Manchester Open Quarters: El Tayeb Fights Back; Momen Secures First Semi-Final Spot

2020 Manchester Open winner Nour El Tayeb came from behind to reach the semi-finals of this year’s event following her 3-1 win over Sivasangari Subramaniam.

Subramaniam picked up where she left off in yesterday’s round two victory over Rowan Elaraby in the opening game, with her attacking prowess earning her the first game.

An aggressive start in the second from El Tayeb was the perfect riposte to falling behind, charging into a 6-1 lead, before taking the game 11-8.

World No.6 El Tayeb turned it up a notch in the third as she nudged ahead for the first time in the match, and she made another strong start to the fourth.

However Subramaniam pegged the score back to eight-all before play was halted for a lengthy period following a blood injury sustained by the Malaysian when El Tayeb accidentally caught her on the nose.

Subramaniam was able to return to court for what proved to be the final couple of points, with El Tayeb wrapping up the match to advance to the last four.

“Everything was going good (until the long break in play for a blood injury),” El Tayeb said on court post-match.

“It was a tough match because she played with different tactics to what I’m used to and it was hard for me to beat her today. She kept coming back – the last two times when I had a good lead she would let the game go, but today she didn’t.

“I’m happy that I kept digging in – it was a tough match and I got a lucky nic at eight-all in the fourth game. I was lucky in the last few minutes of the match. 

“Because we’re both in the middle, accidents can happen. I think I have a big swing, which doesn’t help as well. It was a pure accident – I think we hit each other three or four times during the match, but hopefully it’s nothing serious and she’s fine.

“I’m glad she’s playing well, she’s not been on tour for a while and that’s why her ranking dropped. She’s a very dangerous player, one of my favourite players and I’m happy to see her improve tournament after tournament.” 

Result
[3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 3-1: 9-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-8 (55m)

Tarek Momen battled back from 2-1 down to reach the semi-finals of the Manchester Open for the first time after getting the better of Nicolas Mueller.

Momen, who was a quarter-finalist in his maiden appearance at this tournament back in 2020, fell behind after Mueller clinched the first in a tiebreak where he saved two of Momen’s game balls.

The former World Champion delivered a much-improved performance in the second to draw level, but Momen required physio at the end of the game to treat a leg injury.

Momen returned on court for the third game, but Mueller showed terrific fighting spirit again to force a tiebreak before converting game ball himself at the first attempt to re-establish his lead.

But Momen, who’s never lost to Mueller on the PSA World Tour, came back with two excellent performances in the fourth and fifth games to overturn the deficit and book his place in the semi-finals.

Afterwards, Momen said: “Every win is something you don’t take for granted. I’m very happy to get through today. I think Nicky played really well today, especially in the first game of the match.

“I felt a bit short with my length and I struggled from the beginning to get my length into the corners. He took full advantage of that and cut off everything and made me do a lot of work. Maybe I wasn’t smart enough to find another way and I insisted on getting my length back and my doing that I ended up hitting a lot of balls in the middle and gave him a big advantage.

“At the same time I’m disappointed about letting the lead go in the third because that would have made things easier for me, but he played some brilliant squash to win that one. To take the positives out of this match, the fourth and fifth games I managed to be really sharp, I got my length right, my balance between front and back right and it was the way I wanted to play going into tomorrow’s match.

“Thankfully I had two good games before the match was over and hopefully I can take that with me tomorrow and build on that.” 

Result
[2] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt [7] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-2: 11-13, 11-7, 10-12, 11-4, 11-5 (60m)