"I don’t think I’m going to sleep tonight. I might need another day off to make sure that I am in good shape for the semis! I’m trying to forget it,” Mathieu Castagnet said. French No.2 Mathieu Castagnet (ri) overcame former World No.5 Borja Golan in a 72-minute encounter in the quarter-final of the 2016 Men’s J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions in New York’s Grand Central Terminal – reaching the last four of a PSA World Series event for the first time in his career.
Castagnet put in a fine to take the 11-9, 13-11, 11-4 victory to set up a meeting with World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy in the last four. “I can’t believe it. I’m going to try to sleep and think of something else so I can prepare for my match. I need to prepare for the next round and try to reach the final by beating the World No.1,” a delighted Castagnet said after the match.
Defending champion Elshorbagy continued his attempts to retain the ToC crown with a superb 4 games triumph against compatriot Omar Mosaad. The man from Alexandria, playing the day before his 25th birthday, conceded the first game to the older Egyptian to claim a 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 12-10 victory in 76 minutes. “Omar is a great guy and a great player. We’re great friends on and off court as well, but I’m happy to beat him,” said Elshorbagy.
The Women’s event saw Camille Serme join compatriot Castagnet in the latter stages of the tournament after she came through a hard-fought encounter with England’s Emily Whitlock in her second round fixture.
Serme is paired up with Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini in a mouthwatering quarter-final tie and it was the latter who triumphed in the duo’s most recent meeting at November’s Qatar Classic.
Results: Men’s quarter-finals, top half:
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [5] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 12-10 (76m)
[7] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt Borja Golan (ESP) 11-9, 13-11, 11-4 (72m)
Draw: Men’s quarter-finals, bottom half (head-to-heads):
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [6] Simon Rösner (GER) – (21:1)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [8] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) – (2:0)
Results: Women’s 2nd round, bottom half:
[4] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [16] Emily Whitlock (ENG) 3-1: 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 13-11 (52m)
[7] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [Q] Mariam Metwally (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-8, 11-5 (27m)
[5] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [15] Joshna Chinappa (IND) 3-0: 11-9, 11-3, 11-9 (25m)
[2] Nicol David (MAS) bt [9] Annie Au (HKG) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-9 (27m)
Draw: Women’s quarter-finals (head-to-heads)
[10] Amanda Sobhy (USA) v [6] Alison Waters (ENG) – (0:2)
[3] Laura Massaro (ENG) v [8] Nouran Gohar (EGY) – (6:0)
[4] Camille Serme (FRA) v [7] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) – (5:4)
[2] Nicol David (MAS) v [5] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) – (29:2)
