After
2016 champion Camille Serme and eight-time World Champion Nicol David
crashed out of the 2017 U.S. Open Presented by Macquarie Investment
Management at the second round stage, the shocks
continued to flow inside Philadelphia's Drexel University as World No.1
Nour El Sherbini saw her title hopes dashed by compatriot Nour El Tayeb
at the quarter-final stage.
24-year-old
El Tayeb reached the final of the PSA World Series tournament in 2015
only for injury to strike and rule her out for over six months but she
proved that she is back to her very best
form as she put in an astute and polished performance that saw her
out-manoeuvre El Sherbini and come through 13-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7.
"Nour
has been the in-form player over the past 18 months so this is
definitely one of the best wins of my career so far," said El Tayeb.
"I'm
very happy to be through to the semi-finals. I reached the final here
two years ago but got injured and I'll never forget that event. It took a
year to come back from that injury and another
year to recover that physical and mental strength to compete.
"So
to win today gives me a lot of confidence and belief that I can play at
this level and hopefully I can keep it up for two more matches."
El
Tayeb will go up against England's Laura Massaro for a place in the
final after the 2016 tournament champion came through in four games
against Hong Kong's Annie Au while Massaro's compatriot
Nick Matthew, the 2007 U.S. Open champion, prevailed in an all-English
battle with Daryl Selby.
37-year-old
Matthew, appearing in his last ever U.S. Open, showed the kind of
mental grit and resilience that has epitomised his career as he grinded
his way through a bruising 26-minute 15-13
opening game to sap energy from Selby and break the World No.16's
spirit - setting up the platform for a 3-0 win that takes him into the
semi-finals without dropping a game.
“Tonight that first game was crucial,” said Matthew.
“I
knew that it was a hard first game and that the work was in his legs so
I tried to push on in the second. Psychologically I’m happy with how I
finished it off in three, especially after winning
the first.
"And
I'm pleased to be back in the semi-finals again. I can probably count
on one hand the number of times I've reached the semi-finals of an event
without dropping a game so there's no excuses
for me not to be fresh and ready for the semi-finals.
"I'll be ready to take my opponent on physically and I look forward to the battle to come on Friday."
Matthew
will face Mohamed ElShorbagy, the man he lost to in last year's final,
in the last four after the Egyptian downed Simon Rösner of Germany 3-0.
Speaking after the match ElShorbagy said:
“In the second game I was down 8-6 and I needed to give it a big push to try and be 2-0 up.
“There is a huge difference between 1-1 and being 2-0 up, so I’m really happy to be able to get the win in three.
“I thought we played a really high-quality match in the first two games and I’m really happy to get through.”
Results - Quarter-finals (Top Half): Men's 2017 U.S. Open
[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Simon Rösner (GER) 3-0: 12-10, 12-10, 11-5 (45m)
[3] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Daryl Selby (ENG) 3-0: 15-13, 11-2, 11-8 (50m)
Draw - Quarter-finals (Bottom half)
[4] Ali Farag (EGY) v [8] Fares Dessouky (EGY)
Diego Elias (PER) v Omar Mosaad (EGY)
Results - Quarter-finals (Top Half): Women's 2017 U.S. Open
[10] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) 3-1: 13-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7 (47m)
[4] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [9] Annie Au (HKG) 3-1: 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 (38m)
Draw - Quarter-finals (Bottom half)
[11] Joelle King (NZL) v [8] Alison Waters (ENG)
[5] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [2] Raneem El Welily (EGY)
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