Meet the women confirmed for PSA Dubai World Series Finals

Sport360 staff 10:53 05/04/2017

Heading the women’s line-up is the France’s Camille Serme, who topped the rankings after winning two of the qualifiers and making either the quarter-finals or semi-finals in the remaining three.

Only the top eight players on the standings qualify for a place at World Series Finals which will take place at the Dubai Opera from June 6-10.

Serme finished forty points ahead of her nearest rival, current world number one Nour El Sherbini of Egypt, whose win in at the Women’s World Championships in April last year at just 20 years of age, saw her become the youngest and the first Egyptian female to become world champion.

Dubai World Series Finals defending champion Laura Massaro of England stormed home in the final event, taking out the Allam British Open to qualify in third position.

Massaro’s run to the final saw her defeat Raneem El Welily, who qualified in fourth position, ahead of fellow Egyptian Nouran Gohar who took her first World Series title at the 2016 Hong Kong Open.

Eight time world champion Nicol David of Malaysia who spent nine years as world number one, did not take a title this year but finished all the qualifying events with either quarter-final or semi-final appearances, giving her enough points to qualify in sixth place.

England’s Sarah-Jane Perry will compete in the event for the first time after a superb run to the final at the Allam British Open saw her seal seventh place in the standings and Perry is delighted to have made it to the Dubai season ending tournament.

“I’ve never been to Dubai before and never played at the World Series Finals so I’m very excited to experience it all,” said Perry.

“At the start of the season my aims were to make the top eight in the World Rankings and I’ve managed to achieve that, so to qualify for Dubai is a huge bonus. There will be no pressure on me – I’ll just go out there and enjoy the experience and try to play some good squash. It will be a fantastic way to end the season.”

USA’s Amanda Sobhy was on track for a return appearance in Dubai but was ruled out with an Achilles tendon injury, opening the door for England’s Alison Waters to take the eighth and final qualification place.

The men’s field will be finalised following the El Gouna International which will be held in Egypt from April 7-14.

Recommended