El Gouna International Day Six: Frenetic Finish Sees El Sherbini Beat Gilis

In the opening match on day two of the quarter finals, Egyptian World No.1 Nour El Sherbini cruised past Belgium’s Tinne Gilis to reach her third consecutive El Gouna International semi final.

The 2021 champion, who went into the match with a 4-0 record against World No.14 Gilis, made a dream start against the Belgian No.2, taking the first six points as she eased into the lead with an 11-4 win in game one.

Gilis, who was playing her first match on the red hot glass court after being on the traditional courts earlier in the tournament, looked better in the second game, getting in front more and playing her attacking shots well.

After a bright start for the Belgian, however, El Sherbini regained the ascendency. The 27-year-old moved through the gears well to go from 7-6 down to taking the second game 11-7.

In a bizarre third game, El Sherbini raced away to a 10-3 lead, only for Gilis to throw caution to the wind and save six match balls, before the Egyptian eventually ended things with an 11-9 win.

“It’s very tough actually,” El Sherbini said afterwards.

“Maybe I lost a bit of concentration and wasn’t focusing on what I was supposed to do. She was just focusing on what she needed to do and was fighting until the last point. I’m a bit frustrated with what happened in the last game, but thankfully it didn’t go any further than this and I won it in the end. I don’t know what would have happened if I’d lost it.

“You never stop learning, you keep learning and I’m definitely going to learn from this one. I’m going to review it with my coaches and talk about what was happening. I’m definitely going to learn from it!”

On her coach, Gregory Gaultier, also being Gilis’ coach, she said: “Yes, he was sitting and not [able to] coach either of us. I’m lucky I have my coaches here, they’ve been my lifelong coaches and they know me more than anyone.

“All my coaches are working towards the same goal in the end and just having one of them in my corner gives me huge support.”

Result
[2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-4, 11-7, 11-9 (39m)

Watch the other quarter finals live on SQUASHTV or follow the scores on the PSA Live Scores page.