responded in true champion fashion to lead 2-1.
Subramaniam raced out to another strong lead in the fourth game and sent the match to a decider, for the first time in the pair’s match history.
It was the No.5 seeded Malaysian who started the stronger again in the deciding game. She ran out to a 4-1 lead but after making an error that would have seen her lead 5-1, Subramaniam’s momentum weakened.
The Warrior-Princess has been in this position so many times and used that experience to navigate her way to match ball, eventually winning 11-8.
“Well yeah, it’s never easy playing Siva,” said ElSherbini.
“She’s playing amazingly this week, and we train together, so we know each other’s game very well and the same style of play. It wasn’t comfortable on court, but I just tried to push every point and a win is a win, so I’m just happy to be through. It’s a huge boost for me.
“I’ve been in this situation many times so this helped me a lot. 4-1 down in the fifth is a long way to come back, but I tried to think point by point, so I was just wanting to get the next point so calming down helped me in the fifth for sure.”
ElSherbini’s win has set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with World No.1 Hania El Hammamy. The top seed needed just three games to down Belgium’s Tinne Gilis, to maintain her 100% appearance record in major event semi-finals since 2023.
In the men’s semi-finals Gregoire Marche and Marwan Elshorbagy produced an absolute thriller as the 35-year-old Frenchman claimed the 82-minute contest to earn a spot in his first-ever major event semi-final.
In a match full of incredible shot-making, amazing retrievals and intelligent play, Marche drew on the energetic Chicago crowd to produce one his best performances in years to move into the final four.
Marche started the better of the two in the opening game and tried to put work into the legs of Elshorbagy early in the match. Marche squeezed errors from the World No.8 and took the game 11-9 to take an early advantage.
Elshorbagy’s intelligent play made Marche worry in game two. The Englishman started to utilise his front-court weapons to hurt Marche but it was the Frenchman who earned the first game ball at 10-9 to take a 2-0 lead. Elshorbagy battled back to eventually take the game 14-12 and level the match up.
The pair then shared the next two games, both 11-9, to send the tie into a thrilling decider. The rallies throughout the third and fourth games were long and arduous, with both feeling the effects heading into the final game.
Despite Elshorbagy clearly feeling the effects of the rallies, he moved ahead on the scoreboard, looking sure to be booking his spot in the semis. Marche continued to push Elshorbagy into the corners of the court and continued to retrieve Elshorbagy’s attacks. Marche moved to 10-8, eventually winning 11-9 from a backhand drop to claim a third-ever win over the former World No.3 and reach a first career major semi-final.
“I had to wait almost 36 years to make my first semi-final in a Platinum, I just have to take some time to realise this,” said Marche.
“Because I have had so many battles in the past with Marwan, I lost so many of them in the fifth and when I was 7-3 down, so today I just tried to avoid all of those mistakes that I was doing.
“We had the same kind of match as well in Shanghai , I think I was 8-2 down and I came back to 9-9. But this time it is my turn, and that’s sport you know, one day it is yours and the other day it is not, all credit to Marwan today, I just love these kinds of battles and that is why I play squash, it is all about fun and I enjoyed it.
Marche’s opponent in the semi-finals will be World No.1 Mostafa Asal after he made light work of up-and-coming Englishman Jonah Bryant in three games.
Quarter -Final Results
Women’s: [1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [7] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 (37m); [3] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt [5] Sivasagari Subramaniam (MAS) 3-2: 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 (52m)
Men’s: [1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt Jonah Bryant (ENG) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-7 (42m); Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt [6] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) 3-2: 11-9, 12-14, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10 (82m)
