Elaraby & Elias Score Impressive Wins As Paris Squash Quarter-Finals Get Underway 

World No.8 Rowan Elaraby and World No.4 Diego Elias claimed statement wins on day four of Paris Squash 2024, defeating Nele Gilis and Karim Abdel Gawad to progress to the semi-finals of the Platinum-level event. 

Elaraby, 24, started the first night of quarter-finals action from the Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione with a shock straight games victory over No.4 seed Gilis, before current World Champion Elias delivered a superb all-round performance to see off the ever-dangerous Karim Abdel Gawad in four games. 

No.8 seed Elaraby’s victory over Gilis, which she secured by an 11-9, 11-5, 12-10 scoreline, ensured that she advanced to the semi-finals of a Platinum event for the third time in her career. 

Throughout the 41-minute encounter, Gilis struggled to read the wide variety of attacks Elaraby had at her disposal, with the Egyptian volleying whenever possible and taking up an aggressive position on the ’T’. 

Despite seeing three match balls slip from her grasp in the third game, Elaraby managed to take the subsequent tie-break to seal victory.

After the match, Elaraby said: “It’s never going to be easy to win [against Nele], even if you were to have ten match balls. She never gives cheap points and I had to stick to my game plan to get the win.

“I think my vision towards the game has changed recently with the help of my coaches. I’m more free when I’m on court, I play however I want to, and that is what has changed my game.”

Elaraby will face defending champion Nour El Sherbini in the semi-finals after the World No.1 held off a comeback from No.5 seed Olivia Weaver to win in four games. The top seed, who raced into a two-game lead with some sublime squash, had to dig deep in the crucial moments to stop Weaver from forcing a deciding game, fighting back from 8-5 down in the fourth game to seal victory. 

Meanwhile, in the men’s event, No.4 seed Elias displayed the kind of squash that saw him win the PSA World Championships last season, defeating former World No.1 Gawad by an 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-2 scoreline. 

In a match jam-packed with quality, it was Elias’ disciplined and highly accurate squash which won the day, with the ‘Peruvian Puma’ holding off a barrage of winners from Gawad in the opening two games, before moving into the ascendancy as the match entered it’s latter stages. 

After claiming his semi-final spot, Elias said: “It was a really tough match today against Karim [Abdel Gawad]. He played really well in the last round, so I knew it was going to be tough and it was. He made me run a lot, but I’m happy with what I did, I was moving well and I’m happy with that performance.”

Elias’ opponent in the semi-finals will be World No.1 Farag, after he battled past long-time rival Mohamed ElShorbagy in four games. The top seed and defending champion was forced to produce some high-quality squash on his way to his fourth straight victory over ‘The Beast’, taking the win after 51 minutes of play. 

The bottom half of quarter final action gets underway at 18:30 (GMT+2) on Thursday, 19 September. All the action will be available to watch live on SQUASHTV, with live scores found by clicking here.

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