World No.1s Survive Scares on Egyptian Open Day Three

World No.1 Egyptians Nour El Sherbini and Ali Farag both survived scares as they fought back to reach the quarter-finals of the 2024 CIB Egyptian Open at Club O West in Cairo.

El Sherbini, Egyptian Open champion in 2019 and 2020, looked in desperate trouble early on in her contest with unseeded 17-year-old compatriot Amina Orfi.

Orfi, who won an unprecedented third consecutive WSF World Junior Championship title in the summer, showed no fear against the experienced top seed, playing with power and accuracy against an unusually flat El Sherbini as she took the opening two games 11-6, 11-4.

El Sherbini, as she has done so many times in her career, managed to find another level when she needed it most, though, pinning Orfi to the back as she reduced the deficit with a crushing 11-2 win in game three and then pulling level with an 11-6 win in game four.

The 28-year-old then completed the comeback, pulling away from 7-7 in the decider to earn three match balls, converting the third on a stoke decision.

"It's definitely tough playing Amina," El Sherbini said. "She's upcoming, well she's not upcoming anymore! It's hard to play her when you're not playing your best."

Farag, meanwhile, was forced onto the back foot early on by Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller.

The world No.24, who famously beat Farag in the Grasshopper Cup in 2022, looked confident early on and deservedly took the lead with an 11-6 game one win.

Farag, however, soon found his rhythm, with the 32-year-old, winner of the last three Egyptian Opens, taking the next three games 11-6, 11-7, 11-6.

Afterwards, Farag said: "It's always the story between me and Nicky, he always starts better than I do. He finds his corners earlier on and for me, it's tricky playing outdoors on a glass court for the first time in a long time. I was being stubborn and going for silly boasts and he punished me for it."

Earlier in the day, No.5 seed Mazen Hesham also came from behind to beat Egyptian compatriot Aly Abou Eleinen, Georgina Kennedy overcame Lucy Turmel in a tight all-English encounter, and Tarek Momen beat fellow Egyptian Fares Dessouky in a controversial clash, with Dessouky penalised with a conduct game at 8-8 in game five for repeated attempts to influence the referee's decision.

Elsewhere, Belgium's Tinne Gilis, Egypt's Hania El Hammamy and Peru's Diego Elias all progressed in straight games.