Open Squash Classic 2024 : It’s Marwan & Farida

Open Squash Classic 2024 : FINALS

[1] Farida Mohamed (Egy) 3-0 Lee Ka Yi (Hkg)   11-7, 11-6, 11-9 (23m)

[1] Marwan Elshorbagy (Eng) 3-1 [2] Victor Crouin (Fra)    11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9 (50m)

FINALS : Top seeds Marwan and Farida claim the titles in NY

Marwan ElShorbagy defeated second seed Victor Crouin while  Farida Mohamed downed giant-killer Lee Ka Yi Lee as both top seeds were crowned the 2024 Open Squash Classic champions.

In the men’s final, World No.10 Marwan ElShorbagy faced France’s Victor Crouin for a chance to win his first World Tour title since 2022, while Crouin looked to build on a fantastic Open Squash Classic campaign, reaching the final while winning all of his matches 3-0.

“Overall, I’m happy with the win today,” said ElShorbagy after the match. “To win the final today against Victor means a lot to me. We played a final in Nantes two or three years ago and he beat me in the final so that was in the back of my mind today. He’s been playing very well. He didn’t drop any games until the final, so I knew how dangerous he is.”

In the women’s final top seed Mohamed claimed victory as she defeated Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yi  to earn her second World Tour title of her career. Lee came into the match after upset wins over seventh seed Nadine Shahin, second seed Nada Abbas and third seed Hollie Naughton, while Mohamed had yet to drop a game.

“It’s such a relief honestly,” said Mohamed after completing a sweep of 3-0 wins. “Coming into the tournament seeded one. Sometimes it’s a little more pressure, but playing at Open Squash made it much easier on me. It’s like a family here, I used to train here whenever I was in New York so it feels like my home club so it definitely removed a lot of pressure from the game today, but I’m so happy with my performance throughout the whole week.”

What Victor said

“Pleased with my performance this week & my ability to back it up every day. 4 matches in 4 days is intense but I felt good physically and mentally all the way through. That’s a good signal and I feel my game is moving in the right direction.
Always disappointing to lose a final but there isn’t much time to linger on it as I am already heading to San Fransisco for another event.
Marwan was the better player last night. He came out strong from the very start, quickly taking a 3-0 lead in the first game.
Overall, I lacked the discipline and the consistency in my decision making to get a better result. I fought hard to get back into the match after seeing myself go 2-0 down but it wasn’t enough. Lost 3-1 in the end.
There’s a lot of small improvements that I noticed in my game and I look forward to using the experience I gained this week onto the next tournament. Quick turnaround as I am scheduled to play on Saturday 7:45pm at Squash Zone in Redwood City, California. Can’t wait to compete there as it’s my first time traveling to the West Coast! 🎉
On a last note, I would like to congratulate Open Squash and all the people behind the organization for putting on a great PSA event for their inaugural Open Squash Classic. It was an honor to play and compete in front of the members & I can’t wait to be back for the second edition next year! 🙏”

SEMIS : Lee run continues to join top seeds in NY finals

Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yi Lee produced a third successive upset to defeat third seed Hollie Naughton and reach the  first World Tour final of her career.

“I’m really excited right now,” said Lee. “I never thought I’d make it to a Bronze-event final, so I’m really happy. Playing without pressure, of course I’ll have a bit, but I think the most important thing is to focus on myself, play my own game, play my own lob, my own length, rather than thinking about who’s the highest seed.”

In the fin al she’ll face Egyptian top seed Farida Mohamed, who beat England’s Katie Malliff in her third straight-games win in a row.

In the men’s draw  top seeds Marwan ElShorbagy and Victor Crouin  earned their places in Thursday’s finals with wins over Greg Lobban and Miguel Rodriguez.

Day THREE : Lee takes out second seed as semi-finalists decided

In a blockbuster third day of action at the 2024 Open Squash Classic, Hong Kong’s Ka Yi Lee defeated Nada Abbas and third seed Miguel Rodriguez battled up-and-comer Mohamad Zakaria in a 75-minute epic.

In the standout performance of the night, World No.48 Lee earned her first World Tour semi-final with an impressive win over second seed Abbas.

In the final men’s quarter-final, 38-year-old Colombian Rodriguez beat out 17-year-old Egyptian prodigy Zakaria in a fast and aggressive three-game affair.

The match, despite lasting only three games long, lived up to the crowds expectations as it saw the explosive, exciting squash the ‘Colombian Cannonball’ has become famed for.

In the first quarter-final of the day, Katie Malliff continued her strong start to the 2023/24 season, reaching her second World Tour semi-final following her NASH Cup win in September.

Elsewhere, Canada’s Hollie Naughton came out on top of a brutal five-game encounter with No.3 seed Mariam Metwally, top seeds Marwan ElShorbagy and Farida Mohamed both earned their places in the semi-finals, and Victor Crouin and Greg Lobban won out it straight games.

Day TWO : Quarter-Finalists decided in NY

The 2024 Open Squash Classic quarter-final spots have been decided after a dramatic second day of action at Open Squash FiDi. India’s Abhay Singh and England’s Adrian Waller play out an incredible encounter on the side courts as four seeds are defeated over the 16 matches.

In the women’s draw, England’s Katie Malliff came from two games down to defeat USA’s Marina Stefanoni.

Elsewhere, India’s Velavan Senthilkumar was amongst the players to score an upset in round two, defeating eighth  seed Omar Mosaad. Also defeating favourites, Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yi beat out seventh seed Nadine Shahin in four games, and Egypt’s Mohamad Zakaria defeated sixth seed Gregoire Marche in the final traditional-court match of the tournament.

Squash for EVERYONE – Open Squash