India’s Joshna Chinappa went down to second seed and defending champion Nour El Sherbini of Egypt in the pre-quarterfinal of the PSA Women’s World Championship in Cairo late on Monday. Sheribini beat the 12th seed 11-5, 11-3, 11-6 in straight games.
Sherbini is just coming back from a surgery but that did not show in her game or fitness. Except in the third game, where points went neck and neck until 4-4, there was little that Joshna could do to stop the brilliant run of the Egyptian.
It was Joshna’s second consecutive loss to the Egyptian. She had gone down 1-3 at the JP Morgan China Squash Open in 2017.
“Joshna has been on form from the start of this season. I’m really happy that I managed to win 3-0. I think I felt sharper tonight,” El Sherbini was quoted as saying by psaworldtour.com.
In the previous round, the 12th seeded Indian had to be on the court for just 12 minutes before her second round opponent Ho Tze-Lok of Hong Kong conceded the tie because of injury. Joshna was leading 11-5, 11-4.
However, the 33-year-old had a tough first round against unseeded Haley Mendez of US. She had managed to win in five games 9-11, 12-10,8-11, 11-6, 11-6.