Grace Gear (Photo PSA)
World No.41 Grace Gear scored the biggest upset on day three of the Canadian Women’s Squash Open, toppling World No.26 Hana Moataz in five games 8-11, 11-6, 13-11, 2-11, 11-8 at Brookfield Place, Toronto.
Gear, who defeated Moataz in their previous meeting on the PSA Squash Tour at the London Classic over a year ago, claimed a 3-2 victory over the Egyptian to reach the quarter finals of the Silver-level event.
After falling 2-1 behind, Moataz responded emphatically in the fourth game with a dominant 11-2 win to force a decider. Moataz, the tournament’s No.8 seed, recovered from 5-1 down to make it all square in the fifth game, but Gear held her nerve at the business end to close out a 11-8 triumph.
“I’m over the moon!” she said post-match.
“Coming into the tournament I hadn’t had a win yet so to get the win the other day was really important for me.
“To get the win tonight, even more so. Hana [Moataz] is very in form; she just won a Copper event out in Brazil playing really good squash so I knew I had to bring my best game tonight, and I’m glad I managed to stick to the game plan.”
Gear meets 2024 champion Tinne Gilis in the quarter finals on Wednesday evening after the Belgian overturned a 1-0 deficit to beat Torrie Malik 3-1.
England No.1 Georgina Kennedy began her Canadian Women’s Open campaign with a 3-0 success over Zeina Mickawy.
Kennedy, who was runner-up to Amina Orfi last year, raced into a 2-0 lead before Mickawy looked to have muscled her way back into the contest when she had three game balls.
However the Egyptian failed to seize the opportunity, as Kennedy saved all three opportunities and converted her match ball chance in the tiebreak to win 12-10.
“It’s the first time playing her [Mickawy] which is always fun. It’s nice to play someone new on Tour, it doesn’t happen much and I think she adapted better to the conditions tonight,” she said.
“It’s very cold [on court], the ball softens up quickly and she’s so dangerous, I wasn’t finding my length and she rightfully was putting it away. So I need to tidy up my length a little bit and make sure it’s getting a bit deeper tomorrow.”
Kennedy will square off against Sin Yuk Chan for a semi-final spot following the Hong Konger’s comfortable 3-0 win against Haya Ali.
Meanwhile, the quarter finals of the Smart Centres Canada Cup, a Silver-level event, kicked off with former World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy beating Noor Zaman in a high quality battle.
In the final match of the evening, ElShorbagy earned his place in the last four by overcoming Zaman 14-12, 7-11, 11-8, 13-11 in 67 minutes.
ElShorbagy meets top seed Diego Elias on Thursday night for a spot in the final after the Peruvian ended Adam Hawal’s strong run in Toronto.
Hawal, who claimed impressive back-to-back victories over Nicolas Mueller and Declan James, was unable to make it a hat-trick of upsets as Elias cruised to a 11-2, 11-8, 11-2 win.
Results
Second Round Canadian Women’s Open 2026
[3] Tinne Gilis (BEL) bt. Torrie Malik (ENG) 3 -1: 10-12, 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 (46m)
Grace Gear (ENG) bt. [8] Hana Moataz (EGY) 3 -2: 8-11, 11-6, 13-11, 2-11, 11-8 (52m)
[7] Sin Yuk Chan (HKG) bt. Haya Ali (EGY) 3-0:11-5, 11-7, 11-6 (20m)
[2] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt. Zeina Mickawy (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 (35m)
Quarter Finals Smart Centres Canada Cup 2026
[1] Diego Elias (PER) bt. Adam Hawal (EGY) 3 -0:11-2, 11-8, 11-2 (36m)
[3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt. [8] Noor Zaman (PAK) 3-1: 14-12, 7-11, 11-8, 13-11 (67m)
