The 20-year-old lanky Egyptian who marched to her second World Championship finals since 2013, revealed her desire to become the first Egyptian to win the world title after the African country failed to win since the tournament was initiated in 1976 in Brisbane, Australia.
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Massaro has looked strong in Malaysia but had her hands full against El Welily, squandering a 10-6 lead in the fifth and final game and allowing the Egyptian to pull level at 10 points each.
Massaro started the tournament slowly, recovering from a game down against Mexico’s Samantha Teran to progress beyond the opening round, but soon displayed her class as she adapted to conditions with wins over Joshna Chinappa and Omneya Abdel Kawy setting up a semi-final meeting with World No. 3 Raneem El Welily.
“I’m dreaming right now, I didn’t imagine I could win this match”, she said.
For the 32-year-old Englishwoman, defeat ended a stellar run on Malaysian soil in the last few years, having won 19 matches with two losses before Sunday.
The Malaysian ace was dispatched by fifth seed Nour El Sherbini of Egypt 14-12, 4-11, 11-3, 11-7 in the quarterfinals.
Up next came compatriot and World Junior Champion Nouran Gohar but El Sherbini was in devastating form to take her out in straight games.
“Shabana said after the second game that I had nothing to lose, to forget about the first two games and to focus on the next one”.
Sherbini is eager to add the world championship title to her trophy cabinet while enjoying a successful 2016 season that has included wresting the 2016 British Open title from the defending champion, Malaysia’s squash queen Datuk Nicol David.
“Laura is a very tough player, and even until the end I didn’t think I could do it”. “I really want this badly so I am going to give it everything and hopefully it will be mine this time”.
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As well as sending her through to the last four of the competition, it also extends her winning streak over the eight-time world champion David to five matches. “You want it to go your way, but that’s sport, you take it on the chin and try again”.
