Men’s & Women’s PSA $3k Challenger, 15-19 Mar, Cairo Stadium, Egypt
Nour El Tayeb and Ali Farag set out on the promoting path as they start a new Challenger Tour series at the Cairo Stadium, scene of many famous and dramatic squash events.
Fayruz Aboelkheir (Egy) 3-1 Malak Khafagy (Egy) 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8 (37m)
[1] Mostafa El Sirty (Egy) 3-0 [2] Yahya Elnawasany (Egy) 14-12, 11-5, 11-7 (39m)
El Sirty and Aboelkher claim Cairo titles
Top seed Mostafa El Sirty collected the title in Cairo as he beat second seed Yahya Elnawasany in straight games. Both had survived scares on the way to the final with El Sirty saving match ball in round one and Elnawasany twice taken the full distance.
The women’s final, between two unseeded players who had both taken out top seeds, saw 15-year-old Fayruz Aboelkheir claim the title in her first PSA event!
Semis:
[1] Mostafa El Sirty (Egy) 3-1 [15] Yassin Elshafei (Egy) 14-12, 11-4, 5-11, 11-5 (40m)
[2] Yahya Elnawasany (Egy) 3-1 Mohamed Ferman Hassan (Irq) 8-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-9 (36m)
Malak Khafagy (Egy) 3-2 [1] Hana Moataz (Egy) 11-7, 9-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-8 (45m)
Fayruz Aboelkheir (Egy) 3-0 [3] Nour Aboulmakarim (Egy) 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 (23m)
Contrasting semis in Cairo
Top seeds Mostafa El Sirty and Yahya Elnawasany won through to the men’s final as Cairo Stadium, but both women’s semis produced as unseeded Malak Khagafy and Fayruz Aboelkheir continued to knock out seeds as they set up an unexpected final.
Day THREE – down to the semis
Top seeds Mostafa El Sirty and Yahya Elnawasany are on course in the men’s draw, with El Sirty through to a semi-final with 15th seed Yashin Elshafei, while Elnawasany came through a second successive five-setter and will meet unseeded Iraqi Mohamed Ferman Hassan for a place in the final.
More upsets in the women’s draw as unseeded Fayrouz Aboulkheir continues to progress and will meet third seed Nour Aboulmakarim in an enticing semi-final. Top seed Hana Moataz was untroubled in her quarter-final and will meet unseeded Malag Khagafy who ousted 6th seed Nardine Garas in five.
Quarter-Finals Live Stream :
Day ONE, El Sirty survives
A busy day at the stadium with 32 first round matches ! A few upsets, and almost a massive one as top men’s seed Mostafa El Sirty saves match ball in the third on his way to a five game win over Serif Shenway.
Preview
Nour El Tayeb and Ali Farag set out on the promoting path as they start a new Challenger Tour series at the Cairo Stadium, scene of many famous and dramatic squash events.
In the same week that the CIB PSA Black Ball Squash Open is taking place in the city, Cairo is also playing host to the Egyptian Challenger Tour #1, the first event on the Challenger Tour this week.
Like all tournaments currently on the Challenger Tour, this one has restricted entries, with only those currently residing in Egypt allowed to enter the Challenger 5 level event.
There will be a 32-strong draw for both the men’s and women’s events, with just a single player not represented Egypt in both. Japan’s Erisa Sano Herring will play in the women’s draw, while Iraqi No.1 Mohamed Ferman Hassan is in the men’s event.
World No.75 Hana Moataz is the leading female in the tournament, and has the highest World Ranking of all 64 players featuring in Cairo this week. She will face competition from World No.84 Salma Eltayeb, World No.94 Nour Aboulmakarim and World No.107 Amina El Rihany, the rest of the top four seeds.
The men’s draw sees Omar Elkattan, Ahmed Hosny and Yahya Elnawasany inside the top four seeds, along with top seed and World No.83 Moustafa El Sirty.
“I am feeling pretty good these days with the way I play, specifically with my new coaches and feeling more ready than ever for this tournament because of the amount of training I have done in the last couple of months,” Moustafa said.
“It feels awesome to have won three titles in my career before turning 20. It gives me positive signs that I’m moving in the right direction.”
El Sirty already has had experience at the very top level, having played in the CIB Egyptian Open in both 2019 and 2020, and although he was unable win either of those matches, the experience was invaluable as he aims to climb the rankings.
“It was a great experience. Unfortunately I haven’t had enough luck to win a match in either tournaments but hopefully the next one I will be able to do something much better,” he explained.
“The way I look at it, my goal is the No.1 spot. Joining the top 70, top 50, or even top 20 would just be a great step in the right direction and I’m very excited to start working towards that final goal.”
