World Champion Elias Saves Five Match Balls To Make Grasshopper Semis

World champion Diego Elias saved five match balls to secure his anticipated place in the semi-finals of the Grasshopper Cup in Switzerland at the expense of Frenchman Victor Crouin.

The French No.1, seeking his first PSA Squash Tour win over the world No.3, looked to be on course to breaking that winless run when he had five match balls in the Gold-level event at Zurich Hauptbahnhof.

Crouin dominated the 'T' for large parts of the match, and took the ball early on a number of occasions to give him the luxury of five opportunities to convert in the third game. But Elias roared back to save all five of the Frenchman's match ball chances, as the Peruvian clinched a semi-final place with a 8-11, 11-4, 13-11 victory.

"I have no idea how I did that. I was just doing whatever at the end and it worked!" Elias said post-match.

"I think I haven't been playing matches in a while and I haven't found my radar yet, I'm a bit lost on court. I thought I had lost so I just went for it.

"Tomorrow we are going back to best-of-five which is a bit better for me. This format puts more pressure on the higher seeds."

Aly Abou Eleinen awaits Elias in the semi-finals after the Egyptian ended home hopes for Switzerland No.1 Dimitri Steinmann following a straight games victory.

Top seed Ali Farag and No.3 seed Joel Makin will face off in the other men's semi-final. Four-time world champion Farag was provided with a stern test by Scot Greg Lobban to win 2/1 while 2023 Grasshopper Cup runner-up Makin dug deep to fend off Baptiste Masotti by the same scoreline.

In the women's draw, England No.1 Gina Kennedy overturned a one-game deficit to overcome fellow countrywoman Jasmine Hutton to progress to the last four.

Hutton got the better of Kennedy the last time the English duo faced off at the Tournament of Champions in New York, and the world No.17 was bidding to reach her maiden Gold-level semi.

After a blistering start from Hutton, whose attacking prowess saw Kennedy struggle early on, the world No.7 showed great composure in the ensuing games to close out a 6-11, 11-8, 11-8 success.

"I didn't feel comfortable at all at the beginning. That ball was so cold and Jaz adjusted to the conditions so much better than I did. I felt like I was trying to hit around the back of her too much," she said.

"When I was 8-4 down in the second game I just thought, if I'm going to go down I'm going to take my chances and I'm proud of the way I came out in the third.

"That was hard though. The conditions are tough. I do struggle to play Jaz. She's a teammate, she knows my game really well. We work with the same coach at St George's Hill a bit in England as well.

"It's such a hard matchup and I know that she is playing so well at the moment. I know how confident she is and I had to just try to contain her.

"I'm really happy that I fought my way through that."

Kennedy's opponent in the last four will be reigning world champion and world No.1 Nouran Gohar, who overpowered Satomi Watanabe 2/0.

Meanwhile, No.2 seed Tinne Gilis and No.3 seed Sivasangari Subramaniam will lock horns for the second place in Sunday's final. Belgium No.1 Gilis downed Salma Hany in straight games, while Sivasangari produced a clinical display to dispatch Nada Abbas 2/0.