New Zealand’s top-ranked squash player, Paul Coll, has secured his spot in the Lucino Vanities New Zealand Open Men’s final after overcoming France’s Victor Crouin.
Paul, who ranks as the third-best player in the world, won three of the four games while Crouin, who’s ranked 11th inthe world, was let into the game after Coll had a lapse of concentration, a media release from PSA World Tour said.
The Kiwi was forced to dig in late on to record 11-7, 11-8, 2-11 and a 12-10 win.
Fighting Coll for the win in the finals will be England’s Marwan ElShorbagy, who is ranked eighth in the world.
Marwan ElShorbagy playing in the semifinals of the Lucino Vanities New Zealand Open Men’s event.
ElShorbagy played in the “match of the day” against Wales’ Joel Makin.
He came back from two games down to beat Makin - initially, he looked to be in dire straits when Makin opened up a 2-0 lead with dominant 11-7, 11-3 wins.
But ElShorbagy came back for impressive toe-to-toe battle in a number of punishing rallies with Makin, resulting in 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 wins to bring a gripping 83-minute contest to a close.
“I’ve been trying to be more creative with my game and trying to think about my game, and I’ve just been enjoying it, to be honest,” said ElShorbagy.
Sisters Nele and Tinne Gilis also saw triumph at the Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open Women’s semifinals in Tauranga.
In the women’s event, they will face off in a final for the fourth consecutive time after they beat Malaysia’s Aifa Azman and Wales’ Tesni Evans, respectively.
Top seed Nele Gilis was roared on by the crowd when the world number five took game one 11-8.
Nele Gilis playing in the semifinals of the Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open Women’s event.
Azman, whose ultra-attacking style contrasted with the more careful rally construction of Gilis, struck back in game two, levelling with an 11-6 victory.
Gilis then regained the upper hand and took game three 11-3 and, after an injury break for Azman, wrapped up with an 11-6 win in game four.
Gilis said it felt special to play in front of a “pretty much home crowd”.
Tinne Gilis, meanwhile, was in crushing form against Wales’ Tesni Evans.
Tinne Gilis playing in the semifinals of the Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open Women’s event.
Evans struggled to deal with Gilis’ pace and accuracy, as a lengthy injury layoff meant she was still working her way back to full fitness.
Gilis took the match 11-6, 11-4, 11-9 in 28 minutes.
The semifinals of the Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Women’s Open and the Lucino Vanities New Zealand Men’s Open took place from 3pm today at Mercury Arena, Tauranga.
