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Team England are one step closer to retaining their European Team Championships crowns after the men's and women's team secured their spot in tomorrow’s finals.
England’s women continued their winning run with a comfortable 2-0 triumph over Wales, whilst the men’s side ran out 3-0 winners over hosts Switzerland.
Looking to reach a 13th consecutive final, England’s women kicked off the action with an intriguing tie against fellow Brits Wales. No.3 Jasmine Hutton was first onto court against Lowri Roberts, hoping to start the team off strongly and that she did. Hutton was stronger than Roberts in all areas of the court and took the match in straight games, winning 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 in 25 minutes.
No.1 Gina Kennedy was up next for England, hoping to seal the victory against former British National champion Tesni Murphy. It would be the fifth time the pair have met with both players holding two wins apiece. Kennedy emerged victorious from the most recent encounter at last month’s German Open and carried that form into today’s match. The World No.6 was electric with every ball and didn’t give Murphy an inch to settle. After Kennedy won a tight opener 11-9, from then on it was plain sailing as she won 11-3, 11-1 to secure England's spot in the final.
“We’re super excited to be back in the final tomorrow," said Hutton after the win.
“We knew it would be tough against Wales today, they’ve had some good results this week so we knew it would be a battle. We’re looking forward to an even bigger battle tomorrow.”
England’s men’s side were next in action with hosts Switzerland the only thing standing in their way of a 49th men’s senior European final.
The No.2 strings took to the court first with Marwan ElShorbagy facing Dimitri Steinmann. The Swiss No.2 was forced to use his renowned speed and athleticism to try and outmanoeuvre a methodical ElShorbagy. The pair shared the first four games and a decider was not what the Englishman would have wanted. He quickly regrouped with tactical play to grind Steinmann to a halt after 73 minutes.
Top strings Mohamed ElShorbagy and Nicolas Mueller faced off next with the Swiss hoping to claim a first career win over ElShorbagy on his ninth attempt. After a tight first game went the way of the World No.7 11-9, ElShorbagy gave Mueller no opportunity to find a way back into the match, restricting the angles and firing off winners of his own. ElShorbagy raced to a 11-3 and 11-4 victory, placing England firmly in the driver’s seat in the tie.
The final nail in the coffin for the Swiss was administered by Curtis Malik, who needed just three games to defeat Yannick Wilhelmi. Sussex’s Malik scored the opener 15-13 after controlling most of the play, and despite being tested at times by Wilhelmi, he held his nerve to notch the final two games 11-7 and 11-9 to send England through to the final.
England women’s team will now take on Belgium or France in the first of tomorrow’s final at 11am (UK time), while the men will meet old rivals France or Wales at 1pm (UK time).
Both matches will be streamed live on SQUASHTV, with draws, results and event information available on the official website here.
Results
Women’s Semi Final - England bt Wales 2-0
Jasmine Hutton bt Lowri Roberts 3-0: 11-7 11-4 11-7 (25m)
Gina Kennedy bt Tesni Murphy 3-0: 11-9, 11-3, 11-1 (25m)
Men’s Semi Final - England bt Switzerland 3-0
Marwan ElShorbagy bt Dimitri Steinmann 3-2: 11-4 7-11 12-10 9-11 11-9 (73m)
Mohamed ElShorbagy bt Nicolas Mueller 3-0: 11-9 11-4 11-3 (26m)
Curtis Malik bt Yannick Wilhelmi 3-0: 15-13 11-7 11-9 (48m)
