{"id":5989,"date":"2025-11-14T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=5989"},"modified":"2025-11-14T07:02:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T00:02:20","slug":"struggling-watanabe-rediscovers-best-squash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/struggling-watanabe-rediscovers-best-squash\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Struggling&#8221; Watanabe rediscovers best squash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japan&#8217;s World No.7 Satomi Watanabe rediscovered both her best squash and enjoyment for the game in a commanding victory over World No.15 Sana Ibrahim to reach the last four of the China Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watanabe has struggled with injuries and confidence in the first half of the 25\/26 season, often looking a shadow of the player who last season became the first ever Japanese player to qualify for the PSA Squash Tour finals, where she reached the semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last night, though, the 26-year-old found the sure touch that has been missing in previous months, playing some spectacular squash in Shanghai to overcome the in-form Ibrahim 11-9, 11-8, 11-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Afterwards, Watanabe was candid as she reflected on her form: &nbsp;&#8220;I&#8217;ve been struggling since the summer with my injury and I&#8217;ve been really, really struggling to find my squash until today and still going onto court today and doubting myself a little bit whether I can perform well or even be able to play squash in an enjoyable way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Today I felt like how I used to play last season.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watanabe will face Hania El Hammamy in the semi-finals on November 15th. The Egyptian, who will rise to World No.1 on Monday 17th November, swatted aside defending champion Rachel Arnold of Malaysia in a convincing performance that moved her to within two victories of a fourth consecutive title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Hania-El-Hammamy_compressed-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5991\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Hania-El-Hammamy_compressed-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Hania-El-Hammamy_compressed-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Hania-El-Hammamy_compressed-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Hania-El-Hammamy_compressed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Hania-El-Hammamy_compressed-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Hania El Hammamy (Photo PSA)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>In the the men&#8217;s event, only one match took place due to a pre-match injury to World No.1 Mostafa Asal, with No.3 seed Marwan ElShorbagy getting the better of rising star Kareem El Torkey in an entertaining and at times tense clash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ElShorbagy, who survived an epic five gamer with Gregoire Marche in the RO16, looked strong early on as he took the game to El Torkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The young Egyptian rallied in game two, though, upping the pace and firing past a seemingly tiring ElShorbagy to level 11-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From here, ElShorbagy&#8217;s tactical acumen came to the fore, managing \u2013 at at times frustrating \u2013 his younger opponent, with the Englishman re-establishing his dominance of game one with 11-8, 11-7 wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Afterwards, ElShorbagy said: &#8220;Kareem reminds me of myself a little bit at the beginning when I was coming up, everything was exciting for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s coming up very fast and is one of the nicest guys on tour and I really want to see him doing well and get into the top 10 and top five and I think he&#8217;s got a great potential.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Women&#8217;s Quarter-Finals<\/strong>: [1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt. Rachel Arnold (MAS) 3-1: 11-7, 11-1, 6-11, 11-6 (37m); [4] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt. [8] Sana Ibrahim (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-8, 11-4 (34m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Men&#8217;s Quarter-Finals: <\/strong>Mohamed Abouelghar [EGY] w\/o [1] Mostafa Asal [EGY]; [3] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) bt. Kareem El Torkey (EGY) 3-1: 11-6, 5-11, 11-8, 11-7 (44m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japan&#8217;s World No.7 Satomi Watanabe rediscovered both her best squash and enjoyment for the game in a commanding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5990,"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],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-5989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-squash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 5.0.1.1 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Japan&#039;s World No.7 Satomi Watanabe rediscovered both her best squash and enjoyment for the game in a commanding victory over World No.15 Sana Ibrahim to reach the last four of the China Open. 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