First Singapore semi-final spot belongs to Nele Gilis

An intense tie between Nele Gilis and Rowan Elaraby opened up play on quarter finals day at the OCBC Arena with both players determined to reach the semi-finals of the PSA Gold event.

The pair both showcased their exceptional movement and hitting power in the early stages, exchanges that were won by the Belgian as she ran out to a 4-1 lead. Elaraby battled well to equalise at 4-4 but couldn’t continue this momentum as Gilis narrowed the angles to reach 10-5. Despite a comeback from Elaraby, the No.3 seed sealed the opener.

It was Elaraby who started the better of the two in the second game, playing accurate, aggressive squash to lead 4-1. Gilis started to fight back in the game and regained her concentration to peg Elaraby back and move ahead to 10-8. The Egyptian put together two strong rallies to equalise at 10-10 and put Gilis under some serious pressure ad against anyone else, would have won the rally, but the movement of Gilis was too strong. The Belgian captured the second game 13-11 to take a 2-0 lead.

The hitting from Gilis was unrelenting as she made her move in the mid stage of game three. She gave Elaraby no clear opportunities to attack, forcing the Egyptian to look for angles, which resulted in errors. Gilis mopped up game three 11-5 to record her first 3-0 win over Elaraby and make her way through to the semis.

“It’s always edgy against Rowan because she’s such a good player,” said Gilis.

“She’s definitely one of the most talented players on tour and if you leave anything in the middle she will finish it so i’m glad that I managed to stick to my game plan and win.

“It feels amazing to win. Now I can forget about last years quarter final loss. I love playing here and I’m excited to have another semi-final to play.”

Result:
[3] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt [6] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 13-11, 11-5 (49m)