Lancashire’s Laura Massaro again demonstrated her famed battling qualities in a thrilling semi-final against world no.2 Raneem El Welily at the Alexandria International Open last night – but this time it was not enough as she bowed out of the $100,000 event in Egypt to the local favourite.
In the last month the fourth seed from Preston has twice conjured victory from the jaws of defeat – against world no.1 Nicol David in the Allam British Open semi-finals and against Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini in the Alexandria quarter-finals.
However, on this occasion the former world champion was unable to win the fifth game after recovering from 0/1 and 1/2 deficits, as the Egyptian rattled off eight points in a row from 3-5 down in the decider.
The second seed, backed by a partisan crowd, completed her third win in a row over Massaro – and her second in succession over five games – by an 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5 margin in 70 minutes.
Massaro told her Facebook followers later: “Tough loss tonight in the SF. A hard battle but lost out 3-2 to Raneem. Gave it my all in front of a tough Egyptian crowd. Plenty wanting a picture after though. Some holiday time now before summer training.”
