On another dramatic day at the Silicon Valley Squash Open, World No.6 Victor Crouin and Egypt\u2019s Farida Mohamed came through dramatic five-game encounters to upset the seedings and move into the finals. A maiden Gold event final for Mohamed and second successive Silicon Valley Open final for Crouin.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final match of the night saw two of the world\u2019s best male players go head-to-head for the fourth time this year, Victor Crouin looking to score a fourth win over Peru\u2019s in-form Diego Elias. The Frenchman started the better of the two, claiming the first game 11-3 to draw first blood. Elias responded in supreme style, carving the ball around the court and finding outright winners all over the court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fourth game saw increased referee interaction, resulting in a stop-start match. It was Crouin who managed his emotions best and stuck to his task. After claiming the fourth game, Crouin changed tactics and started to lift the ball away from Elias, which proved crucial. Elias\u2019 struggled to keep focus in the deciding game, much to the No.3 seed\u2019s delight as he ran through to claim the game 11-3 and move into a second successive Silicon Valley Open final and third final of the season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to be in the final again,\u201d said Crouin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnother tough one, going all the way to the fifth game. It definitely wasn\u2019t the best squash from either of us, with a lot of stop-and-start play and arguments with the referee, but as always, I\u2019m happy to find a way to get through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad I had my Dad in my corner today. I vented all my frustrations out to him and helped me keep my focus on court.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crouin\u2019s opponent in the final will be 19-year-old World Junior Champion Mohamad Zakaria. The Egyptian overcame former World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy in straight games to reach a second Gold event final of his career so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The women\u2019s final will see last year\u2019s runner-up Sivasangari Subramaniam take on World No.20 and 2022 Silicon Valley Open finalist Farida Mohamed. Egypt\u2019s Mohamed ended home hopes in the event tonight, beating Marina Stefanoni in a five-game clash to earn a spot in the final. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mohamed\u2019s aggressive game style shocked Stefanoni in game one as she raced to a 10-0 lead in the opener. After losing the opener, Stefanoni responded. Spurred on by the home crowd, the USA No.3 came back not once, but twice, winning games two and four to level the tie at 2-2. Despite the home crowd advantage, Stefanoni struggled to gather any momentum in the deciding game. Mohamed surged through to win the game 11-8 and book her spot in a second final in San Francisco. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a very tough one mentally, I would say,\u201d admitted Mohamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m okay physically but mentally it took a lot. A lot was happening. I tried to stay composed. I lost my mind a little bit but I just reminded myself that staying composed was going to get me the win. So, I\u2019m really proud of myself today.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mohamed will take on World No.4 Sivasangari in tomorrow\u2019s final after the Malaysian ended the run of Indian teenager Anahat Singh in four games. Singh came flying out the blocks to take the first game on day four but the quality of Sivasangari quickly shone through as she claimed the next three games with relative ease to advance to the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s: <\/strong>[3] Victor Crouin (FRA) bt [1] Diego Elias (PER) 3-2: 11-3, 7-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-3 (69m); [4] Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) bt [5] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) 3-0: 11-3, 11-7, 11-7 (44m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women\u2019s: <\/strong>[3] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt Anahat Singh (IND) 3-1: 5-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 (37m); [8] Farida Mohamed (EGY) bt [7] Marina Stefanoni (USA) 3-2: 11-3, 4-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8 (49m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On another dramatic day at the Silicon Valley Squash Open, World No.6 Victor Crouin and Egypt\u2019s Farida Mohamed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17021,"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":[44,264],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-17020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-uncategorized-en","tag-squash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\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\n\t\t