Gawad Tames Bryant to Keep Hopes of Second ToC Title Alive; El Hammamy and El Sherbini to Clash in Semis

Karim Gawad

Former world No. 1 Karim Gawad kept his hopes of a second title alive with an impressive four-game quarterfinal win against twenty-year-old English prodigy Jonah Bryant, while world No. 1 Hania El Hammamy and four-time champion Nour El Sherbini set up a tantalizing semifinal at the Sprott Tournament of Champions presented by Crowd Street Monday, January 26, at Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

Gawad, thirty-four-year-old, has enjoyed a late-career resurgence this season following an injury-ridden few years. Following his thrilling five-game second round win, the 2017 ToC champion proved that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank with a convincing four-game quarterfinal win over the English talent fourteen years his junior. In the final match of the night, the world No. 4 prevailed 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6 in sixty-nine minutes.

“I have to give all the credit to Jonah [Bryant] for his great spirit on court, his mental side, his tactical side and his physical side at such a young age–all credit to him of course,” Gawad said. “He has so many years in front of him to be in the top four in the world, and I think he will be the top one in the world, so all credit to him. I trained so hard to be able to perform like this on court, it’s not easy and I always believe that I always have a chance. I am very lucky to have some gifts and I have to use it because in this phase of my career you don’t want to run too much but you want to be more clever and use the experience more. At the same time, I am really working so hard to be able to stand with these guys for that long, and I believe that I still have much more in the tank. It feels great to reach the semifinals, especially in such a unique venue. It’s always special and I really enjoy every moment spent on court and I can’t wait for my semi-final.”

Gawad will face world No. 1 Mostafa Asal in the quarterfinals after the top seed progressed to the semifinals when world No. 6 Youssef Ibrahim was forced to concede the match in the second game due to a serious shoulder injury.

Nour El Sherbini (L)

The top of the women’s draw will feature a world championship-caliber semifinal between reigning world No. 1 and defending ToC champion Hania El Hammamy, and eight-time world champion and five-time ToC champion Nour Sherbini. El Hammamy, whose seventeen match win streak was ended by world No. 7 Satomi Watanabe in November, avenged her China Open loss with a decisive 3-0 win.

The current world No. 1 will face the most successful ToC player in history in El Sherbini, who dropped the opening game against England’s world No. 16 Jasmine Hutton before prevailing in four games. With her win, thirty-year-old El Sherbini advanced to her tenth consecutive ToC semifinal.

“I think I have a problem with the start, but Jasmine [Hutton] is amazing, she is playing really good and she has improved a lot this season and the season before,” El Sherbini said. “It’s always a tough match against her, it’s never easy, so I expected a battle today. She is so physically good and very skillful as well. The first game went to the wire, but I am just happy I won in the end.”

Tuesday will see the second half of the quarterfinals play out from 5pm ET.