Squash on Fire Semis: The Stats & How to Watch Live

It’s semi-finals day at the 2023 Squash on Fire Open, with four exciting matches taking place in Washington D.C. from 13:00 (GMT-5).

You can watch all the action live from Washington D.C. on SQUASHTV.

You can also keep up with the live scores from the event here.

Here’s the Order of Play for tonight
(All times are local GMT-5)

Tinne Gilis v Farida Mohamed

The day’s action begins with a mouthwatering fixture between Belgian top seed Tinne Gilis and Egypt’s No.3 seed Farida Mohamed, who will go head-to-head for the third time on the PSA Tour.

Their last meeting saw Mohamed win in five at the RMCLUB Women’s Open Presented by Expression Networks in 2022 as she captured her fifth PSA title.

Mohamed also won the match before that, this time securing a 3-1 victory in round one of the CIB Squash Open Black Ball in 2021.

Gilis will look to avoid making that a hat-trick of defeats to the Egyptian when the World No.13 lines up in her first PSA semi-final since November’s Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open.

Gilis is yet to drop a game in Washington D.C. having beaten Hong Kong’s Tsz-Wing Tong and England’s Katie Malliff to reach the last four. Meanwhile, Mohamed has achieved a pair of 3-1 victories over USA’s Marina Stefanoni and Egypt’s Sana Ibrahim to make it this far.

This match really could go either way – Gilis is the higher seed but Mohamed has shown in the past that she has the quality to unsettle the Belgian. It’s sure to be a cracker.

Victor Crouin v Iker Pajares Bernabeu

French No.1 seed Victor Crouin and Spanish No.8 seed Iker Pajares Bernabeu will contest the first men’s semi-final in what will be their first PSA meeting since 2017.

Pajares beat a then-17-year-old Crouin on home soil in the semi-finals of the Barcelona Squash Open six years ago, but much has changed since then, with Crouin rising 124 places in the rankings to sit inside the world’s top 10 today.

Pajares is also an improved player, having broken into the world’s top 50 since that meeting, but he will be up against one of the players of the season so far.

Since starting the campaign with three straight final appearances – including a title win at the Open de France de Squash – Crouin had dropped off slightly in the intervening months but returned to form earlier this month in Canada with a runner-up finish at the Oxford Properties Canadian Men’s Open.

Meanwhile, Pajares will line up in his first PSA semi-final of the season having overcome Portugal’s Rui Soares and Hong Kong’s Tsz Kwan Lau en route.

Crouin first had to navigate a tricky five-game battle against the unseeded Timothy Brownell in round two before ousting Egypt’s Moustafa El Sirty in a feisty quarter-final fixture. The Frenchman will now have his sights set on reaching his sixth final of the season.

Amina Orfi v Sabrina Sobhy

Undoubtedly the breakout star from this event, Egyptian wildcard Amina Orfi will appear in her first Bronze-level semi-final as her fantastic start to life on the PSA Tour continues.

Coming into this tournament, Orfi had won three of the four PSA events she had entered, while she booked her spot in the draw for this tournament after beating Caroline Fouts to win the Squash on Fire Wildcard Challenge last week.

What has followed has been nothing short of sensational, with the British Junior Open champion beating higher-ranked players such as England’s Lucy Beecroft, the returning Sivasangari Subramaniam and fellow Egyptian Nada Abbas to earn her semi-final berth.

The World No.84 has been remarkably consistent for one so young, winning 16 of her 17 matches to date on the PSA Tour. The only player to beat her – USA’s Sabrina Sobhy – will be her opponent in today’s semi-final.

Sobhy, who battled to a 3-2 win over Orfi in the opening round of last year’s CIB Egyptian Open, has ended a run of four successive last 16 exits and will appear in her first semi-final since November’s MARIGOLD Singapore Open.

The eyes of the squash world will be on Orfi to see if she can add another upset to her growing collection. Sobhy will have to be at her best if she is to avoid being the latest seed to be taken out by the precocious teenager.

Mohamed ElSherbini v Saurav Ghosal

The final match of the evening is the only fixture to feature two players who have never played each other on the PSA Tour.

No.2 seed Saurav Ghosal is on the verge of his first PSA final appearance since the Malaysian Open Squash Championships back in 2021 but has had to do it the hard way just to make it to the semi-final stage in Washington D.C.

First, he achieved a stunning comeback from two games down against England’s Nathan Lake in round two. That 86-minute epic was then followed up with a 3-1 win against Egypt’s Karim El Hammamy, which totalled 80 minutes in length.

Those gruelling matches for the 36-year-old could play into ElSherbini’s hands. 

The unseeded Egyptian has been something of a giant-killer this week and has overcome No.5 seed Dmitri Steinmann and 2015 World Championship runner-up Omar Mosaad en route to the last four.

Given the way their previous matches have gone – with two of ElSherbini’s matches also lasting longer than an hour – fans at Squash on Fire and watching at home on SQUASHTV could be set for a late finish to today’s proceedings.