Laura Massaro targets Hong Kong squash title after winning battle against Egyptian
The 32-year-old will be seeking her third world series title in a row in Hong Kong, but first she must beat world No 1 Raneem El Weleily in today’s semi-final
Laura Massaro of England may soon achieve her dream of becoming world No 1 after edging out Egyptian Nouran Gohar at the Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open yesterday.
At the Squash Centre in Admiralty, the experienced Englishwoman overcame the hard-hitting world junior champion from Cairo 11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6 after a 43-minute battle in the quarter-finals.
My focus is to win the match tomorrow. But I have won the world title and the British Open and the world number one is the one thing I am missing
The 32-year-old will be seeking her third world series title in a row in Hong Kong, but first she must beat another Egyptian player, world No 1 Raneem El Weleily in today’s semi-final.
Weleily cruised to an easy win over Amanda Sobhy of the United States, wrapping up her quarter-final tie in 22 minutes with a comfortable 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 victory.
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Massaro leapfrogged former world number one Nicol David of Malaysia to occupy the second spot in rankings that were released earlier this week.
She won the two other legs of the world series – the US Open and the Qatar Classic – before the Hong Kong tournament.
If she beats Weleily today, and wins the final on Sunday, Massaro can overtake the Egyptian in the rankings.
“I don’t know what the situation is as I haven’t been the world No 1 before,” said the English player. “My focus is to win the match tomorrow. But I have won the world title and the British Open and the world number one is the one thing I am missing.
“I am confident I can get there at some point in my career – whether it is next month or the month after that, I can get there eventually.”
But the odds are against Massaro after she lost all her three previous encounters with Weleily, all of which were at the semi-final stage, including the Alexandria International in Egypt when they last met in June.
Now it’s our job to try to catch up to the amazing level that David has set
“It’s nice to play each other again and have another battle to see who can win on the day and reach the final,” said Massaro.
“She is the world number one and she is obviously also playing well as she is in the semi-finals. Hopefully, there is a really good game for everyone to watch.”
After David’s nine years and one month as world No 1 ended in September, the top position seems to be wide open.
“That’s the way everyone would like to see the game go,” said Massaro. “Although it is great for David, no one wants to see someone dominate the sport like that. And now it’s our job to try to catch up to the amazing level that David has set.”
But defending champion David, who has won 10 years in a row in Hong Kong, would not give up her title without a fight.
This was evident when she made few mistakes in her 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-3) drubbing of Joelle King of New Zealand in the other quarter-final.
David faces Omneya Abdel Kawy today for a place in the final after the Egyptian upset fourth seed Camille Serme of France in straight games.
In the men’s semi-finals, top seed Mohamed Elshorbagy of Egypt meets compatriot Omar Mosaad, while Nick Matthew of England will take on Cameron Pilley of Australia.
The unseeded Australian pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament with his surprising win over reigning world champion and world No 1 Gregory Gaultier of France. Pilley prevailed after three games 11-9, 12-10, 12-10.
