Day THREE and it’s quarter-finals day, featuring the top eight seeds …
[8] Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 3-0 [4] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 11-9, 11-2, 11-8 (26m)
[2] Joelle King (Nzl) 3-0 [7] Alison Waters (Eng) 12-10, 11-9, 11-6 (31m)
[6] Tesni Evans (Wal) 3-2 [3] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 1-11, 13-11 (68m)
[1] Nour El Tayeb (Egy) 3-1 [5] Laura Massaro (Eng) 11-7, 15-17, 11-4, 11-6 (52m)
Sobhy and King through to semis as Tesni downs SJ and Tayeb ends Massaro’s Manchester run
The first two quarter-finals finished in straight-game wins for Amanda Sobhy and Joelle King.
After edging the first game against Nouran Gohar Sobhy stormed through the second then recovered from an early deficit to take the third. King just about edged the first two games against Alison Waters before dominating the third.
Tesni Evans created the only upset of the round as she overcame Sarah-Jane Perry in a thrilling five-game battle – the match of the tournament so far.
Finally top seed Nour El Tayeb brought home favourite Laura Massaro’s Manchester playing career to an end with a four game win.
DRAWS & RESULTS TWITTER FEED LIVE SCORES PHOTO GALLERY
What they said :
Amanda Sobhy : “We haven’t played in a while and she just had a good result in El Gouna. I kind of knew what to expect from her, she is a relentless player, so you just kind of have to absorb it and chip at it.
“I grew up playing my brother, who smacks the ball a lot harder, so I’m kind of used to that. It’s been a long season and I just told myself to enjoy it and I’m just happy with how I played today.”
“It’s nice not to play the top three, which I have done for most of the season. The level is so deep at the moment that anyone can beat anyone on any given day and fortunately I showed up today.”
Joelle King : “I was 2-0 up so I didn’t want to give Al a sniff or allow her back into the match.
“I’m happy to be off in three. She was down and out in the fifth yesterday and she managed to come back and win. She is so dangerous when she goes for it and on this court her kills are pretty dangerous. I just tried to go for it and weather the storm when I could. I’m really pleased to stay strong at the end of each game. It was really close and that can be the decider in the match, so I’m pleased to be off in three.”
Tesni Evans : “We’ve played a few times! We played at European Teams last week and we played in Chicago, but both times SJ wasn’t at her best, so it was good for me to get those wins but to me it doesn’t matter until someone is back at their best. You can see SJ is back now and playing at her best and I’m just really happy that I got over the line.
“I was struggling at the end of the fourth and mentally just down, but I wasn’t going down without a fight, the problem is she doesn’t do that either, so it was just a battle to the end. You win some and you lose some, but I was just happy to get the win today.”
Nour El Tayeb : “I was happy to play Laura, I wanted to give her something to remember me by! It’s the last two tournaments for her and I have always looked up to her. I’d love to work with her one day, she is the most professional on tour, I wish I could have half of her career.
“I am very happy with my performance, Laura is retiring but you can see that she is still fighting. I’m very happy with my performance today and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
“I wanted to step it up the third. I was hoping that Laura would be a bit tired from the second game, like I was. Luckily I started well and that gave me a lot of confidence going into the business end of the third and fourth game.”
Laura Masaro :
“My best memory of playing in Manchester is probably the National Championships, it’s been the home of it for so many years and I grew up watching that event. It means so much to win a National title, with so much history and probably my proudest Manchester moments for me are winning my four National titles here.
“I played well in PSL on Tuesday. Yesterday and today being able to fight back against the World No.3 was my only goal really. When I announced my retirement, I didn’t want to have an events procession, I wanted to fight hard, play well and put a few blows into the top five girls in the world and I’ll be looking to do the same thing at the British Open.”
Mini-Gallery : all and more in the main gallery …
You can WATCH LIVE on SquashTV / EuroSport Player, follow the Live Scores and Twitter Updates, check out photos in the Gallery, and we’ll have match briefs here on Today with a roundup to follow.
