It’s semi-finals day at The Wimbledon Club as the last eight players remaining in the Optasia Championships prepare to duke it out for a spot in tomorrow’s finals at the Gold-level event in London, England.
Play gets underway at 16:30 (GMT) with all action live on SQUASHTV and on the PSA’s partner channels
Hania El Hammamy v Satomi Watanabe
In the first match of the evening, defending champion Satomi Watanabe will aim to upset the odds and end her five-match losing streak against World No.3 Hania El Hammamy.
After reaching the final of the Cotidie Texas Open in her last event, El Hammamy has been in imperious form in London, with the 24-year-old swatting aside Salma Eltayeb and Jasmine Hutton in straight games to reach today’s match. Watanabe, meanwhile, comes in battle hardened, with the 26-year-old World No.11 beating Kenzy Ayman 3-1 in round two and then fight back from 0-2 down to beat Amanda Sobhy in the quarter-final.
Despite Watanabe’s 0-5 record against El Hammamy, the Japan No.1 will draw confidence from the court and crowd, with Wimbledon the site of perhaps the finest tournament of her career to date last year when the then-World No.19 upset the odds to capture her first World Tour title with a win over then-World No.4 Nele Gilis-Coll.
Nada Abbas v Georgina Kennedy
Facing either El Hammamy or Watanabe in tomorrow’s final will be Nada Abbas of Egypt or English No.1 Georgina Kennedy.
The pair will have been watching each other’s matches intently all week having never met before on tour.
Both players have followed a similar path through to the semi-finals, with Abbas defeating Katie Malliff 3-0 in round one and then clinching a five-game epic against Melissa Alves via a tie break in the quarter-final. Kennedy, meanwhile, convinced in a 3-0 win over Nour Aboulmakarim to begin her campaign before coming through a back-and-forth encounter with Sana Ibrahim last night.
Mostafa Asal v Joel Makin
Expect no quarter to be given in the first men’s semi-final as Mostafa Asal – who will return to World No.1 if he wins the title – takes on British No.1 Joel Makin of Wales.
Asal and Makin have locked horns 13 times on tour, with their average match time over 67 minutes, and two of their previous encounters being over 90 minutes long.
The Egyptian has had the better of recent meetings, with Asal enjoying a seven-match winning streak against Makin and a 10-3 record overall.
Will Asal move a step closer to World No.1 with victory today? Or will Makin’s famed tenacity rise to the fore to spoil the party?
Mohamed ElShorbagy v Paul Coll
The last match of the day promises to be another classic as old foes Mohamed ElShorbagy of England and defending champion Paul Coll of New Zealand go head to head once again.
The pair have already clashed a whopping 21 times throughout hugely successful careers, with the duo of former World No.1s winning 79 titles between them.
ElShorbagy holds the superior overall head-to-head record with 14 wins to Coll’s 7.
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