The semi-finals of both the men’s and women’s events took place today.
First up was Siyoli Waters against Farah Abdel Meguid from Egypt. After being 1 – 0 down Waters came back strongly by attacking the ball and hitting a good length. Meguid succumbed easily in the 3rd and 4th getting a total of only 5 points.
Chris Hall from England succumbed to fellow country man Angus Gilliams very easily. Gilliams played outstanding squash by taking the ball early and hitting a good length. Gilliams put Hall under too much pressure and Hall was constantly playing catch-up and defensive squash, he never got a chance to dominate the “T”.
In the other ladies semi-final Alex Fuller and Cheyna Tucker entertained the crowd with some good squash. The match see-sawed between the 2 ladies where both had games of good disciplined squash. Eventually Fuller seemed to be the fitter of the 2 and in the fifth continued to hit the good straight length and then take Tucker short with her boast / drop that had Tucker moving all over the court. Tucker eventually could not get to the balls any longer and went down 5/11.
The last match of the evening was between Mazen Gamal (Egypt) and Christo Potgieter (South Africa). It was definitely a home crowd advantage for Potgieter who had the crowd enthralled by all his diving and flying around the court. After being 1-1 and 8-4 up in the second Potgieter lost focus of his game plan and Gamal played steady basic squash to come back and win the third 12/10. Potgieter never really got back into the game and Gamal was focused and determined to ignore all the antics and support from the crowd.
Results from the semi-finals Men’s Main draw:
(RSA unless otherwise denoted)
Angus Gilliams (Eng) bt Chris Hall (Eng) 3-0, 11/6, 11/2, 11/5 (25 min), Mazen Gamal (Egy) bt Christo 3-1 11/4, 5/11, 12/10, 11/2 (65 min)
Results from the semi-finals Ladies Main draw:
(RSA unless otherwise denoted)
Siyoli Waters bt Farah Abdel Meguid (Egy) 3-1, 9/11, 11/6, 11/3, 11/2 (27min), Alex Fuller bt Cheyna Tucker 3-2 5/11, 11/9, 11/6, 7/11, 11/5 (53min).
Finals start at 17:00 on Friday 24th April at Parkview Squash Centre. The ladies will be followed by the men.
