France's Victor Crouin (left) in action against Paul Coll of New Zealand.
Doha, Qatar: Former champion Karim Abdel Gawad reached the semi-finals of the 2026 Qatar Classic, where he will face Frenchman Victor Crouin, who ended defending champion Paul Coll’s title defence at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex yesterday.
Gawad advanced by overcoming Youssef Soliman in an 83-minute quarter-final battle, beating the fellow Egyptian 11-4, 12-10, 15-13 to stay on track to re-capturing the title he claimed in 2016.
“It was in my head that Youssef had played two tough matches in the previous rounds,” Gawad said.
“I knew at the beginning that he might be a little slower to start and the legs not quite going smoothly, so I just tried to take it into the front of the court a little more and grab easy points wherever possible.”
“I’m glad I got a good lead in the first and second games.
“He turned things around and controlled the court a little bit more. I just had to play some different game tactics in the later stages of the third game,” the 35-year-old former World No.1 said.
He added: “He turned things around and controlled the court a little bit more. I just had to play some different game tactics in the later stages of the third game.”
Gawad will face fifth seed Crouin in the semi-finals of the Platinum-level event.
World No.5 Crouin overcame the second seed and defending champion Coll 4-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 in 84 minutes.
The former Harvard graduate Crouin admitted he had to dig deep after the New Zealander established control in the opening game.
“I’m very proud. He’s been setting the bar so high at the beginning of the season. I’ve been having to try so hard to compete with him. In the first game, I was just even trying to get three points from him,” Crouin said.
“I thought I was playing well in the first game, but I knew I had to play better. I’m super proud of myself for sticking at it and going until the very end,” he said.
Crouin said winning the second game was a key moment in changing the momentum of the match.
“I knew the 21 minutes for 11-4 first game wasn’t too bad. I knew not to get too focused on the scoreboard, and the points would come,” he said.
“My former Harvard coach always told me you always have to pop the confidence bubble before you have a chance to win, and I think I did that when I won the second. That gave me a chance to get through and take the win.”
In the women’s draw, second seed Amina Orfi continued her impressive run with a 13-11, 11-8, 12-10 victory over sixth seed Fayrouz Aboelkheir in an all-Egyptian battle.
Orfi, who needed 45 minutes to secure the win, said her belief helped her through the difficult moments.
“I’m very happy to be through to another semi-final here,” she said.
“Even when I was down, I didn’t panic. I told myself I could still win and having that belief helped me through to the win.”
England’s Jasmine Hutton also advanced, beating Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4 in 36 minutes.
