Welsh squash ace Tesni Evans is preparing for one of the biggest nights of her squash life at the US Open in Philadelphia.
Evans, the pride of Wales, plays Raneem El Welily in the semi-finals and the Egyptian tweeted: “Playing tonight against in-form Tesni Evans who is enjoying a great tour so far. Wish me luck.”
Alexandria-born El Welily is a former World number one currently ranked at two, just behind fellow Egyptian Nour El Sherbini.
El Welily is, without doubt, one of the most skilful players on the PSA Women’s World Tour and, at the age of 29, has been a squash professional since 2002.
Check out the task faced by Tesni Evans against Raneem El Welily below:
The former World Open champion has played Evans five times and won all of those clashes. That won’t worry the 25-year-old from Rhyl, who had suffered six defeats in six matches against Sarah-Jane Perry before beating the English player in the quarter-finals.
El Welily, aged 29, was named PSA Women’s Player of the year in 2015 season and four months later became the first player in almost a decade to dethrone Nicol David at the top of the World Rankings. That made her the first ever female Egyptian number one.
The message from Evans is: “Another tough five setter against SJ (Perry)! Happy to have come through it and move onto the semi finals tonight vs Raneem El Welily! Cant wait.”
Evans has won back-to-back matches in the fifth, winning against Joelle King and Perry, the gold and silver medal winning players at the Commonwealth Games.
Another tough five setter last night against SJ! Happy to have come through it and move onto the semi finals tonight vs Raneem El Welily! Cant wait! Proof below that me and @SJPerry15 are the same height ⬇️⬇️⬇️ #jokes #soshort pic.twitter.com/jVk1la21qu
— Tesni Murphy (@tesnimurphy) October 12, 2018
US Open men’s semi-finals (to be played at Drexel University’s Daskalakis Athletic Center tonight)
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egypt) v [8] Paul Coll (New Zealand) 5.45pm Philadelphia time, 10.45pm UK time
[2] Ali Farag (Egypt) v [4] Simon Rusner (Germany) 7.15pm Philadelphia time, 12.15am UK time
US Open women’s semi-finals (to be played at Drexel University’s Daskalakis Athletic Center tonight)
[1] Nour El Sherbini (Egypt) v [5] Camille Serme (France) 5pm Philadelphia time, 10pm UK time.
[12] Tesni Evans (Wales) v [2] Raneem El Welily (Egypt) 6.30pm Philadelphia time, 11.30pm UK time