The 2024 Edinburgh Open continued today at Edinburgh Sports Club with Men’s and Women’s semi-finals. And what a cracking evening of squash it was for the packed crowd on ESC’s iconic bearpit Court Five.
[1] Gina Kennedy (Eng) 3-2 [3/4] Tesni Murphy(Wal) 11-7, 5-11, 8-11, 11-5, 12-10 (54m)
[3/4] Nada Abbas (Egy) 3-0 [2] Sarah-Jane Perry (Eng) 11-9, 11-8, 11-9 (32m)
[1] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 3-2 [3/4] Eain Yow Ng (Mas) 11-8, 12-10, 4-11, 8-11, 11-8 (63m)
[2] Joel Makin (Wal) 3-1 [5/8] Gregoire Marche (Fra) 11-3, 9-11, 11-5, 11-3 (51m)
First up Nada Abbas ousted second seed SJ Perry in three games,, each of which could easily have gone either way but it was the 3/4 seeded Egyptian who sneaked all three.
Second seed Joel Makin, last year’s runner-up, looked to be cruising at 7-0 up in the first against Greg Marche, who had ousted home favourite Greg Lobban in the quarters, but the Frenchman recovered well, eventually subsiding in four games.
Tesni Murphy nearly made it two Welsh winners in a row as she showed all her old skills and form to push top seed Gina Kennedy all the way, going 2-1 up and having a match ball in the fifth before the defending champion squeezed home 12-10 in the fifth.
Last on was men’s top seed Karim Abdel Gawad, who went two game up against Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng, but it was far from comfortable for the Egyptian and Ng staged a determined comeback to take the match into a decider, in which Gawad squeezed home to keep his bid for a second title here alive.
Draws & Results Photo Gallery Daily Reports
