Egyptian world No. 1 Raneem El Welily ended Amanda Sobhy’s run in the 2015 Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open in emphatic fashion Friday, defeating the U.S. champion 11-8, 11-2, 11-8 in twenty-two minutes.
The victory extends El Welily’s winning record against the American world No. 11 to 6-0.
“Everything was so quick, it was all played at a very high pace, ” she said, “and it the end it was just a few little things that made a difference, it might have been three-nil but it was closer than the score suggests.
“I just had to keep pushing myself to stay focused, I made a few errors in the third but I just had to keep going. Delighted to be in the semis, it should be exciting on the glass court.”
Top-seeded El Welily is joined in the semifinals by second-seeded Nicol David, third-seeded Laura Massaro and Omneya Abdel Kawy who upset fourth-seeded Camille Serme.
On the men’s side, Australian world No. 24 Cameron Pilley pulled off the biggest upset of Friday’s quarterfinals, taking out recently-crowned world champion and world No. 1 Gregory Gaultier 11-9, 12-10, 12-10 in forty-three minutes.
“That’s one win against him—ever—I’ll take that, ” said Pilley.
“I’m trying to just keep myself cool, calm and collected when I’m playing squash these days, and it seems to make me play much better, ” added Pilley. “It’s taken me fourteen years to realize that.”
The semifinals and finals are streaming live from the glass court, Saturday and Sunday respectively, on SquashTV and Tennis Channel Everywhere. Saturday’s semifinals begin at 3pm local time, 2am ET.
For more information and most recent updates, visit the official tournament page.
#HKOSquash
What a poor way to end off 2015. Wish I could’ve at least given her more of a challenge. Need to figure out how not to get chopped by her!?
— Amanda Sobhy (@itssobhytime) December 4, 2015
Happy with my performance tonight and looking forward to tmr! #RoughHead #2ndWinAgainstHim https://t.co/oOo5HuRR8L — Cameron Pilley (@campilley) December 4, 2015
