Egypt and USA will contest the WSF World Squash Team Championship final for the second consecutive time after Egypt cruised past Belgium and USA played out a thriller with Malaysia on the stunning outdoor court at Hong Kong Football Club.
Prior to 2022, No.2 seeds USA had never been beyond the quarter-finals, but have now reached the final for the second time in a row after a hard-fought win over the No.5 seeds, who yesterday shocked five-time champions England.
Tonight’s win under the floodlights came as much from determination as racket skills.
With the string order 2-1-3, former World No.3 Amanda Sobhy – returning to her best after almost a year out through injury – was up first for the 2022 edition’s runners up.
World No.17 Rachel Arnold, who was soundly defeated by Sobhy three months ago at the Egyptian Open, was fired up in today’s clash and dominated for much of the contest.
Sobhy, though, called upon the resilience that saw her rise to World No.3, fighting back from losing positions several times and pouncing on mistakes made by Arnold to score a see-saw 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8 win.
“I’m just so proud of myself. I just didn’t want to lose and leave the team 1-0 down. Playing for a team just makes you dig so much deeper than you think. I’m happy to get the win for my teammates,” Sobhy said.
In the second match, Malaysian No.1 Sivasangari Subramaniam looked well set to have put her side level when she took a 2-0 lead against Olivia Weaver, with the American playing her first match of the tournament after injuring her back in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open last week.
To the roars of the US bench, Weaver finally found her rhythm in game three, reducing the deficit with an 11-5 win before pouncing on her demoralised opponent to sweep the next two games 11-2, 11-2 to complete the comeback and send her side into the final.
“I’m just so proud to get the win for my team. I don’t normally have this kind of support when playing on the PSA Tour, so I’m really grateful to have had Team USA out here cheering so loudly for me,” Weaver said.
Standing between USA and a maiden title are reigning champions Egypt, who will be hoping to win a fourth consecutive title after taking down European champions and first time semi-finalists Belgium.
The first match saw Belgium’s Tinne Gilis up against Egypt’s Hania El Hammamy.
Despite Gilis’ torrid 0-14 head-to-head record against El Hammamy, the Belgian was fearless, fighting back after dropping game one by saving multiple game balls in game two to level 12-10.
Gilis saved two game balls again in game three, but could not repeat her game two escape, with El Hammamy winning the tie break this time 12-10 to reclaim her lead.
In an exciting fourth game, El Hammamy was able to press home her advantage, recovering from a slow start to eventually clinch the third tie-break of the match 13-11 to give her side the lead.
“I was just thinking about Egypt, my team and my coaches. I needed to win it for them,” El Hammamy said.
The second match of the tie was entirely one-sided, with El Sherbini – who slipped from the World No.1 ranking at the beginning of the week to World No.2 – storming into a 2-0 lead after a five-minute 11-4 win in game one and an eight-minute 11-4 win in game two.
Coll competed better early on in game three, but soon faded, and El Sherbini confirmed her country’s spot in the final by closing out 11-6.
Afterwards, El Sherbini said: “It’s amazing being here [in Hong Kong, China]. I love it here and have been coming here for many years. It’s the first time I’ve come to Hong Kong Football Club and I love it. It’s amazing and the facilities are amazing!”
The men’s semi-finals will see defending champions Egypt play France at 17:30 (GMT+8) and Switzerland take on England at 19:00.
Watch the action live and free on WORLDSQUASH.TV and partner channels, including the Olympic Channel and HOY TV.