CIB Egyptian Open Day Four: Afternoon Roundup

World No.17 Nada Abbas came back from two games down to delight the home crowd and reach the quarter-final of the 2024 CIB Egyptian Open thanks to a battling performance against World No.9 Sivasangari Subramaniam.

Malaysian Sivasangari, who famously defeated World No.s 1 and 3 Nour El Sherbini and Hania El Hammamy at last season’s London Classic, was dominant early on in the proceedings today, racing into a 2-0 lead inside of 20 minutes.

Egypt’s Abbas fought back brilliantly, though. The 24-year-old, who lives just 15 minutes from Club O West and was loudly backed by friends and family, struck back in game three as she escaped an 8-9 deficit to clinch it on a tie break

From here, confidence seemed to ebb from Sivasangari, with Abbas – who now had the wind in her sails – drawing level with an 11-9 win and then taking the decider 11-7.

Afterwards, Abbas said: “The old me would have over thought and got frustrated at myself. But today at 0-2 down I was like ‘okay I’m 0-2 down, let’s forget it and play game by game, point by point and see how that goes. Even if I was going to lose I didn’t want to lose like this. I want to give a good fight.

“So I’m glad I was able to hold myself and focus and get the win at the end.

“We’d only played a couple of times and that was a long time ago but we trained a lot together. We grew up together I was aware of her skills and how tough she is, so I’m really, really happy to be through.

“I’m really glad I had all my friends here cheering for me. They were hyping me up and cheering for me every point so I’m very glad and grateful they were here.”

Also into the last eight is Rowan Elaraby, with the Egyptian No.7 seed surviving a rocky start to beat Scotland’s Georgia Adderley.

World No.33 Adderley went toe to toe with World No.8 Elaraby early on, dropping the first game 9-11 but then reversing the scoreline in game two.

Elaraby then began to find her marks better, securing a pair of 11-6 wins to take her through.

“I was a bit nervous today playing Georgia because I know how good of a player she is,” Elaraby said

“I’m really happy with the way I fought today. I’m really happy with the way I kept pushing, I kept playing well. Actually, I needed a match like this, especially in the first tournament of the season. Because the nerves are always there, you don’t know what to expect from yourself.

“I’m really proud of myself. I know I’m not there yet on where I want to be. I’m proud of myself for showing up every day in training, trying to be better, not only for myself but also for the people around me.”

In the men’s event, ElShorbagy brothers Marwan and Mohamed were in fine form on court, with Marwan overcoming France’s Victor Crouin and Mohamed beating India’s Ramit Tandon.

Up first was Marwan, who was targeting revenge after a defeat to Crouin in their last match, a 3-2 epic at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions.

The Englishman looked sharp on court from the first rally today, finding his range early on and playing some excellent squash as he took a 2-0 lead.

ElShorbagy then went two match balls up in game three only for a valiant effort from Crouin to stymie him, with the Frenchman getting a foothold in the match with a 12-10 win.

ElShorbagy, however, did not let the setback derail him, and he successfully booked his spot in the quarters with a comfortable 11-6 victory in game four.

Afterwards, he said: “I’m happy with the win over Victor. He’s a great player and beat me last time at TOC. I definitely didn’t want to lose again today. I respect him a lot. He’s the type of player who’s always learning and trying to improve, learning from his mistakes and trying to figure out the game and I respect that about him.

“I played very well, to be honest. I was very solid from the first point and didn’t want to give him a chance to get into the match and he was digging in, the way he came back.

“To be honest, I didn’t think I did much wrong in the third, I thought he played well and put the pressure on, put me under pressure. I made a couple of mistakes but not the wrong mistake. Then I came back in that fourth game and played well.  I love the way I came back in the fourth game and didn’t let what happened in the third let me down.

“I’m happy overall with the two wins I’ve had and am looking forward to my day off and a chance to play the quarter-final in this amazing venue!”

Mohamed, meanwhile, progressed in straight games, though he was severely tested by India’s Tandon.

After taking game one 11-8, ElShorbagy saved two game balls in game two en route to a 12-10 win.

Despite the setback, Tandon continued to test the former World No.1, but could not get the better of ElShorbagy’s defences, with the English No.1 closing out with an 11-9 win in the third.

“This is a new Ramit, for sure,” ElShorbagy said.

“I’ve never seen him aggressive before. From the first point, I don’t mean he was arguing with the ref as such, but he was questioning the decisions. He wanted to show me he really wanted to win. It was not done in a rude manner, but he was showing he wanted to win. 

Before, it was always Ramit the skilful player, a bit soft, like a nice player to watch, getting some wins from time to time but not aggressive enough to keep it going.’ But today, even when I was 2-0, he really went back hard at me in the third, and that’s the discussion we had. ‘This is a new Ramit’, I told him, ‘I’ve never seen you aggressive like that before!’

“And to be honest, it’s great to see!

“I’m so lucky to have Vito [Ahmed Shohayeb] helping me in this tournament. There is a great connection between him and Greg [Gaultier] as Vito has been coaching Nour El Sherbini for years, they are working together a lot.

“On top of that, Vito is like a big brother to me from Alexandria. He see me growing up when I was a kid in Alexandria, and I watched him playing in his junior career as well. So we go way way back. I called him yesterday, and asked him ‘would you be with me in this event?'”

Results: 2024 CIB Egyptian Open Women’s Round Three (Afternoon Session Two)
Nada Abbas (EGY) bt Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 3-2: 5-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7 (63m)
[7] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) bt Georgia Adderley (SCO) 3-1: 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6 (50m)

Results: 2024 CIB Egyptian Open Men’s Round Three (Afternoon Session Two)
Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) bt. Victor Crouin (FRA)3-1: 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-6 (48m)
[8] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) bt Ramit Tandon (IND) 3-0: 11-8, 12-10, 11-9 (49m)

The evening session of day four of the CIB Egyptian Open is live on SQUASHTV at 19:00 (GMT+3). For more information on the CIB Egyptian Open 2024, follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.