Growthpoint Open: LOCAL FAVOURITE MILNAY LOUW Reaches Final

A capacity Cape Town crowd witnessed breath-taking squash on Women’s Day as local favourite Milnay Louw booked her final berth, while the first and second seed sset up a mouth-watering clash in the men’s draw.

In the game of the day, second seed Youssef Ibrahim battled back from two games down again to take the victory over third seed Ahmed Hosny. For the second day in a row, Ibrahim started slower than his opponent, losing 11-8, 11-4, but once again showed strength of character to battle back and win the next two 11-8, 11-8 to set up a nail-biting final game. As was expected it went down to the wire, with Ibrahim facing match point at 10-9, before saving it and winning the next 3 points to take the victory 12-10.

After the tense five-gamer in the first men’s semi-final, the second match was a bit more straightforward. Lucas Serme justified his No.1 seeding to take a straight games victory over local favourite Tristan Eysele, 11-2, 11-1, 11-5. The result set up a dream final as the first seed, Serme, will play second seed, Ibrahim, on Saturday.

Cape Town local Milnay Louw continued her good form in the first game of the day to ensure that at least one South African would be represented on finals day the Growthpoint SA Open with a 3-1 victory over Marie Stephan (FRA). Louw won the first 11-7 but Stephan immediately levelled the match with same score. However, that would be the last game Stephan won as Louw frustrated the French international to win the next two 11-6, 11-7 and book her place in the final.

In the other women’s semi-final, third seed Menna Hamed upset first seed Salma Yousseff 3-1 to set-up an interesting final versus local favourite Louw.

Hamed started the stronger of the two players as Youssef seemed to be struggling to get into a rythym on the all glass court in the V&A Waterfront. Hamed won the first two 11-6, 11-6 to put herself in the best possible position for winning the match. Yousseff fought back in the third game to show she wasn’t going down without a fight, winning it 11-8. The fourth game was again a tight affair but, in the end, Hamed came out top to win 11-8.

Saturday’s action will see both finals take the court, with action starting at 15:30 at the V&A Waterfront.

Results: Growthpoint S.A Open – Men’s Semi-Finals
[1] Lucas Serme (FRA) beat [4] Tristan Eysele (RSA) 3-0: 11-2, 11-1, 11-5
[2] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) beat [3] Ahmed Hosny (EGY) 3-2: 8-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10

Results: Growthpoint S.A Open – Women’s Semi-Finals
[3] Menna Hamed (EGY) beat [1] Salma Youssef (EGY) 3-1: 11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8
(5) Milnay Louw (RSA) beat (6) Marie Stephan (FRA) 3-1: 11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7

Draw – Men’s Final: To be played August 10th
[1] Lucas Serme (FRA) v [2] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)

Draw – Women’s Final: To be played August 10th
[3] Menna Hamed (EGY) v [5] Milnay Louw (RSA)