Pittsburgh Open – Semi-finals: Stats & Preview

We’ve reached the semi-final stage at the Pittsburgh Open Silver event taking place from the Rivers Club in Pittsburgh, USA. Several shock results have blown the draw wide open for two of four men to reach tomorrow’s final.

Entertaining Egyptian Mohamed Abouelghar has only recently returned to PSA World Tour action after his knee injury kept him out for a full year, but he’s found top form again and after beating No.4 seed Tarek Momen and Wales’ Joel Makin, finds himself up against in-form Diego Elias for the second successive tournament for a spot in the final.

World Champion Ali Farag was also returning from injury but was beaten by compatriot Youssef Soliman who many will say was due a big win over a top ranked player based on recent performances. Soliman will take on fellow Egyptian Marwan ElShorbagy, who needed five games to defeat Mazen Hesham to move into the final four.

Play starts at 14:00 (GMT-5) and will be shown LIVE on SQUASHTV. Live scores are available to track here.

Pittsburgh Open – Semi-Finals: Order of play

Abouelghar v Elias

The return of former World No.7 Mohamed Abouelghar has been well anticipated with the Egyptian making sure he was full ready to return to top level action and I think we can all say that he is more than ready. After downing former World Champion Tarek Momen in RD2, he then backed up that performance to dispatch Wales’ tough competition Joel Makin in three games to book his semi-final place.

Elias has been in terrific form all season and showed that once again in the quarter finals as he took the all-South American battle with Miguel Rodriguez in three comfortable games. The Peruvian is hunting down a hat-trick of World Tour titles and if he wins the event will become there new World No.2 in Monday’s rankings.

Soliman v ElShorbagy

A big win was due for Egypt’s Youssef Soliman, the squash he has been playing of late has been from the top drawer but he just hadn’t been able to get over the live. No such scenario happened yesterday as he overcame World Champion Ali Farag in five games, winning a nail-biting fifth game 16-14. The only question heading into tonight’s semi-final is how much that match took out of the 26-year-old physically.

Marwan ElShorbagy repeated the win from the his only successful final last night as he defeated the always entertaining Mazen Hesham in five games to book his semi-final spot. ‘The Jackel’ will certainly have his eyes on the prize now and another final appearance would take him one step closer to the top 5 fight at the top of the world rankings.

The Egyptian pair have met three times already this season with ElShorbagy winning all three matches in sometimes quite argumentative style. Soliman hasn’t been able to maintain his concentration and has been guilty of paying too much attention to the movement of his opponent rather than the squash he can play. But with the confidence that Soliman is playing with, could this be a big chance for Soliman to reach his biggest final to date.

Here’s what time the action starts wherever you are: