Semis : Home Favourite Kennedy Upsets World No.1 El Hammamy to Reach Final

England No.1 Georgina Kennedy  scored her first ever win over one of the top three players after the 29-year-old upset World No.1 Hania El Hammamy with a 3-1 victory to reach the final of the London Squash Classic.

London-based Kennedy is the first English player to reach the final of the prestigious London Classic, beating El Hammamy of Egypt by an 11-6, 14-12, 7-11, 11-8 scoreline, marking the first time in 26 matches that Kennedy has beaten one of the world’s top three players.

“To get a win over the World No.1 is a career highlight,” Kennedy said after reaching her 26th final.

“It was so enjoyable. So many of the most important people in my life are here today and that helped. I feel I’m in a good place with my squash and I can go out and enjoy myself. Hania is such a class act and playing her is so enjoyable, I feel like we’re both very physical and we like those long rallies, so I was excited just for the challenge.

“It hasn’t sunk in. My family don’t travel much with me and my boyfriend never comes, he’s a busy guy with his football, so being able to experience this moment with all of those people is so special.”

In Sunday’s title decider Kennedy will play World Champion Amina Orfi, who beat Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam to advance to the final, where she will defend the title she won 12 months ago.

Orfi had lost her last two matches against Sivasangari, but the World No.2 was in imperious form as she powered to an 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 victory against the 2024 champion to reach her 22nd PSA final.

“I lost to her the last two times, so coming here I knew the pressure would have been on her,” said Orfi afterwards.

“I just tried to focus and I’m really happy with the win today. I wanted to get the ball to the back at the beginning, she was slowing the pace down a bit and I could sense that, so that’s why I was trying to take it as early as possible. I didn’t want to overdo it though because she is very skilful at the front of the court.”

Top seed Paul Coll and second seed Victor Crouin will contest the men’s final following wins over Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng and England No.1 Marwan ElShorbagy.

Coll now has 11 wins in a row at this tournament after triumphing in 2023 and 2024, while he also marked an 11th straight win over Yow Ng following an 11-7, 11-1, 11-3 victory.

“He’s always trying to analyse and come up with something new, but I’m pretty clear in my game plan,” said Coll ahead of his 59th PSA final.

“I was confident, but in the first game I had to work out what patterns he was going to try and throw at me. I mainly had to focus on my game, execute it well and I was confident I would get the win. I’m controlling the pace well and I’m moving at a different pace to what I’m hitting at which adds a bit of deception. I’ve struggled with that in the past, but it’s all clicking at the moment. I’m seeing the ball like a million dollars out there.”

Crouin marked his London Classic debut with a final appearance as the World No.6 defeated ElShorbagy by an 11-7 scoreline in all three of their games to reach his 36th PSA final.

“It’s one of my most mature performances so far,” said Crouin.

“It’s great to put on such a performance in the semi-final against Marwan, who has been playing such tremendous squash this week. I knew he was a threat, we haven’t played for a long time, so I was looking forward to that battle.”

The finals of the London Squash Classic take place tomorrow (Sunday September 6), with the action getting under way from 15:00 (GMT+1) at Alexandra Palace. All matches will be streamed live on SQUASHTV.

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