Asal and Hania spearhead China Open seedings

World No.1 Mostafa Asal and World No.2 Hania El Hammamy will lead the cast at the China Open squash championships, after being confirmed as the top seeds for the Gold level event.

The event will take place between the 11-16 November with action taking place from the Diamond Squash Centre before moving to the Shanghai Xian Xia Tennis Center from the quarter finals onwards. 

Asal claimed the Egyptian Open title earlier this season, the first Diamond event of the season. Asal is heading into the Gold event having won his previous two Gold events at the Palm Hills Open and Optasia Championships. He’ll be looking to make it three wins in a row at this tier of event to continue his dominance as World No.1. 

No.2 seed Paul Coll was a beaten finalist in the 2018 China Open and hasn’t featured in the event since. Coll is the current World No.3 and will be determined to keep the advancing Joel Makin at bay. A first China Open title for Coll would certainly help that cause and allow him to stay within touching distance of World No.2 Diego Elias. 

The Elshorbagy brothers, Mohamed and Marwan, are the No.3 and 4 seeds for this years event with Mohamed returning looking to defend his title and score a third in a row.

Mohamed defeated Mohamed Abouelghar in last year’s final to win his 50th PSA title, a milestone moment for the former World No.1. Mohamed is in the same half as Coll as he looks to capture some form after a difficult start to the season. Marwan finds himself also struggling for form so far this season and would certainly benefit from a positive tournament as he returns to China for the third successive time. 

Women’s World No.2 Hania El Hammamy tops the women’s draw as she looks to claim a second Gold event title of the year. The Egyptian has competed in two China Opens in her career but is yet to progress past the second round. She’s started the season in great form and will be looking to continue that and claim more silverware. 

USA No.1 Olivia Weaver is the No.2 seed for the event and after her first period of the season has been plagued by injury, the current World No.4 will be itching to return to competitive action and continue where she left off last season and hunt a win over one of ‘The big three’. Weaver

The current and 4x World Junior Champion Amina Orfi is the No.3 seed and sits in the same half of the draw as Weaver. Orfi has made her intentions very clear so far this season and is knocking loudly on the door of the top players in the world.

Orfi won the London Squash Classic to start the season and reached the final of the Egyptian Open most recently.

Orfi has already made history as she’s become the youngest female player ever to reach the world’s top three in the PSA World Rankings.

Li HaiZhen and Ziyi Liu have been named as wildcards for the event as well as two further wildcards who will earn their spot through a separate event. 

Men’s Draw

[1] Mostafa Asal [EGY] – Bye
Alex Lau [HKG] v [9/16] Nicolas Mueller [SUI]
[9/16] Mohamed Abouelghar [EGY] v Velavan Senthilkumar [IND]
[5] Victor Crouin [FRA] – Bye
[7] Mazen Hesham [EGY] – Bye
Balazs Farkas [HUN] vs [9/16] Kareem El Torkey (EGY)
[9/16] Gregoire Marche [FRA] v [WC] HaiZhen Li [CHN]
[3] Marwan ElShorbagy [ENG] – Bye
[4] Mohamed ElShorbagy [ENG] – Bye
Abhay Singh [IND] vs [9/16] Baptiste Masotti [FRA]
[9/16] Mohamad Zakaria [EGY] vs Reserve
[8] Eain Yow Ng [MAS] – Bye
[6] Youssef Ibrahim [EGY] – Bye
Qualifier vs [9/16] Curtis Malik [ENG]
[9/16] Sebastien Bonmalais [FRA] vs Karim El Hammamy [EGY]
[2] Paul Coll [NZL] – Bye

Women’s Draw

[1] Hania El Hammamy [EGY] – Bye
Qualifier v [9/16] Tomato Ho [HKG]
[9/16] Rachel Arnold [MAS] v Tsz-Wing Tong [HKG]
[5] Nele Gilis [BEL] – Bye
[8] Jasmine Hutton [ENG] – Bye
Anahat Singh [IND] v [9/16] Sana Ibrahim [EGY]
[9/16] Kenzy Ayman [EGY] v Cindy Merlo [SUI]
[4] Satomi Watanabe [JPN] – Bye
[3] Amina Orfi [EGY] – Bye
Ainaa Amani [MAS] v [9/16] Aira Azman [MAS]
[9/16] Hollie Naughton [CAN] v Nadine Shahin [EGY]
[6] Nada Abbas [EGY] – Bye
[7] Salma Hany [EGY] – Bye
Menna Hamed [EGY] v [9/16] Aifa Azman [MAS]
[9/16] Ka Yi Lee [HKG] v [WC] Ziyi Liu [CHN]
[2] Olivia Weaver [USA] – Bye