Incoming World No.1Hania El Hammamy’s perfect start to the season came to a shuddering halt as the Egyptian fell to Japanese World No.7 Satomi Watanabe in the semi-finals of the China Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El Hammamy, who will rise to the top of the PSA World Rankings tomorrow, was one of three high seeds who crashed out on a gripping night at the Shanghai Xian Xia Tennis Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Going into their match tonight, El Hammamy boasted a brutal 7-0 record against Watanabe, with their last meeting a 3-0 victory for the current World No.2 less than a month ago in the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That record looked immediately under threat, though, with Watanabe – who had endured a disappointing start to the season – finding her targets perfectly as she stormed into a 2-0 lead against a shell-shocked El Hammamy through 11-7, 11-6 wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El Hammamy improved in game three, matching excellent defensive and attacking work with better consistency as she dragged herself back into the match with an 11-8 game three win and looked to have righted the ship when she took the fourth 11-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an epic final game, though, Watanabe was able to re-establish her sure touch from the opening bouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Japan No.1 attacked from the off, targeting the front perfectly and forcing errors from El Hammamy to earn three match balls at 10-7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El Hammamy saved one to send nerves fluttering, but Watanabe held firm, pushing El Hammamy off balance with a well-disguised attacking boast to clinch her spot in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Afterwards, she said: “I still can’t believe it. There’s a lot I want to say, but I’m just really happy and I’m trying not to forget this feeling \u2013 like the first step you take back on court when you’re a junior. Beating her gives me confidence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Watanabe will go up against No.3 seed Amina Orfi in the final tomorrow after the 18-year-old got the better of USA’s No.2 seed Olivia Weaver, with Orfi qualifying for her third final in a row after a 3-0 win against the American.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men’s final will be an all-Egyptian clash between World No.25 Mohamed Abouelghar and World No.8 Youssef Ibrahim, with Abouelghar overcoming No.3 seed and World No.7 Marwan ElShorbagy and Ibrahim fighting through a brilliant five gamer with 18-year-old Mohamad Zakaria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is something about the China Open that brings the best out of Abouelghar, with the 32-year-old winning the event in 2018 and finishing runner up last year. Today was a continuation of that theme, with the Egyptian at his mercurial best to outclass former World No.3 ElShorbagy 3-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked why the China Open brought the best out of him, Abouelghar admitted: “I don’t know why! But I feel very good playing here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Since the beginning of the season, I feel like I was playing well, definitely better than last season. I feel like it took me some tournaments to get to a good level but I’m getting better every tournament, and I’m happy it’s all clicking here!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ibrahim, meanwhile, had to pair his trademark flair with real grit as he overcame a spirited Zakaria – who had defeated reigning champion Mohamed ElShorbagy in the quarter-finals – in 78 minutes of top-quality action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Semi-final Results: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Women’s: <\/strong>[4] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bt [1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) 3-2: 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 4-11, 11-8 (60m); [3] Amina Orfi (EGY) bt [2] Olivia Weaver (USA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 12-10 (46m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Men’s:<\/strong> [6] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) bt. Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) 3-2: 11-5, 11-7, 6-11, 8-11, 11-6 (78m); Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt. [3] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8 (46m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Incoming World No.1Hania El Hammamy’s perfect start to the season came to a shuddering halt as the Egyptian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6097,"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":[7],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-6095","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