Contrasting Men's and
Women's
semis at St Clement ...
A
long night at Jersey Squash and Racketball Club in St Clement
and a packed crowd witnessed contrasting men's and women's
semi-finals.
The women's final will be contested by the top two seeds after
Millie Tomlinson and Hania El Hammamy both won in
straight games in under half an hour's play.
Top
seed Tomlinson was 3-1 down in the opening game against French
qualifier Laura Pomportes but assumed complete control for the
rest of the match, while El Hammy, the second seeded 15-year-old
Egyptian, was always in charge against third seeded South
African Alexandra Fuller.
The men's semis, by contrast, both went to five games and both
produced upset results.
Top
seeded Aussie Matthew Hopkin found himself two games down
against Youssef Soliman, the fourth seeded teenager from
Egypt, but fought back to force a decider in a match that
featured thrilling exchanges and incredible retrieving from both
players.
Having hung on at the frantic end of the fourth game, Hopkin had
nothing left for the fifth as Soliman claimed a place in the
final.
"I
played well in the first two games, but he started to play
better, took the third easily and was 10-7 up in the fourth,"
said Soliman. "I tried to be positive and pushed to take that
one but he took it well. I told myself to push from the start of
the fifth, and he made some early mistakes which gave me the
momentum."
Having
beaten the second seed in the first round, England's Mike
Harris continued his impressive run as he got the better of
third seeded Portuguese Riu Soares in just under an hour's play.
After Harris had controlled the first game Soares struck back to
take the lead, but the Englishman turned the match around to
take final two games, going one better than his semi-final place
in last year's Classic.
"I
played Rui here last year and he's improved a lot, that was
another tough match," said Harris.
"I went a bit walkabout, like I do, in the second and third but
I managed to get it together again for the last two games.
Delighted to make the final, I'm sure it will be a good one."
