'Challenged' ElSherbini Makes US Open Semis

The first four semi-finalists at this year's US Open Squash Championships powered by Comcast Business have been decided, with 2023 champion Nour ElSherbini coming back from a game down to beat England's Georgina Kennedy in the standout match of the day at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.

ElSherbini has had a difficult start to the season with last 16 exits at the Qatar Classic and Silicon Valley and fitness issues, and it looked like those problems could be set to continue for the eight-time World Champion after a confident Kennedy took the opening game.

However, ElSherbini rose to the occasion, with vintage performances in the next three games seeing her claim an 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-2 win to reach her 10th US Open semi-final.

"I was challenging myself to come to this tournament, I was doubting whether I would come here or not," said ElSherbini afterwards.

"I've been struggling and not playing my best. I wanted the momentum of the matches more than the results, I know I've had some bad losses but I need to keep going. Maybe this tournament can be an opening for what's going to come next.

"I've been here for many years and made it to many semis and finals. Every match matters, I haven't had the best start to the season and it's my first semi-final of the season, so that's why it means a lot."

ElSherbini will lock horns with world No.1 Amina Orfi in a repeat of May's PSA World Championships final after the 19-year-old defeated Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam in straight games.

Sivasangari is the only player who had beaten Orfi in her previous 31 matches coming into the Philadelphia match but was powerless to stop the in-form Egyptian from advancing to the next round. Orfi has won all three of the tournaments she has played this season and will be full of confidence going into Friday's match with ElSherbini, having beaten her in four of their last five matches.

"I know that she's been playing well and she beat me twice last season," said the reigning World Champion of her Malaysian opponent.

"It's always tough playing her and she's the first to qualify [for the LA28 Olympic Games], so she has confidence and momentum. She's been beating top players and going to five with Hania [El Hammamy], so she is dangerous. I told myself that I'm the No.1 for a reason now and I have that extra experience to close these matches out, so I'm happy with how I played today."

In the men's event, 2022 champion Diego Elias defeated three-time winner Mohamed ElShorbagy to set up a mouthwatering meeting with world No.1 Mostafa Asal.

35-year-old ElShorbagy caused the upset of the tournament so far when he beat world No.4 Mohamad Zakaria in the previous round and continued to roll back the years against Elias. The Englishman went toe-to-toe with Elias for much of the match, but Elias eventually prevailed by an 11-4, 9-11, 11-1, 11-5 margin.

"I've been playing a lot but my body feels good, I've been enjoying playing the last few weeks, and I'm very happy to reach another semi," Elias said.

"Last week I thought he wanted to give his body a rest [in Canada], but I knew he would play today like he was 100 per cent, and it was a good match like that. I'm feeling pretty good, it's going to be another good match in two days [against Asal]. We've played a lot of semis and finals over the last couple of years, it will be a really tough match, so I just need to recover and get ready for that one."

Asal was on fine form as he defeated world No.8 Joel Makin, winning 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 to stay on course for a third US Open title.

"It's amazing, Joel is a tough player and I'm sure that he still hasn't recovered [from injury] and is still carrying something," said Asal.

"But it was a good match overall and enjoyable. I did a great job containing him and I had the edge physically. He got a bit tired when he was up in the score (in the second game), so I made sure I kept the rallies going and kept putting the ball away from the tin. Even if I lost the third game, I would have had the confidence that he would get tired.