Farida Mohamed (Photo PSA)
The second round of the Optasia Championships concluded in Wimbledon with all eight seeded players avoiding defeat to complete the quarter-final line-ups at the Gold level event.
Only two matches throughout the day saw a score other than 3-0 as Farida Mohamed and Marwan Elshorbagy were both tested by Chan Sin Yuk and Curtis Malik, respectively.
Elshorbagy was looking to be the first home player through to the quarter finals but didn’t have things all his own way against a stubborn Malik before winning 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5. In what was quite a scrappy fixture, both players were desperate to control the middle and keep the other behind them wherever possible. Despite the traffic issues that this created, Elshorbagy was able to keep his quality high and move to a 2-0 lead.
Malik showed his resilience in game three and came out fighting to win 11-8 and breathe more life in the contest. Elshorbagy’s experience came to his rescue in the fourth game as he intelligently picked his moments to attack and ran ahead to win 11-5 and earn a spot in the last eight.
Elshorbagy will now face Wales’ Joel Makin after he defeated Declan James 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 in a high-quality 60-minute battle. The other quarter-final in the top half of the men’s draw will see top seed and World No.1 Mostafa Asal face former World Champion Mohamed Elshorbagy, after they made light work of Juan Vargas and Ramit Tandon.
Farida Mohamed versus Chan Sin Yuk was arguably the most entertaining match of the day, with two contrasting styles going head to head for only the second time on the PSA Squash Tour. Chan won the only previous meeting between the two back in 2023, winning in three games in Washington D.C.
Last night’s meeting saw power take on precision as Mohamed’s severe ball striking proved to be too much for a competitive Chan, who made more errors and left the ball loose too many times to earn the 13-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9 victory. Both players shared the opening games 13-11 before Mohamed showed her toughness to win the next two games both 11-9 to score the win.
“It’s my first match in two months since my injury, I almost had surgery done so, it was challenging,” said Mohamed after her win.
“Especially against Simmie [Chan], I knew how hard it would be, but I’m happy with my performance.
“I think I’m known for hard-hitting and against her, it’s so tough to play good shots because she has such good shots herself. But I wanted to stay aggressive most of the time and thankfully it went well today.”
Mohamed was one of three female Egyptian winners on day three as World No.1-chasing Nour ElSherbini marked her first ever Optasia Championships match with a win over Mariam Metwally, whilst No.6 seed Nada Abbas won the first match of the day against Zeina Mickawy. England’s Georgina Kennedy kept home hopes alive in the women’s draw with a ruthless victory over Haya Ali, winning 3-0 in just 24 minutes.
ROUND TWO RESULTS
Men’s: [1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt Juan Vargas (COL) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 11-2 (31m); [7] Mohamed Elshorbagy (ENG) bt Ramit Tandon (IND) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 (29m); [6] Marwan Elshorbagy (ENG) bt Curtis Malik (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5 (56m); [4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt Declan James (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 (60m)
Women’s: [4] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt Haya Ali (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-9 (24m); [8] Farida Mohamed (EGY) bt Chan Sin Yuk (HKG) 3-1: 13-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9 (44m); [6] Nada Abbas (EGY) bt Zeina Mickawy (EGY) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 (32m); [2] Nour ElSherbini (EGY) bt Mariam Metwally (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-5, 12-10 (30m)
