Hania El Hammamy stunned World No.1 Nouran Gohar with a spectacular performance to reach the final of the Egyptian Open squash championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Egyptian took down her fierce rival in front of a packed crowd at the pyramids to earn a final with 18-year-old World No.5 Amina Orfi, who took out giant-killer Fayrouz Aboelkheir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men’s final, meanwhile, will be contested by the world’s top two players, with both Mostafa Asal\u00a0of Egypt and Diego Elias of Peru fighting back from a game down to defeat Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad and France’s Victor Crouin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World No.3 El Hammamy, an Egyptian Open champion in 2022, has ‘enjoyed’ a long-running rivalry with fellow Cairo native Gohar, with the pair meeting some 34 times during their careers, most of which were fiery encounters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gohar had won 24 of those battles, though El Hammamy will have taken confidence from her recent form, with the 25-year-old defeating Gohar in the semi-final of the PSA World Championship this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an incredible performance tonight, El Hammamy completely dismantled ‘The Terminator’ to record her first ever straight-games victory over her Egyptian compatriot, taking Gohar down 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 for a win that will see her rise to World No.2 next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Afterwards, El Hammamy said: “I’m definitely happier to win 3-0 against Nouran than to reach the final.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s so tough to beat Nouran in three. It’s so big for me and it’s all credit to her, she asserted this toughness so I’m so happy and it’s very special.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El Hammamy will face compatriot and rising star Orfi, who will be hoping to capture her first Diamond-level title after crushing Aboelkheir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aboelkheir, 19, earned headlines yesterday with a stunning win over World No.2 Nour El Sherbini, but could not lay a glove on her old rival from the junior circuit, with Orfi swatting her aside 11-1, 11-3, 11-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men’s event, the squash world will be eagerly awaiting another title bout between the undisputed heavyweights of the modern game after comeback wins for both Asal and Elias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reigning World No.1 and defending CIB Egyptian Open champion Asal looked edgy early on against in-form 2016 world champion Karim Gawad. Gawad deservedly took the opening game 11-9 only for Asal to respond with two 11-9 wins of his own before finding his best squash in a dominant 11-1 game four victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elias, too, had to fight back from a losing position, with the World No.2 – who won the PSA World Championship in Cairo last year – going down 5-11 in game one before striking back 11-9, 11-3, 11-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Women’s Semi-Finals<\/strong>: [3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 (49m); [4] Amina Orfi (EGY) bt [11] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) 3-0: 11-1, 11-3, 11-6 (32m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Men’s Semi-Finals<\/strong>: [1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [6] Karim Gawad (EGY) 3-1: 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-1 (64m); [2] Diego Elias (PER) bt Victor Crouin (FRA) 3-1: 5-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-6 (58m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hania El Hammamy stunned World No.1 Nouran Gohar with a spectacular performance to reach the final of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,7],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-3411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","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