Randburg Open QF: Wood and Khafagy Set Up Surprise Semi-Final

South Africa’s Cheyna Wood and Egypt’s Nour Khafagy will meet in a surprise semi-final at the PaybyFace Randburg Open on Saturday afternoon.

Due to shocks elsewhere, No.7 seed Wood, who won the Assore/Balwin Johannesburg Open on home soil earlier this year, has defeated two unseeded players to make it this far. Alexa Pienaar overcame the No.4 seed in the second round, and Wood then defeated Pienaar in straight games to make her way into the semi-finals.

She will now face Khafagy, who got the better of No.2 seed Nour Megahed earlier in the competition. In the last eight, the Egyptian defeated No.8 seed Helena Coetzee, also in straight games, to book her place in the semi-finals. The other match in the last four of the women’s draw will see top seed Elisa Romba take on Ukraine’s Anastasiia Kostiukova in an all-European battle.

Meanwhile, in the men’s event, the top four seeds all safely made it through their quarter final encounters. That sets up two French-South African battles in the last four. Home favourites Dewald van Niekerk and Jean-Pierre Brits both won in four on Friday, and will now face top seed Edwin Clain and No.2 seed Toufik Mekhalfi in the semis, respectively. 

The semis of the PaybyFace Randburg Open will take place on Saturday, October 22. The last four in both draws will do battle in an attempt to reach the finals of the Challenger 5 level competition.

Men’s Quarter Final Results: PaybyFace Randburg Open
[1] Edwin Clain (FRA) bt Shamil Wakeel (SRI) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 (36m)
[3] Dewald van Niekerk (RSA) bt Yusuf Elsherif (EGY) 3-1: 8-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-8 (81m)
[4] Jean-Pierre Brits (RSA) bt [7] Laszlo Godde (FRA) 3-1: 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7 (49m)
[2] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) bt Tristen Worth (RSA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 (37m)

Men’s Semi-Final Draw: To Be Played Saturday, October 22
[1] Edwin Clain (FRA) v [3] Dewald van Niekerk (RSA)
[4] Jean-Pierre Brits (RSA) v [2] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA)

Women’s Quarter Final Results: PaybyFace Randburg Open
[1] Elisa Romba (FRA) bt Shahd Elrefaey (EGY) 3-2: 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 13-15, 11-8 (50m)
[3] Anastasiia Kostiukova (UKR) bt [5] Lilou Brevard-Belliot (FRA) 3-0: 13-11, 11-6, 11-8 (29m)
[7] Cheyna Wood (RSA) bt Alexa Pienaar (RSA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-3 (21m)
Nour Khafagy (EGY) bt [8] Helena Coetzee (RSA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-5, 13-11 (28m)

Women’s Semi-Final Draw: To Be Played Saturday, October 22
[1] Elisa Romba (FRA) v [3] Anastasiia Kostiukova (UKR)
[7] Cheyna Wood (RSA) v Nour Khafagy (EGY)