The Windy City Open is celebrating its final matches on 1 March (CST) where Egypt’s Marwan El-Shorbagy is meeting France’s Gregory Gaultier. Concerning the women competition, Egypt’s Nour El-Sherbini—ranked first internationally—is meeting her compatriot Raneem El-Welily. El-Sherbini and El-Welily already met last year in the tournament’s finals with El-Welily claiming victory.
Marwan reached the semi-finals after he defeated his brother Mohamed—ranked first internationally and the champion of 2016 Windy City Squash Open—by a score of 3-2 (1-11/11-8/13-11/5-11/11-8).
It was an intensively emotional encounter after the match, where the two brothers cried and hugged each other. The scene after the match rapidly spread on social media.
Marwan commented in this regard “I’m only here because of my brother. Whatever I have achieved in squash, I have done because of him. He taught me everything,” adding that, “it is tough—we both knew it was going to happen at some point. Every time we play it is a battle on court, but we are best friends off court.”
At the semi-finals Marwan met his compatriot Ali Farag. Again Marwan ended up victorious with a score of 3-1 (11-8/11-9/8-11/11-9). The two did not face each other for nearly six years with their last match having taken place in 2011.
Commenting his brother’s success, Mohamed said, “my brother is in the final! No one understands my happiness and my emotions right now! I am so proud!”
Regarding the women’s competition, Nour El-Sherbini qualified to the semi-finals after she won against Malaysia’s Nicol David, 3-1 (11-9/6-11/11-6/11-4) in the quarter-finals. Afterwards she qualified to the finals thanks to winning her semi-final match against France’s Camille Serme, by 3-1 (8-11/11-3/11-6/11-4).
El-Sherbini—runner-up of the 2016 Windy City Squash Open—commented: “it does not matter with whom I am playing; I will do my best to win. I am happy to be back in the final. I love playing here and I am really happy it is going to be an all-Egyptian final.”
Raneem El-Welily, on the other hand, beat US’s Amanda Sobhy in the quarter-finals by 3-1 (11-6/11-7/5-11/11-5). She furthermore beat her compatriot Nouran Gohar in the semi-finals by 3-2 (7-11/11-6/9-11/11-5/11-9).
EL-Welily—winner of the Windy City Squash Open in 2015 and 2016 and runner-up in 2014—said, “it is amazing to be in the final for the fourth time. There is no pressure tomorrow, but it would be fantastic to win for the third time.”
