Fayrouz Aboelkheir upsets Amanda Sobhy (Photo PSA)
Top seeds Sivasangari Subramaniam and Joel Makin will take on Egyptian duo Fayrouz Aboelkheir and Youssef Ibrahim tomorrow in the finals after all four produced confident semi-final performances at the HKFC Open 2025, a PSA Squash Tour Silver event.
Women’s top seed and World No.7 Sivasangari was the first of the four to book her spot in the finals. She needed just 26 minutes to beat France’s Melissa Alves. The Malaysian used her superior short game to always keep Alves guessing and stretching to the front of the court.
Alves had no answer for the attacks on Sivasangari and wasn’t able to inflict any consistent pressure of her own. A straight games victory for the top seed in under half an hour is exactly what the doctor ordered for the 2023 champion.
Her opponent in the final will be No.3 seed Fayrouz Aboelkheir. The teenage Egyptian star has been in the form of her life so far this season, winning two titles and reaching the semi-finals of the Egyptian Open Diamond event. She squared off against USA’s Amanda Sobhy earlier and produced another stellar performance to win in three games.
Aboelkheir’s aggressive approach makes her a fearless competitor and with the burst of confidence, seems quite unstoppable at the minute. She won 11-9, 11-8, 13-11 in 33 minutes to reach her third final of the season so far.
The men’s final will be contested between top seed Joel Makin and No.4 seed Youssef Ibrahim after Makin needed just three games to beat Victor Crouin and Ibrahim downed No.2 seed Karim Gawad in four.
Makin was the first to secure his spot in the men’s final. He was involved in an attritional but quality contest with France’s Victor Crouin.
The Welshman moved the ball around the court superbly well and constantly asked questions of Crouin, who was finding it hard to find any gaps in the Welshman’s game. The World No.6 was pushed on the scoreline in each game but eventually took the games 11-8, 11-9, 11-7.
Makin will renew his rivalry with Youssef Ibrahim in the final, after the Egyptian defeated compatriot and World No.4 Karim Gawad in four games.
Ibrahim has been in great form recently and showed this once again to reach his second final in a row. Ibrahim took a 2-0 lead by clinching a tight second game 14-12. The former World Champion responded by taking the third game 12-10.
‘The gun-slinger’ wasn’t to be denied however as he stormed through the fourth game, eventually taking it 11-4.
Results
Men’s Semi-Finals: [1] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [3] Victor Crouin (FRA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 (55m); [4] Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) v [2] Karim Gawad (EGY) 3-1: 11-6, 14-12, 10-12, 11-4 (53m)
Women’s Semi-Finals: [1] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt [4] Mélissa Alves (FRA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 (26m); [3] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) bt [2] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-0: 11-9, 11-8, 13-11 (33m)
