British Open QFs: Clinical El Hammamy Surges Past Gilis

World No.3 Hania El Hammamy booked her spot in the semi-finals of the British Open after defeating World No.8 Tinne Gilis in a clinical three-game performance. 

El Hammamy, the 2022 British Open champion, delivered a tactical masterclass to negate the attacking weapons of Gilis and advance by an 11-6, 11-7, 11-9 scoreline. 

The head-to-head record was heavily in El Hammamy’s favour entering the encounter, having won all nine of their prior meetings on the PSA World Tour, and the Egyptian played with the confidence of a title contender on the all-glass court at The Birmingham Rep Theatre. 

Gilis, who is renowned for her attacking prowess on the backhand volley drop, was starved of her favourite shot throughout the 39-minute match, with El Hammamy lifting smartly onto the forehand wing of her opponent whenever dragged into the front two corners. 

After falling two games down, the Belgian No.2 began to find her feet, pushing herself up the court and keeping pace to 5-5. Another mini-resurgence followed from the Belgian, taking four straight points with some aggressive squash to draw parity from 9-5 down. However, a comeback wasn’t to be, with El Hammamy keeping her cool to advance to her fourth semi-final at the British Open. 

After the match, El Hammamy said: “I can’t take anything for granted against her. We’ve played so many times, and even though she hasn’t got a win against me yet, it is always a tough match. To be honest, in the last game, I felt like I was enjoying myself lots, I was 9-5 up and I started to run too much and enjoy it too much. I had to be very careful with that.

“Every time I lost a couple of points I looked up into the crowd and just tried to enjoy myself on court, and I’m definitely looking forward to tomorrow’s semi-final against on this court.”

On her relationship with coach Laura Massaro, she added: “It’s the first time for me to be working with a woman and I never knew how important it was until I tried. She’s been understanding me really well with everything that has been going on both on and off the court, so it’s been a bonus for me.”

Result:

[2] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [7] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-6, 11-7, 11-9 (39m)