The first four semi-finalists at this year\u2019s US Open Squash Championships have been decided, with 2023 champion Nour ElSherbini coming back from a game down to beat England\u2019s Georgina Kennedy in the standout match this evening at Philadelphia\u2019s Arlen Specter US Squash Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ElSherbini has had a difficult start to the season with last 16 exits at the Qatar Classic and Silicon Valley and fitness issues, and it looked like those problems could be set to continue for the eight-time World Champion after a confident Kennedy took the opening game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, ElSherbini rose to the occasion, with vintage performances in the next three games seeing her claim an 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-2 win to reach her 10th US Open semi-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was challenging myself to come to this tournament, I was doubting whether I would come here or not,\u201d said ElSherbini afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been struggling and not playing my best. I wanted the momentum of the matches more than the results, I know I\u2019ve had some bad losses but I need to keep going. Maybe this tournament can be an opening for what\u2019s going to come next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been here for many years and made it to many semis and finals. Every match matters, I haven\u2019t had the best start to the season and it\u2019s my first semi-final of the season, so that\u2019s why it means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ElSherbini will lock horns with World No.1 Amina Orfi in a repeat of May\u2019s PSA World Championships final after the 19-year-old defeated Malaysia\u2019s Sivasangari Subramaniam in straight games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sivasangari is the only player who had beaten Orfi in her previous 31 matches coming into today\u2019s match but was powerless to stop the in-form Egyptian from advancing to the next round. Orfi has won all three of the tournaments she has played this season and will be full of confidence going into tomorrow\u2019s match with ElSherbini, having beat her in four of their last five matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know that she\u2019s been playing well and she beat me twice last season,\u201d said the reigning World Champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always tough playing her and she\u2019s the first to qualify [for the LA28 Olympic Games], so she has confidence and momentum. She\u2019s been beating top players and going to five with Hania [El Hammamy], so she is dangerous. I told myself that I\u2019m the No.1 for a reason now and I have that extra experience to close these matches out, so I\u2019m happy with how I played today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men\u2019s event, 2022 champion Diego Elias defeated three-time winner Mohamed ElShorbagy to set up a mouthwatering meeting with World No.1 Mostafa Asal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
35-year-old ElShorbagy caused the upset of the tournament so far when he beat World No.4 Mohamad Zakaria in the previous round and continued to roll back the years against Elias. The Englishman went toe-to-toe with Elias for much of the match, but Elias eventually prevailed by an 11-4, 9-11, 11-1, 11-5 margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been playing a lot but my body feels good, I\u2019ve been enjoying playing the last few weeks, and I\u2019m very happy to reach another semi,\u201d Elias said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLast week I thought he wanted to give his body a rest [in Canada], but I knew he would play today like he was 100 per cent, and it was a good match like that. I\u2019m feeling pretty good, it\u2019s going to be another good match in two days [against Asal]. We\u2019ve played a lot of semis and finals over the last couple of years, it will be a really tough match, so I just need to recover and get ready for that one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asal was on fine form as he defeated World No.8 Joel Makin, winning 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 to stay on course for a third US Open title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing, Joel is a tough player and I\u2019m sure that he still hasn\u2019t recovered [from injury] and is still carrying something,\u201d said Asal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut it was a good match overall and enjoyable. I did a great job containing him and I had the edge physically. He got a bit tired when he was up in the score (in the second game), so I made sure I kept the rallies going and kept putting the ball away from the tin. Even if I lost the third game, I would have had the confidence that he would get tired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s Quarter-Finals (Top Half): <\/strong>[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [8] Joel Makin (WAL) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 (54m); [3] Diego Elias (PER) bt Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) 3-1:11-4, 9-11, 11-1, 11-5 (49m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women\u2019s Quarter-Finals (Top Half): <\/strong>[1] Amina Orfi (EGY) bt [5] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 3-0: 11-8, 11-1, 11-8 (43m); [3] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt Georgina Kennedy (ENG) 3-1: 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-2 (40m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first four semi-finalists at this year\u2019s US Open Squash Championships have been decided, with 2023 champion Nour<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17462,"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-17459","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\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