England No.1 Georgina Kennedy staged an epic comeback to book her place in the semi finals of the Swedish Open squash championships, recovering from 2-0 down against Rowan Elaraby at the Gymnastik & Idrottshogskolan I Stockholm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elaraby, who produced a sublime fightback of her own from 2-0 down yesterday against Hollie Naughton, made a blistering start against Kennedy by taking the first two games 11-3, 11-9. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 26-year-old appeared to be feeling the effects of her five-game, 54-minute thriller in round two, as Kennedy took advantage of her opponent\u2019s restricted movement to level the match, winning the third and fourth games both by an 11-4 scoreline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kennedy completed the turnaround in just under an hour, closing out the decider 11-4 to book her place in tomorrow\u2019s semi finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the way I fought there. The second game was really crucial, but I felt as though I was getting momentum,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t panic today because I\u2019ve had a few times where she\u2019s absolutely blitzed me before in the first game, so that experience helped me settle down today. I found it really difficult to find my targets in the back at the beginning. I feel from changing from the traditional courts to the glass courts is difficult \u2013 I struggled in Qatar as well. I didn\u2019t want the same thing to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRowan and I always have really good matches. She\u2019s coming in off a horrific injury, so I really respect her and the way she fights every single time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kennedy faces Amanda Sobhy for a place in the final tomorrow afternoon after the U.S. No.2 swept aside Hana Ramadan 3-0. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, top seed Fayrouz Aboelkheir and Nele Gilis will square off in the second women\u2019s semi-final after they defeated Nadien Elhammamy and Lucy Turmel, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aboelkheir, who had beaten Elhammamy just a few weeks ago at the QTerminals Qatar Classic, dominated throughout against her Egyptian compatriot, taking a comfortable 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 win. Gilis\u2019 accuracy into the back corners were troublesome throughout for Turmel as the Belgian recorded a 11-7, 5-11, 11-5, 11-4 success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men\u2019s event, No.1 seed Mohamad Zakaria came through a stern test from Declan James to move into the last four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zakaria, taking on James for the first time on Tour, looked to extend the rallies throughout their 55-minute tussle, with World No.23 James coming into today\u2019s encounter off the back of a bruising 74-minute round two clash with Kareem El Torkey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
James stood toe-to-toe with the Egyptian teenager, however Zakaria\u2019s quality ultimately proved decisive as he secured a 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s [Declan James] so experienced; he showed it yesterday to come back against Kareem [El Torkey],\u201d he said post-match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew he had to be moving \u2013 if he wasn\u2019t, he\u2019d be in front of me, and he\u2019d be so good from that area. I tried to really focus on being in front and showing my shots. It was a bit of back and forth in areas when I couldn\u2019t do that, but I\u2019m just glad I managed to do it otherwise it could have been a lot tougher for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m playing freely. It\u2019s a great tournament. The way that we\u2019re being looked after is making me want to play even better so thank you to everyone behind the scenes who are putting this event on and making it so great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zakaria takes on former World No.3 Marwan ElShorbagy next after the Englishman delivered an impressive performance to beat Yahya Elnawasany 3-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second men\u2019s semi-final pits Joel Makin up against Leonel Cardenas following their wins over Gregoire Marche and Mohamed Abouelghar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Makin was relentless throughout his 11-6,11-3, 11-3 triumph over the Frenchman, while Cardenas eased his way into a 2-0 lead before Abouelghar failed to convert his game ball chance in the third, as the Mexican pounced by clinching his match ball opportunity in the tiebreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Results <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s Quarter Finals<\/strong> Women\u2019s Quarter Finals<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" England No.1 Georgina Kennedy staged an epic comeback to book her place in the semi finals of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-16240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-squash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
[1] Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) bt Declan James (JAM) 3-0: 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 (55m)
[3] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) bt \u00a0[6] Yahya Elnawasany (EGY)\u00a0 3-1: 11-4, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3 (43m)
[5] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) bt {4] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-4, 12-10 (40m)
[2] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [7] Gregoire Marche (FRA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-3, 11-3 (41m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[1] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) bt Nadien Elhammamy (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 (29m)
[4] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt {6] Lucy Turmel (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 5-11, 11-5, 11-4 (59m)
[3] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt Hana Ramadan (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 (29m)
[2] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt [5] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) 3-2: 3-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (58m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n