Defending J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions champion Nour El Sherbini ended home interest after ousting USA’s Olivia Weaver to progress to the semi finals, while Frenchman Victor Crouin produced an eye-catching win to down Paul Coll.
The Egyptian World No.1’s experience came to the fore as she maintained her 100 per cent record against the last remaining representative for the USA.
Despite a positive start from Weaver, El Sherbini extinguished hopes of a semi final appearance on home court for the American as she pressed on to win 11-9, 11-4, 11-7 in 33 minutes.
“I’m feeling really good and I’m happy with my performance,” El Sherbini said.
“It was a tough match, to be honest – way tougher than last week [at the Florida Open]. There’s been a lot of rest days and quick matches in between.
“It’s a bit tricky [playing an opponent twice in the space of a couple of weeks] – she will have watched the match and would have wanted to change a few things in her game plan and I want to keep my game plan so it’s a bit difficult what to expect what was going to happen this time. I had my game plan and I thought I will see how it goes.”
El Sherbini will meet Hania El Hammamy for the fifth time this season in the last four on Wednesday after the World No.2 comprehensively defeated fellow Egyptian Fayrouz Aboelkheir.
El Hammamy was sharp from the off and upped the pace to make life difficult for Aboelkheir, who was appearing in a quarter final of a Platinum event for the first time in her career.
World No.2 El Hammamy forced some key errors from Aboelkheir’s racket, taking a 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 victory.
In the men’s draw, French No.1 Victor Crouin produced an immaculate performance to shock World No.3 Paul Coll and reach his first Platinum semi final since 2022.
Crouin, whose last appearance in the last four of a Platinum event came at the Qatar Classic in 2022, was tactically impeccable throughout as he claimed his first win over the New Zealander in almost two years.
After edging a monumental 32-minute opening game 16-14, Crouin proved to be too strong to keep Coll at bay and notch a 3-0: 16-14, 11-7, 11-5 triumph.
“We’re lucky to have a day off in between matches. I train hard every day for these kind of tournaments where I can play back-to-back matches so I’m not afraid to step back on court after two five setters,” said Crouin on court afterwards.
“I’m enjoying it out there so there’s no tension in my body, so I can recover faster and get ready for the next match.
“But it’s Paul Coll and he’s the fittest player on tour, he was on a really good streak of matches so I knew it was going to be tough. The last time I beat him was when he got to World No.1, so I thought I could do it again.”
What a finish, @VCrouin 🙌
Another lengthy rally in what has been a monumental opening game 🤯#TOCSquash pic.twitter.com/Ba4EoAvnJK
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) January 23, 2024
Two-time champion Ali Farag stands in Crouin’s way of a place in the final following his win against his compatriot Tarek Momen.
Farag, who won the event in 2019 and 2022, got the better of Momen for the third time this season having already beaten the former World Champion at the U.S. Open and the Qatar Classic.
The World No.1 capitalised on a number of errors from his opponent’s racket to go one game up before Momen deservedly levelled as he reduced the error count and started to find his targets. However Farag was back in control and began to force mistakes from Momen, which he swooped on to book a semi final spot by triumphing 3-1: 11-6, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8.
Results: J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions 2024 – Men’s quarter finals (top half)
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 (35m)