British Open Semi-Finals: Gohar Downs King To Reach Fourth Consecutive British Open Final

World No.1 Nouran Gohar is into the British Open final for the fourth consecutive time after she produced a clinical display to defeat New Zealand’s Joelle King.

‘The Terminator’ had won the last seven meetings between the pair, with five of those wins coming in semi-finals. They did battle at the Black Ball Squash Open last month, and Gohar won in four games on that occasion.

It was much more simple this time for the Egyptian, the 2019 British Open champion. Her pace and power hitting was too much for the Kiwi in the early exchanges, and King could only muster three points in the opening game of their contest.

The second game was closer, but only after the World No.4 had fought back after losing seven of the opening eight points. King came close to scraping it, but Gohar won it 11-9, and then went on to dominate the third. She dropped just a single point in the third game, and she moves through to a fourth consecutive British Open final.

“Coming into the semi-final, I had it in the back of my mind that the PSA keep reminding me that if I lose this then I’ll lose my World No.1 spot! They’ve reminded me about four times this week!” Gohar exclaimed.

“I wanted to win anyway, even if it had nothing to do with the ranking. I wanted to get into a fifth British Open final, which is big for me. My goal is to win it and I’m just taking it a match at a time. 

“All credit to Joelle [King] – she’s played amazing squash this week and I had to be on my toes to bring something higher than an ‘A’ game and be ready for everything she was going to throw at me. She’s had her whole team here so it gives her a lot of support and in my mind I was ready for a fight.

“In two of the finals I’ve been in, I’ve lost in five 11-9 and that was heart breaking. I have more experience of losing the final than winning one! I just want to learn and be ready, but there’s no pressure. I want to win it and I’ve won it before, but I would do anything to win a second one. 

“I think they’re going to go for a big match tonight [Nour El Sherbini and Amanda Sobhy]. Amanda is playing really well and has been playing well all season, and Sherbini, you can’t take anything away from her. She’s the most experienced player on tour right now and they’re both great players, both very tricky players. It’s going to be a hard match against either of them but I’ll be ready for it.”

Result:
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [4] Joelle King (NZL) 3-0: 11-3, 11-9, 11-1 (33m)