Black Ball Open QF: Disciplined Gilis Defeats Dangerous Elaraby

World No.8 Tinne Gilis advanced to the Black Ball Open semi-finals after a disciplined four-game victory over Rowan Elaraby.

Gilis found her marks right from the offset, playing some tight lines and utilising her trademark backhand drop shot into the front left to good effect. The Belgian’s retrievals across all four corners of the court forced Elaraby into reducing her margins on her attacks, subsequently leading to a number of unforced errors from the Egyptian’s racket. 

After taking the opening game 11-5, Gilis raced into an 8-4 lead against a visibly frustrated Elaraby, and despite the latter mounting a comeback, held on to double her lead. 

Game three saw the match flip on its head, with Elaraby coming out with a new-found aggression and holding an extremely high ’T’ position. The No.5 seed powered her way through the third game, taking it 11-3.  

However, Gilis came out with a refreshed mindset at the beginning of the fourth, rediscovering her fundamental lines and lengths and pushing Elaraby into her own strength zones at the front of the court. Despite, Elaraby saving two match balls, Gilis wasn’t to be denied victory, advancing to the last four after 42 minutes of play.

After the match, Gilis said: “I’m very happy with the way I managed to refocus and reset in the fourth game. Rowan played a very good third game, but I’m very happy that I reset my mind and managed to come back.

“I feel like I had some good parts and some bad parts, where I hit completely the wrong shot. I am definitely happy with my front game. I really wanted to move her to the front today and I think that’s what I’m most happy about.

On her upcoming semi-final, she added: “Hana [Moataz] had a very good win over Amin Orfi yesterday, I was very impressed with her squash. On the other hand, Olivia [Weaver] is playing the squash of her life and it will need some very good squash to beat her.”

Result:

[4] Tinne Gilis (BEL) bt [5] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) 3-1: 11-5, 11-8, 3-11, 11-7 (42m)