WSA World Tour

Biography

Raneem El Weleily entered the WSA World Tour in 2002 with a ranking just outside of the top 100.  Despite some rapid progression up the professional rankings, her first WSA title wouldn’t come until seven years later when, having already claimed British Junior Open Under 13, 15, 17 and 19 titles, as well as two World Junior Open Championships, she won the Heliopolis Open in Egypt. 

In the same year Raneem broke into the WSA Top 20 for the first time, and has since continued to exceed expectations and demonstrate ability far beyond her years.  In 2010 she reached the semi-finals of both the Greenwich Open and Burning River Classic as an unseeded entrant, did the same at the WSA Gold Malaysian Open as a qualifier.  This impressive string of results saw her rapidly climb 11 places in eight months to reach the world’s Top10 for the first time in September 2010. 

Raneem doubled her WSA title tally in 2011 when she won the Hurghada International, defeating top seed Rachael Grinham in the semi-final.  Four months later she beat top seed and then-world No.2 Jenny Duncalf in the final of the Carol Weymuller Open.  A strong end to the year as a runner-up in the Hong Kong Open saw the Egyptian sit at seventh in the world rankings to begin 2012, and leapt to fifth after winning the Greenwich Open in January. In her second month as world No.2, Raneem really put the pressure on the one player in the rankings still left to jump, as she beat Nicol David in the CIMB Malaysian Open final to record not only her fifth WSA title, but also her first ever win against the Malaysian.

Raneem started 2013 in the best possible form, claiming her second career win over Nicol David in the Cleveland Classic in February. This triumph was followed by a disappointing loss in the second round of the CIMB KL Open to Natalie Grinham. Raneem reached the semi-finals of the Allam British Open for second year in a row, this time losing out to eventual winner Laura Massaro. She lost out in the final of the CIMB Malaysian Open to Nicol David, who got her revenge for 2012 and finished the year on a high by reaching the Hong Kong Open final.

2014 started with a stutter for Raneem as she was knocked out of the first of the Tournament of Champions by Madeline Perry and the quarter finals of the Cleveland Classic to young compatriot Nour El Tayeb. However, in March Raneem reached the Windy City Open final, losing to Laura Massaro and followed this up with another semi-final finish at the World Championship in Penang and at the British Open, losing to Massaro both times. 

Raneem celebrated her marriage to PSA Star Tarek Momen in June. 

Interests

Music, Jigsaw Puzzles

Ambitions