Reigning champions Nouran Gohar and Diego Elias progressed to the semi-finals of the PSA World Championships presented after wins over Japan’s Satomi Watanabe and Egypt’s Youssef Soliman on a day of one-way victories in Chicago.
World No.1 Gohar will renew hostilities with arch-rival and World No.3 Hania El Hammamy following a comfortable 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 victory over World No.11 Watanabe, who was the first Japanese player ever to appear in the last eight of the sport’s most prestigious tournament.
“I just tried to mix it up a bit,” said Gohar after reaching her sixth successive World Championships semi-final.
“She’s a very dangerous opponent and we’ve been playing a lot lately. I like to be challenged and I like to have to figure out the puzzle, even if it’s out of my comfort zone, it helps me to improve every time.
“Everyone is here to win, that’s the goal. A week ago it was only winning the first match that was the goal. Now I’m in the semis you look ahead more and you’re more excited for what’s going to happen, but it’s just another match I have to prepare for and I’ll be up for it.”
El Hammamy and Gohar will now meet for the 32nd time on the PSA Squash Tour, with Gohar leading 22-9 on their head-to-head record.
El Hammamy is yet to reach the final of the PSA World Championships, but has now reached the last four for the third time in a row after beating World No.14 Abbas 11-6, 11-5, 12-10.
The 24-year-old will aim to halt a run of form which has seen her win just one of her last nine matches against the world’s leading female player, though she did beat Gohar in the final of January’s J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions.
“I know how hard I’ve worked to improve [dealing with the nerves], two years ago the nerves would show to everyone off court,” El Hammamy said.
“I’m trying not to show it to my opponent or the crowd, I still have work to do to not show any nerves, but it’s normal, we’re playing in the World Championships and everybody is going to be nervous. It’s a matter of who can control their emotions and their nerves.
“I’m sure she [Gohar] will be nervous as well. No matter how well you’re playing on the day, if you’re emotional then you’re going to lose. If the other player is slightly stronger than you mentally she will find the edge. I think I need to prepare myself mentally rather than with the squash. We’re both going to kill ourselves and we’ll play for as long as it takes to reach that final.”
Meanwhile, Elias continued his attempts to become the first South American to win the World Championships on two occasions as he saw off World No.11 Youssef Soliman in straight games.
The World No.3’s semi-final opponent will be World No.2 and four-time World Champion Ali Farag.
“It’s been a long time since my last match and it feels like a new tournament and I’m happy I could close it in three,” said Elias.
“We’ve [Elias and Farag] played so many times now. We know each other very well, it’s another semi-final and I think we’ve played eight times this season. I’m just happy to play again against him, it’s always a pleasure to share the court with him and hopefully I can do what I did last year in Egypt.”
🤩 That is brilliant from @AliFarag & @TkMomen! #PSAWorldChamps pic.twitter.com/5opCCyzRIX
— PSA Squash Tour (@PSASquashTour) May 15, 2025
Elias beat Farag at the same stage of last year’s PSA World Championships but has won just five of their 34 matches on the PSA Squash Tour. Farag earned his spot in the semi-finals this year after beating 2019 World Champion Tarek Momen 3-0.
“I thought I moved well, I played well and I was in the right zone,” Farag said.
“People think it’s a lucky draw to get a walkover [in the previous round due to Leonel Cardenas’ injury] but it’s actually nerve wracking because you’re out of the rhythm and you don’t want to be out of rhythm against Tarek [Momen]. You have to have every inch of your rhythm because if you get an imbalanced game plan then Tarek is the best at it.”
Results – Men’s Quarter-Finals (Top Half): 2024-25 PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [5] Tarek Momen (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 (35m)
[3] Diego Elias (PER) bt [9] Youssef Soliman (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-1, 11-8 (41m)
Draw – Men’s Quarter-Finals (Bottom Half): To Be Played May 15th
[4] Paul Coll (NZL) v [7] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG)
[6] Karim Gawad (EGY) v [2] Mostafa Asal (EGY)
Draw – Men’s Semi-Finals (Top Half): To Be Played May 16th
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v [3] Diego Elias (PER)
Results – Women’s Quarter-Finals (Top Half): 2024-25 PSA World Championships presented by the Walter Family
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [11] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 (43m)
[3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [14] Nada Abbas (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 12-10 (41m)
Draw – Women’s Quarter-Finals (Bottom Half): To Be Played May 15th
[4] Olivia Weaver (USA) v [7] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)
[8] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Draw – Women’s Semi-Finals (Top Half): To Be Played May 16th
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY)