April 13, 2014 -
The fact that the young 18 year-old squash-player Nour El-Sherbini of
Alexandria, Egypt was victorious over world #7 Wee Wern Low of Malaysia
in the quarter-finals of this year's 2014 Champion Fiberglass Texas
Open held in Houston, (coming into the tournament as only a qualifier),
it certainly should not be considered a "shock" result. Nour El-Sherbini & Wee Wern Low
It just so happens
that because Nour elected to take time off to attend to some nagging
injuries before returning the WSA pro tour, that resulted in her world
ranking to drop to #27...from a previous WSA high of #4. This is the
reason Nour came into the event as only a qualifier. It was inevitable
that no matter which player was unlucky enough (normally it's lucky) to
have Nour pitted against them as a qualifier, they would be faced with
a challenge. What's the idiom: "The luck (unlucky in this case) of the
draw!"
The real "shockers"
came just four weeks ago at the 2013 Women's World Squash Championships
held in Penang, Malaysia. It's here where Nour "shocked" the squash
world by first defeating current world #14 Kasey Brown of Australia,
followed by wins over now world #12 Dipika Pallikal of India, world #8
Madeline Perry of Ireland - and the real "shocker (world #1 for over
seven years) Nicol David of Malaysia in a 61 minute five-game marathon,
winning 11-9 in the fifth. She then went on to challenge (it was close)
the eventual winner of the current World Open Champion, WSA #2 Laura
Massaro of England in an 11-7, (6-11), 11-9, (5-11), 11-9 68-minute
battle! Nour (R) in her Penang world championship semi-final victory over Nicol David
No...no "shocker" or
surprise here at the Texas Open quarter-finals! As Wee Wern Low, the #7
player in the world said: "Lost to Nour El Sherbini 3-1 today. She was
too sharp in the beginning, but I got better towards the end. Credit to
Sherbini for playing very well today." An understatement, to be sure!
So now it was on to
the semi-finals for this record three-time women's world junior
champion, (and at 18, she'll be eligible for the 2014 world juniors
later this year as well) where she met the #3 seeded player and world
#6 from France, Camille Serme. What happened here? You guessed it!
El-Sherbini defeated Serme in a 55 minute four-game encounter, 11-5,
11-9, (9-11) 11-6!
Now on to the finals,
where Nour played another up-and-comer, 22 year-old world #12 Dipika
Pallikal of India. She beat the (young) 37 year-old world #8 Madeline
Perry of Ireland in a 75 minute, five-game barn-burner, 11-7, (11-13),
13-11, (10-12), 11-4! As Dipika's mom said after watching the live
streaming: "Mentally and physically fatigued the girl is! But
sure...one last push tomorrow...!"
So how did that go!?
Well...as expected, Nour El-Sherbini defeated Dipika Pallikal, three
games to one in the final! The vastly improved Dipka (under the
guidance of Sarah Fitz-Gerald) played very well, (no embarrassment for
sure) losing the first game 6-11, winning the second game 11-6, losing
the third 7-11 and the fourth 8-11. Note: Nour hit (at least) eight
dead-nick winners in the match. The winner Nour El-Sherbini (L) and Dipika Pallikal
So once again, not a
"shocking" result for the young Egyptian...Women's World Squash Open
Championship runner-up! It's now on to the British Open, being held
over the week of May 10-18...stay tuned!
