CIBNews: Who will stop The Gazelle Hania El Hammamy?....
Finally, finally, the Gazelle got her world junior title. Took three attempts but the third one was the successful one, and Hania - who turned senior on the 1st September 2019 - can proudly boast a World Junior Title. That makes two in the family.. as you remember, Karim, her older brother, got his in 2013 against Fares Dessouki…
Did you know that she is the only top-25 female player on the Tour who was born in the 21st Century. Hania El Hammamy, World No.15, has spent the entire season in the top 20, and won the biggest tournaments of her career to date earlier this year, but she wants more.
“I think I was playing at my best all season except the last two tournaments,” El Hammamy said. But winning my two biggest titles in January and February followed by good performance at the Black Ball Open was special and I feel it’s only the start.”
The 18-year-old won tournaments in consecutive weeks in early February. She started with a victory at the Edinburgh Sports Club Open, where she defeated Olivia Blatchford Clyne in the final.
The Egyptian then followed that up by taking the Bahl and Gaynor Cincinnati Cup trophy home, with the Challenger 30 title being the biggest of her fledgling career.
El Hammamy also reached the last 16 of some of the major tournaments, including in Hong Kong, as well as a quarter final appearance at the Black Ball Open, where she shocked Nour El Tayeb to advance.
“I think I did well overall, I had a good season. There were some good upsets that I was able to make. Unfortunately I couldn’t finish as well as I started due to high school exams, but I made it up with winning my World Junior Champ!”
Great Start of season in China!
Today, in the second round of the first event of the season, she just took out Annie Au, the No6 in 5…
“I’m happy with this win against Annie today” she said. “I played Annie once last season and I lost in three in 20 minutes, so I came here today and I wanted to do my best and perform better than last time. I definitely had a game plan compared to last time and I’m happy I managed to stick to that. “I wanted to keep it fast, I didn’t want to sleep and keep going with her slow pace. Obviously I lost a bit of concentration and my game plan after being 2-0 up, so I’m happy I managed to get back to it in the fifth. “I’m starting the season with confidence. Finishing last season at my highest ranking has just given me more confidence and I’m hungry for more, and my main goal for next season is breaking into the top ten.”
Sources PSA Matt Coles and Ellie Mawson