CIB Egyptian Open Day Four: Evening Roundup

On the last session for round three of the CIB Egyptian Open, Sana Ibrahim reached the quarter-finals of a major event for the first time in her career, Nouran Gohar and Paul Coll made short work of Amanda Sobhy and Eain Yow Ng, and Mostafa Asal progressed after Youssef Soliman retired injured early in game one.

21-year-old World No.32 Ibrahim, who stunned World No.4 Nele Gilis in the second round, was dominant in her match against Nour Heikal, who was playing her sixth match of the tournament after going through three qualifying matches to reach the main draw.

In the opening game, both players played almost exclusively at the front of the court, resulting in a rapid-fire shootout that was decided as much by who made fewer errors as who put in dangerous shots.

After edging the first game 11-9, Ibrahim began targeting the back, instantly exposing her opponent’s lack of experience, with Ibrahim delivering a crushing 11-1 scoreline to double her lead.

After consultation with her coaches between games, Heikal was better able to deal with her opponent’s gameplan. However, after building a narrow lead, she faltered, with Ibrahim capitalising as she sealed a historic win with an 11-6 victory.

“I’m so happy and proud of myself. At the last tournament of the season, I was injured and it was bad for me, I lost in the first round. So, this summer I had lots of support, my physios and coaches here and my family here and in the US, who I know are watching now,” Ibrahim said.

“Nour has had an incredible tournament, coming through the qualifiers. Well done to her, she’s played incredibly and I’ve not played her since juniors. We always played in the juniors and it was always tough. She would attack all the time and I had to focus every point, because she’s so tricky. She attacks all the time. I tried to focus and playing good squash and feeling good on the court.”

On playing Nada Abbas in the next round: “I had so many messages on social media about how high my ranking could go. I tried not to focus on this, because I would get so nervous. Nada’s incredible, we were training together last week and we’re at the same club. Her comeback was incredible. I don’t have anything to lose, I’ve done well so far this tournament and will rest and chill.”

Also through in the women’s draw was world champion Nouran Gohar, who was up against USA’s Amanda Sobhy.

Although Sobhy impressed in her second round win over Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold, her lack of competitive practice – with Sobhy absent from the Tour for over last eight months with an Achilles injury – showed, with the American a clear second best throughout the contest.

Gohar cruised into the lead with an 11-6 win in game one, with the former World No.1 not letting up as she took the second 11-5 and the third 11-3.

“Obviously, a player like the calibre of Amanda coming back from injury, it’s very impressive. I don’t think many people can do this, it shows the mentality obviously. And I like playing opponents like this, it fires me up and brings the best out of me. I think I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of player and in terms of court and usually you expect one thing or the other but this time it was all unexpected!”

In the men’s draw, Paul Coll eased past Eain Yow Ng in a one-sided match.

Eain Yow, who entered the court wearing strapping on his leg, struggled to deal with the blustery conditions on court, with Coll reading the blustery court conditions better and on top throughout, taking the match 11-5, 11-6, 11-2 in 33 minutes.

“The wind’s swirling around out there and it’s hard to get your length. I was underhitting in the first two sets. I was definitely working out some kinks out there, getting used to the conditions, which are different to what we normally play in. In that sense, it felt like a completely new match.

“I’m happy with how I finished when I started to find my range.”

On his wedding to World No.4 Nele Gilis during the summer, he said: “Amazing, we had a great two weeks. The wedding was better than we could have imagined, but we didn’t go on honeymoon, we started training the day after we got back. We’re ready and feeling fit and we’re going to go on our honeymoon next year, so we’ve had a full summer’s training and the body’s feeling good, worked on a lot of stuff and looking forward to trying to put it in this season.”

Asal also booked his spot in the last eight, with his match against Youssef Soliman lasting just two minutes after Soliman, who had been struggling with an injury ahead of the match, retired hurt.

Afterwards, Asal said: “I’m shocked, I didn’t expect this at all. I know these kind of injuries, we are all suffering and it is still at the beginning of the season, so I wish him a speedy recovery. I think it must be something bad happening because Youssef is a great fighter. When we share the court together it is a pleasure for me, because he is a great player and an entertainer.

“I wish him a speedy recovery, hopefully he will be ready for the next event. It was something happening in his wrist, he couldn’t hit the ball as much.”

On his upcoming quarter-final against Mohamed ElShorbagy, he added: “Mohamed is a great player, he’s a legend of our sport. Hopefully it will be a great match. We always fight on court but we are friends off it. He’s one of the players I have looked up to, so hopefully it’s a great match and I win.”

The quarter-finals of the CIB Egyptian Open begin tomorrow (Tuesday 03 September) from 19:00 (GMT+3).

Watch the 2024 CIB Egyptian Open live on SQUASHTV. For more information on the CIB Egyptian Open 2024, follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Results: 2024 CIB Egyptian Open Women’s Round Three (Evening Session Two)
Sana Ibrahim (EGY) bt. Nour Heikal (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-1, 11-6 (28m)
[2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt. Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 (35m)

Results: 2024 CIB Egyptian Open Men’s Round Three (Evening Session Two)
[3] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt. Youssef Soliman (EGY) 3-0: 2-1 ret. (2m)
[2] Paul Coll (NZL) bt. Eain Yow Ng (MAS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-2 (33m)