American star Sobhy stuns Gohar to reach Doha semis

Seventh seed Amanda Sobhy of the US on Wednesday stunned top seed Nouran Gohar of Egypt in straight games to reach the semi-finals of the $187,500 QTerminals Qatar Classic squash championship.
A five-time national champion, the 30-year-old American won 12-10, 11-9, 11-1 in just 32 minutes.
In the semi-finals, Sobhy will meet Hania El Hammamy who edged Gina Kennedy of England to seal her spot in the last-four. Egypt’s El Hammamy took 49 minutes to beat Kennedy 11-1, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10.
Second seed Nour El Sherbini of Egypt beat Belgium’s Nele Gilis in four games to reach the semi-finals. El Sherbini won 11-0, 11-4, 8-11, 11-6 in 45 minutes on the Glass Court at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
In the semi-finals, El Sherbini will meet Belgium’s Tinne Gilis who took four games to beat Egypt’s Salma Hany. Gilis won 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 in 57 minutes.
“It was a long time coming, we’ve played a lot of times and our head-to-heads have been close, but since 2019 she’s beaten me,” a delighted Sobhy said after the impressive win. “Every time I play her, I’m not afraid anymore. I want to play her because it gives me that much more confidence going in against her,” she added.
“I was excited to know that I was going to face again here in Qatar after last week in Paris. I learned a lot in Paris and I translated it into Qatar, hopefully you can see a different version of me, especially emotionally. I’m so pumped,” she said. “I sometimes get off to a slow start and with her pace it’s easy to get blown out of the court, but even when I was 10-6 down, I felt like I was still in it and I just thought that I had nothing to lose.
“It felt very relaxed and I just wanted to go out there and take it to her and I’m just glad it paid off,” she said. On her telephone celebration, Sobhy added: “I saw that at the US Open, Ben Shelton did it, then (Novak) Djokovic did it on Ben Shelton and I just absolutely love the savageness of it, so when I saw that happen I was like, ‘I have to do it, I have to do it’ so that’s been my incentive to want to do it so it might be getting old, but I’m going to roll with it – it’s working.”
After her hard-fought match, El Hammamy said on Wednesday: “I bet everyone wanted it to go to five, (but) especially not myself and I’m not sure about Gina, but I’m definitely pleased to get through in four. It’s very dangerous playing against her because both of us are extremely physical so if you don’t get your tactics right then you’re going to be in trouble. “I got myself in trouble in the last two games. I thought I played really well in the first two games and got my tactics right and got my targets correct. Definitely I’m positive today after being able to push and find a way in the fourth.
The Cairo-born 23-year-old added: “I think there’s a lot of things that I need to focus on for tomorrow. It’s a positive performance and I’ll keep in mind the things I need to do tomorrow.”
“I’m pretty much speechless at the moment,” Gilis admitted after beating Hany. “For me, it’s always the hardest moments when you’re so close and yet so far. You have to think that she could still come back and it could go either way so I had to focus, which is something that I struggle with at these crucial points,” Gilis added.
“I just said to myself, ‘just keep the rally going, don’t rush anything, just pretend it’s 5-5, but don’t think you’re match ball up and just try to keep your focus’.

ElShorbagy, Hesham reach men’s quarter-finals
In the first men’s round three match of day five in the QTerminals Qatar Classic, England’s Mohamed ElShorbagy beat Youssef Ibrahim in an 81-minute epic and Mazen Hesham defeated his fellow Egyptian Aly Abou Eleinen to book their places in the quarter final. Later in the day, Diego Elias defeated Youssef Soliman in straight games.

RESULTS
Men’s Round Three
(3) Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) 3-2: 6-11, 11-6, 16-14, 8-11, 11-7 (81m)
(6) Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-2, 11-6 (33m)
(2) Diego Elias (PER) bt Youssef Soliman (EGY) 3-0: 11-3, 11-2, 11-5 (38m)
(9/16) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 3-1 (9/16) Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9 (43m)
Women’s Quarter-Finals:
(7) Amanda Sobhy (US) 3-0 [1) Nouran Gohar (EGY) 12-10, 11-9, 11-1 (32m)
(3) Hania El Hammamy (EGY) 3-1 (8) Gina Kennedy (ENG) 11-1, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10 (49m)
(9/16) Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-1 [9/16) Salma Hany (EGY) 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 (57m)
(2) Nour El Sherbini (EGY) 3-1 (6) Nele Gilis (BEL) 11-0, 11-4, 8-11, 11-6 (45m)