Weaver Pulls Off Huge Comeback To Reach World Quarters

No.4 seed Olivia Weaver produced an almighty comeback from two games down to avoid a third round upset against No.11 seed Nele Gilis at Golf Central Palm Hills as she booked her place in the quarter-finals of this year's CIB Palm Hills PSA World Championships in Giza, Egypt.

Gilis hadn't beaten Weaver in their previous four matches, but played some immaculate squash as she dictated the tempo of the match. The Belgian nullified the threat of the American to move 2/0 ahead and was on the cusp of her first win over a world top four opponent since beating World Champion Nour El Sherbini in El Gouna in April 2023.

However, Weaver dug in and battled back in 30°c heat, with some ferocious rallies pushing both players to their limits. It was a war-weary Gilis who came off worse as Weaver slowly reeled her back in over the course of three games, eventually securing her spot in the last eight. Weaver will play England's Georgina Kennedy for a place in the semi-finals.

"I'm not super pleased with how I played, especially with how I started the match, and she really punished me for it," said Weaver.

"She forced me to step up and really battle hard out there. Fortunately, I felt like I went into my tool kit, and I tried to use everything I had out there to battle my way back into the match. I tried to just make it physical, tried to get in front of her as much as possible, and I think that that ended up turning things into my favour.

"In the first game, the ball was flying, and I was struggling to find my targets. And then I felt like I made an uncharacteristic amount of errors. I'm not really pleased with that. But I felt like when it mattered at the end of those last few games, I stepped up, and I'm really proud of that."

Kennedy got the better of No.16 seed Rowan Elaraby, while reigning World Champion Nour El Sherbini defeated USA's No.10 seed Amanda Sobhy.

El Sherbini, who is hunting a record-breaking ninth PSA World Championship title this week, snuck a close opening game before running away with things in the second and third to reach her 11th successive quarter-final at the sport's biggest event.

"It's definitely tough mentally against Amanda," said El Sherbini, who plays compatriot Salma Hany next.

"She always gives me tough matches, and she's one of the players I always struggle against. I'm definitely happy that I won in three and I'm happy that I made it into the quarter-finals. Salma has done amazing this tournament. She's beaten some top players, and I'm definitely happy to see her back playing this type of squash."

2016 World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad will take on fellow Egyptian Youssef Soliman in the next round after he came down from a game down to get the better of Englishman Declan James, the 27th seed.

James was appearing in the last 16 after his round two opponent Mohamed ElShorbagy withdrew due to injury, and the world No.29 was immaculate in the opening game to keep Gawad's attacking talents at bay. The Egyptian moved through the gears though at that point and came back though to take three unanswered games, booking his spot in the last eight.

"It's always in my head [the 2016 World Championships win]," said Gawad.

"You never know how long you still have on court, but at this stage, I just want to enjoy it as much as possible, have good memories and try to play as much as possible. Youssef is a great friend of mine, he's my golf partner, so we've had some very good battles before and I also have very bad memories from matches against him. Last time we played 109 minutes in El Gouna."

No.2 seed Paul Coll will look to end a three-match losing run against No.7 seed Youssef Ibrahim next after they defeated Nathan Lake and Mohamed Abouelghar, respectively.

"I know Nathan very well, he used to train with my coach, so we're very familiar," Coll said.

"It's the hottest day of the week, though, and I wanted to make him feel it from the very first rally. Youssef is playing well at the moment. He got me last time at El Gouna, so I'm definitely ready to take him on again and show him how I'm playing."