Adel and Meguid Claim Surprise Semi-Final Berths in Macau

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Egyptian duo Yathreb Adel and Omar Abdel Meguid will appear in the semi-finals of the 2017 Macau Open after they both claimed shock victories on the second day of main draw action at Centro de Bowling.

Cairo-born Adel, appearing at her first Tour event since January 2016, overcame two seeded opponents in the qualification stage before causing the shock of the tournament in round one with a sensational 3-2 win over top seed Raneem El Welily.

And the 21-year-old World No.229 continued her giant-killing run with a straight games victory over World No.19 Joey Chan, winning it by an 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 victory in 30 minutes to set up a last four meeting with New Zealand’s Joelle King.

“I can’t be any happier really. I knew it was going to be difficult as Joey is very skilful,” said Adel.

“I had to focus and stay in the lead throughout. There were times I lost a little concentration. I like to play on momentum and sometimes I get frustrated after losing a few points.

“I had to regroup and start all over again. I hope I’ll be able to play my game tomorrow and hopefully go another step further.”

King ousted Australia’s Donna Urquhart to reach a second successive Tour semi-final after she reached that stage at last month’s J.P. Morgan China Open.

Egypt’s World No.7 Nouran Gohar and Annie Au will face off in other semi-final fixture after respective wins over Tesni Evans and Mariam Metwally.

In the men’s event, it was plain sailing for the top seeds, with the exception of last year’s runner-up Max Lee, who fell to Meguid in a surprise 3-1 defeat.

The tall Egyptian started slowly and amassed just two points in a one-sided first game but he responded with wins in the next three games to claim a 2-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 victory.

“I’m one of the worst starters on Tour but I’m working on it,” Meguid said.

“I wasn’t mentally prepared to play the long, hard rallies in the beginning. Once I started doing that in the next game, I was much stronger and got a lot more patient. This is my second semis in Macau and I’ve always done well here, so I look forward to doing one better tomorrow.”

Compatriot Mohamed Abouelghar stands between Meguid and a place in the showpiece finale after he beat German qualifier Raphael Kandra, while Simon Rösner and Saurav Ghosal will meet in the other semi-final.

Rösner, the German World No.11, overcame former World No.3 Omar Mosaad in four games, with India’s Ghosal beating Hong Kong’s Tsz Fung Yip to seal his semi-final berth.

Results – Quarter-Finals: 2017 Men’s Macau Open
[1] Simon Rosner (GER) bt [5] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 3-1: 11-4, 10-12, 11-6, 11-9 (59m)
[4] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Yip Tsz Fung (HKG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (38m)
[7] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt [3] Max Lee (HKG) 3-1: 2-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 (40m) [2] [2] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt [Q] Raphael Kandra (GER) 11-3, 11-7, 11-5 (22m)

Draw – Semi-Finals
[1] Simon Rösner (GER) v [4] Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[7] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) v [2] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)

Results – Quarter-Finals: 2017 Women’s Macau Open
[Q] Yathreb Adel (EGY) bt [7] Joey Chan (HKG) 3-0: 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 (30m)
[4] Joelle King (NZL) bt [6] Donna Urquhart (AUS) 3-1: 10-12, 11-2, 11-7, 11-4 (35m)
[3] Annie Au (HKG) bt Mariam Metwally (EGY) 3-0: 12-10, 12-10, 3-0 rtd (35m)
[2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [5] Tesni Evans (WAL) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 (23m)

Draw – Semi-Finals
[Q] Yathreb Adel (EGY) v [4] Joelle King (NZL)
[3] Annie Au (HKG) v [2] Nouran Gohar (EGY)