[1] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) 3-2 [3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) 6-11, 11-5, 12-10, 9-11, 11-7 (86m)
Night hadn’t fallen when Hania started her semi “en trompette”, 4/0, 6/1, 7/2 9/4 11/6, plenty of errors from the Princess, offering 7 points to her opponent, only too happy to receive them, 11m.
“The conditions are very tough on here” states Nour to the ref as she exits from the opener. “so please don’t think it’s because we want to slow down the pace of the match”… The humidity is very high, the players perspire a lot and have to ask for court cleaning… they now have to apologise for being humans, sign.
A strong response from Nour, “anything you can do” kind of game, 2/0, 7/2, 9/3 11/5 in 12m.
The third is the game that Hania shouldn’t have lost really. Up 6/2 thanks to some great rallies that seemed tired Nour a bit. 6 points later, Nour is up 8/6, having forced some incredible shots on Hania, who picked all of them, diving and leaving lines of sweat on the floor, “leaving it all out there”…
The Gazelle levels, 8/8, but Nour still sets up two game balls, 10/8. The work they are both producing is incredible, again, Hania digs in to level 10/10. A lovely moment when a HUGE butterfly interups the game, to land on the Princess tommy! Nour, delicately, comes out of court to let it free…
The next two rallies are again monumental, both won by the Princess, 12/10. Game was 20m, Hania requesting a new ball.
1 error from Hania, 1 stroke awared, 3 errors from Nour, 1 stroke awarded. Very high quality game indeed.
Hania is on the war path in the 4th, from 3/3 zooming to 8/5. As the court is being cleaned, her mum goes “Don’t play 3 good shots and then 7 bad shots” to Hania… the crowd loved it…
A huge end of the game, 8/8, 10/8 Hania, 11/9, 17m long, 8 winners each.. That’s two very hard physical games in a row…
From 2/2, Nour was always ahead in that game. I thought maybe the hard conditions and the long rallies would alter her squash, but que nenni, absolutely not. The same incredible rallies, the same utter dedication from Hania who despite horrific blisters kept on pushing and pushing, diving, flying throughout, but Nour never let go of the lead, 5/3, 6/4, 7/5, 10/7, match ball Nour.
A lovely moment as one voice in the crowd went “DON’T GIVE UP”.
She didn’t, diving one more time, only to bow to the Princess, 11/7, another 16m game… One error each.
What a game, Squash can be such an incredible sport.
Nour : “Well, it’s very tough of course. Hania is always a very tough opponent and it’s good to see her playing well again this season, I know she was struggling in the last phase of last season but I knew she was going to come in strong and I wasn’t looking forward to it!
“It’s an achievement for me to reach the final and I’m happy to win this, it was more [of a mental battle] for me. I’m happy I kept my focus to win at the end.
“It’s a plan for any opponent, I love the backhand side and always want to control it more, and I tried to be more aggressive.
“I’m just happy to be in the final, one more match let’s see how it goes!”
