Cape Town Open 2024

FINALS: Top seeds ALVES & AL-TAMIMI are the winners

Top seeds Melissa Alves and Abdulla Al-Tamimi have won the Cape Town Squash Open 2024, beating Nour Heikal and Declan James on finals day in South Africa.

The action was taking place on the purpose-built all-glass court inside Cape Town’s Western Province Cricket Club, with the spectacular Table Mountain providing a backdrop to rival any in world sport.

All eyes were firmly on the inside of the court on finals day, though, with fans queueing to get in just moments before play started, and every seat in the grandstand filled once it did.

It was 21-year-old Heikal who made the better start to the women’s showdown, attacking at every opportunity on her way to a 9-6 lead.

She was, however, unable to convert that advantage into a one-game lead, with Alves quickly erasing the deficit before taking the tiebreak that followed.

The French No.1 was quickly 5-0 up in game two, as Heikal found the tin on a number of occasions, and 5-0 soon became 11-5, and a two-game lead for Alves.

The difference in style was notable throughout the first two games, with Alves adopting a patient approach, waiting for the errors to come from her opponent’s racket.

Unsurprisingly, given Heikal’s aggressive game, that resulted in some highlight-reel winners for the young Egyptian, but ultimately Alves’ approach paid off, as Heikal slammed a forehand into the tin on match ball.

“I came here as the No.1 seed so obviously I wanted to win this tournament,” Alves said after her victory. That was the goal with my team, with my coaches, we talked about this one, and I’m happy.

“It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you get the win, and I think today I played pretty well.

“I’m happy with the week overall, I managed my emotions pretty well and got through the matches. I lost some games but it’s ok, I think I played well, found a way to recover and got the win today.

“I knew that she could win four, five or six points in a row and also make four or five mistakes in a row, so it was just about making sure I got to the front and making sure I cover her attacking shots.

“I let her play the game today, let her make the winners and make the mistakes. She loves to attack, she loves to go to the front, so I just wanted to be boring today, play to the back, play slow, play good targets to the back so she doesn’t attack too much, and if she does, just counter.”

Alves’ victory was followed by success in the men’s competition for Qatar’s Al-Tamimi, who recorded a first career win over James at the fifth time of asking.

The No.1 seed suffered a cut to the head in his semi-final win over Karim El Hammamy, and sported a small plaster below his trademark headband from the off today.

The crowd inside the sports hall – usually home to the indoor cricket nets – at Western Province Cricket Club were treated to a thrilling opening game, too, as Al-Tamimi and James went toe-to-toe over more than 15 minutes of action.

James had two games balls at 10-8 and another at 13-12, but ultimately fell short of taking the lead, losing the tiebreak 15-13, with Al-Tamimi showing no signs of being affected by his injury.

The two players showcased somewhat contrasting styles, with the diminutive Al-Tamimi attacking the front of the court, while James displayed his usual consistency to the corners.

It was Al-Tamimi’s approach that came out in top of game two, though, as he reeled off seven points out of eight to move from 4-4 to 11-5, and he carried that momentum into game three, dragging James around the court with a combination of deft touches and impressive speed.

James kept fighting until the end but Al-Tamimi would prove too strong on the day, raising his arms aloft as James failed to reach a forehand drop on match balls.

Victory for Al-Tamimi secures him an 11th PSA Squash Tour title and his first outside of Qatar since 2022, and speaking after his win, he revealed how he felt after keeping his composure with the lead.

“I feel relief, to be honest,” he said. “You have no idea the amount of things going through my head when I have even a one-point lead, imagine four or five.

“I knew Dec gets a lot of balls back. You think he’s far from the ball, but he’s got that reach so it makes you think that you have to take him short again, which I did a lot of the time, but I knew I had to push it deep again then short again.

“That’s what I’ve been working on, to get the guy tired towards the end of the match, to sneak the mistakes from them instead of the other way around.”

SEMIS :  End of the run for Fuller

Semi-Finals day in Cape Town saw the e3nd of the fairy-tale return of Alexandra Fuller as she lost out in four games to seventh seed Nour Heikal. The Egyptian will face France’s Melissa Alves in the final after the top seed came from a game down to beat unseeded Nour Khagafy.

The men’s final will see the top two seeds meet for the title after Abdulla Al-Tamimi won a see-saw five-setter against Karim El Hammamy and Declan James came from a game down to see off Omar Mosaad.

Watch the Finals Live :

Watch the semi-final replays :

QUARTERS : Fuller’s dream return goes on

Quarter-finals day was the end of the line for unseeded Dewald van Niekerk as the top four seeds reached the men’s semi-finals. Abdulla Al-Tamimi meets Karim El Hammamy while Declan James meets Omar Mosaad.

Alexandra Fuller‘s return from retirement goes on though as the former SA champion beat compatriot Hayley Ward to set up a semi-final against seventh seed Nour Heikal, who ousted fellow Egyptian second seed Mariam Metwally. Top seed Melissa Alves meets unseeded Egyptian Nour Khagafy in the other semi-final.

Day TWO : SA trio advance to the quarters

It was another good day for the hosts in Cape Town as unseeded trio Alexandra Fuller, Hayley Ward and Dewald van Niekerk all notched wins over seeded players to reach the quarter-finals.

Van Niekerk produced the only seeding upset in the men’s draw, while in the women’s draw Egypt’s Nour Khagafy overcame fifth seed Millie Tomlinson in  five games.

Day ONE :  Fuller makes winning return as SA trio advance

Former National Champion Alexandra Fuller made a successful return from retirement as she advanced to Round Two in Cape Town, alongside compatriots Hayley Ward and Dewald van Niekerk.