British Open SFs: El Sherbini Battles Past El Tayeb In Four Games

World No.1 Nour El Sherbini moved a step closer to her fifth title at the British Open after seeing off the threat of Egyptian compatriot Nour El Tayeb in four games to advance to the final. 

El Sherbini had won 19 of the pair’s 25 matches on the PSA World Tour prior to today, and she extended this run in impressive style, recording an 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 11-4 victory in 47 minutes of action. 

Despite the close-looking scoreline of the opening game, El Sherbini dominated the exchanges for large periods, taking the middle of the court away from El Tayeb and forcing her onto the back foot. No.5 seed El Tayeb rallied from 9-5 to 9-8 down, but El Sherbini kept her cool to move a game up after nine minutes. 

‘The Warrior Princess’ continued to attack with pin-point precision in the second game, recording 16 winners to El Tayeb’s eight by the time she had doubled her advantage and moved within a game of the title decider. 

El Tayeb refused to go down without a fight though, moving into a 7-5 lead in the third game with some patient squash into the back two corners and later saving a match ball at 10-9 down. An uncharacteristic error into the tin from the top seed at 10-10 gifted El Tayeb her first game ball of the match, and the Egyptian didn’t need asking twice, taking the encounter to a fourth game to the delight of the packed house within The Rep Theatre. 

A number of brutal, physical rallies followed early in the fourth, with El Tayeb sticking with the World No.1 in the early phases of the game. However, it was El Sherbini who managed to regain her composure and find her targets at the back of the court as the game progressed, advancing to her sixth final at the British Open in just under 50 minutes of action. 

After the match, El Sherbini said: “It was very hard because we are very close friends and we have been together since we were ten years old. What she is doing is unbelievable after giving birth and making it at the top level. She has been pushing nearly everyone, and it is really good to see her in the semi-finals. It is hard to put the friendship aside, but once we get on court, everyone wants to win. That’s our game and that’s our sport.

“I just wanted to get back to my game plan [after the third game], get back to my targets again. She’s a fighter, she gets everything back and she keeps running everywhere. I just tried to be focused again and be focused on what I should do. I have lost a game almost in every game this week, so I just tried to start again as though it was the first game and try to win every point. 

“It never gets old [reaching a final], and you always feel the nerves, but I just try to put the nerves aside and focus on my squash.”

Result: 

[1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt [5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) 3-1: 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 11-4 (47m)