Day FOUR – Quarter-Finals

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Top four seeds through to semis

Pool stages complete, we were down to the playoffs today, the quarter-finals, plus the 9-16 quarters, and the 17-20 pool matches.

In the main quarter-finals it was the top four seeds – Egypt, England, Malaysia and Hong Kong – who progressed, all of them taking the first two matches to eliminate the need for a decider.


SH_7200Quarter-Final 4: [2] England 3-0 [8] Ireland

Alison Waters 3-1 Aisling Blake   8/11, 11/8, 11/5, 11/4 (43m)
Laura Massaro 3-0 Madeline Perry  11/3, 11/6, 11/8 (29m)
Emma Beddoes 2-0 Breanne Flynn  11/5, 11/5 (14m)

Second seeds England made it through to the semi-finals by beating Ireland. Aisling Blake made a quick start, leading Alison Waters 1-0 and 6-0, but Waters powered back to win in four.

Laura Massaro was in control in the early stages against Madeline Perry, and although the Irishwoman fought well, an injury at 6-all in the third effectively curtailed the 37-year-old’s challenge.

SH_7172 Quarter-Final 3: [1] Egypt 3-0 [7] Australia

Nour El Sherbini 3-0 Lisa Camilleri  11/7, 11/2, 11/5 (19m)
Raneem El Welily 3-1 Rachael Grinham  12/10, 13/11, 4/11, 11/3 (29m)
Nour El Tayeb 2-0 Sarah Cardwell  11/4, 11/6 (10m)

Top seeds and defending champions Egypt went through to the semis as they beat former champions Australia.

Nour El Sherbini was too strong for Lisa Camilleri, and Raneem El Welily got the better of a fast-paced encounter with Rachael Grinham – despite dropping Egypt’s first game of the tournament –  to seal the win.

SH_7179 Quarter-Final 2: [4] Hong Kong 2-1 [6] USA

Joey Chan 3-0 Olivia Blatchford  11/6, 11/2, 11/7 (29m)
Annie Au 3-0 Amanda Sobhy  14/12, 11/6, 11/2 (30m)
Tsz Wing Tong 0-2 Natalie Grainger 8/11, 5/11 (19m)

Hong Kong, fresh from their dramatic pool decider against France last night, beat the USA with straight-game wins from Joey Chan and Annie Au.

The victory marks the first time that Hong Kong have ever reached the last four.

SH_7148Quarter-Final 1:   [3] Malaysia 2-0 [5] France

Low Wee Wern 3-0 Coline Aumard   11/4, 11/8, 11/9 (41m)
Nicol David 3-0 Camille Serme  11/6, 11/9, 13/11 (45m)

Malaysia were the first team through to the semi-finals, with Low Wee Wern and Nicol David both winning in straight games despite the best efforts of their French opponents – Coline Aumard led 8-3 in the second and Camille Serme was 10-7 up in the third.

Cornett does it again for Canada

Outside of the quarter-finals the most popular match was Canada’s 9-16 quarter-final against India. The Indians took the lead but Canadian number one Sam Cornett once again won 3-2, this time against Joshna Chinappa, to set up the decider which Nikki Todd tood to the delight of the crowd.

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RESULTS


Selection of today’s Photos – lots more in the Gallery