Amina Orfi (Photo PSA)
World No.3 Amina Orfi has reached the quarter-finals of the PSA World Championships for the first time after a commanding display saw her beat England’s Jasmine Hutton in straight games at Egypt’s Golf Central Palm Hills.
Orfi had suffered three consecutive last-16 exits at the sport’s biggest tournament coming into this year’s event, but was imperious in her first performance on the glass court this week. The 18-year-old scored an 11-6, 11-1, 11-4 win to set up a quarter-final match with Japan’s Satomi Watanabe.
“I feel great, it’s my first match on the glass and I’m really happy and pleased with how I played,” said Orfi afterwards.
“My matches in the first two rounds were on the side court [at Palm Hills Club]. I just wanted to play on the sides and not have to play one on the glass, then go and play on the sides and then come back on here. It would kind of let me lose the rhythm sometimes.
“I’m actually really excited for the quarters. It’s my first time playing in the quarters at the World Champs.”
Elsewhere, Watanabe came back from a game down to beat No.13 seed Nada Abbas, while World No.1 Hania El Hammamy is also through after beating Hong Kong’s Sin Yuk Chan 11-5, 11-2, 11-5.
El Hammamy will play Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam for a place in the last four, with Sivasangari dispatching Belgium’s Tinne Gilis in straight games.
“I didn’t feel like my opponent wanted to play rallies at all, and she wanted to take the ball in short whenever she had the chance, so I had to be on my toes,” El Hammamy said.
“I needed a high ‘T’ position to get those balls back, and it was hard work. It’s going to be a tough battle [against Sivasangari]. It’s the World Championships, she just had a huge win 10 days ago, and she’s playing really well. We’ve played against each other since juniors, I have had so many battles with her, and I’m sure we’re going to have loads to come.”
In the men’s event, World No.1 Mostafa Asal is still on course to retain his World Championship title after overcoming Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas, with an 11-4, 11-5, 11-5 sending him through to the quarter-finals.
His opponent will be No.5 seed Joel Makin, who followed a brutal five-game battle with Colombian veteran Miguel Rodriguez in round two with another testing win against No.12 seed Aly Abou Eleinen.
“I’m so happy that he’s lifting his flag the way he is, Mexico is one of my favourite countries and to have someone closing in on the top 10 and contending at Platinum events is really good for squash,” said Asal.
“Joel and I have been playing some good squash matches over the years. Our battles are really entertaining, from the physical side and also from the squash side. When it turns into the physical side it turns into WWE. Hopefully not this time because he just played 10 games in his last two.”
No.3 seed Diego Elias continued his attempts to win a second PSA World Championship after he held off a late fightback from Egypt’s Yahya Elnawasany. The Peruvian marched into a 2-0 lead but looked to be struggling a little bit physically as Elnawasany came back and threatened to send the match into a fourth.
However, Elias held firm and his victory will see him take on No.8 seed Mohamad Zakaria in a repeat of last month’s El Gouna International final. Elias beat Zakaria 3-0 on that occasion, but admitted he is expecting a tough match coming into their quarter-final clash.
“It’s going be a tough one, he’s very hungry. I know he’s going come and play his best. I’m just going to recover and try and be at 100% in a couple of days,” he said.
“It was a tough one today against Yahya. He was playing at a very high pace and the conditions were a bit warmer today, so it was a tough one.”
THIRD ROUND RESULTS
Men’s: [1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt. [13] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-5 (61m); [5] Joel Makin (WAL) bt. [12] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) 3-2: 11-4, 9-11, 1-11, 11-7, 11-7 (73m); [8] Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) bt. [15] Fares Dessouky (EGY) 3-1: 11-13, 11-8, 11-7, 12-10 (83m); [3] Diego Elias (PER) bt. [24] Yahya Elnawasany (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 (44m)
Women’s: [1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt. [30] Sin Yuk Chan (HKG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-5 (27m); [5] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt. [9] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-5, 13-11, 11-3 (38m); [6] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt. [13] Nada Abbas (EGY) 3-1: 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6 (43m); [3] Amina Orfi (EGY) bt. [15] Jasmine Hutton (ENG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-1, 11-4 (33m)
