Grasshopper Cup: El Hammamy Beats Gilis to Set Up El Sherbini Rematch

Hania El Hammamy set up a repeat of last year’s Grasshopper Cup final, beating Nele Gilis to book a final matchup with Nour El Sherbini.

The young Egyptian was beaten here by El Sherbini in last year’s final, as she was at the U.S. Open Presented by TRUIST last week, but now has a shot at revenge. 

Coming into the match, El Hammamy had only lost one of her previous eight matches with the Belgian, most recently beating her 3-0 en route to that U.S. Open final, and raced out to a 4-0 lead in game one. 

Gilis grew into the game on the back of some uncharacteristic errors from the No.2 seed, particularly on the backhand drops, but the Egyptian still had enough quality to close out the game, taking it 11-9 on a clinical backhand drive to end a long rally. 

Hampered by a nose bleed, Gilis struggled to keep pace with El Hammamy in game two, a winner on another long rally at 5-1 down being a rare highlight in a game she lost 11-4. 

The third game was more of an even contest as Gilis threw everything she had at her opponent, but El Hammamy dug in from 6-5 down to win six of the next seven points and book her spot in the final. 

“It’s always tough playing against Nele, it’s always physical,” she said, moments after victory. 

“We just had a quarter-final battle at the US Open 10 days ago. It was very tough as well, very physical, so I was ready for it and prepared myself for it. 

I’m over the moon to get it done in three. I didn’t want it to go to a fourth or a fifth. It’s already physical playing against her, even playing and winning 3-0 is still physical.” 

Looking ahead to the final against her compatriot, El Hammamy added: “It’s always tough playing against Nour, for sure.  

“She’s the World No.1, she’s the world champion, so it’s never easy playing against her, but it really depends on me, and how I’m playing on that day. 

“Last week, it was a bad day for me in the final of the U.S. Open, so I’m going to make sure I give it a fight tomorrow and I’m not going to let it go easy like last week.” 

Result: [2] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [3] Nele Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-9, 11-4, 11-7 (47m)