Rowan Elaraby produced a sensational comeback from 2-0 down to overcome Hollie Naughton at the Swedish Open to reach the quarter finals of the Silver-level squash event in Stockholm.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elaraby lost the first two games 11-9, 11-8 to the Canadian No.1 and appeared to be exiting the tournament, but strong performances in the third and fourth games helped the Egyptian draw level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former World No.7, who has been on the comeback trail in 2026 after sustaining a serious leg injury at the PSA World Championships in 2025, kept her composure in the fifth to complete the epic resurgence with an 11-8 win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think the only feeling I have right now is just relief,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m just so proud of myself for getting out of the match with the win. Hollie [Naughton] was playing amazing, I couldn\u2019t find my length game in the beginning and I kept losing focus throughout the first two games so I\u2019m just happy that I found a way in the end and got the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was just trying to find a way to stay in the match. I didn\u2019t want to lose that way, to be honest. I felt like I wasn\u2019t trying enough and even if I lost in the end, I would have loved to lose trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI kept losing my focus and I didn\u2019t stick to the game plan throughout the entire match. I kept losing focus in patches so I was just trying to do what I had to do throughout the entire game starting from the third.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elaraby will take on the No.2 seed Gina Kennedy in the last eight tomorrow after the English No.1 downed her compatriot Saran Nghiem 3-0, while No.1 seed Fayrouz Aboelkheir kicked off her Swedish Open campaign by defeating Lauren Baltayan by the same scoreline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men\u2019s event, Declan James produced an excellent comeback of his own, recovering from 2-1 down to overcome No.8 seed Kareem El Torkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James was 2-1 down and trailing 9-3 in the fourth game before mounting a sublime fightback to restore parity, posting seven points without reply to send the clash into a fifth game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a closely fought decider where both players saved match balls, it was James who converted at the second attempt in the tiebreak to advance to the last eight, claiming a 5-11,11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 13-11 victory after 74 pulsating minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a very scrappy match. It was really a match of two halves,\u201d he said post-match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe [El Torkey] won the first very easily and then I came back really well in the second, and then he won the third very easily. I think 9-4, 9-5 or something in the fourth game, I was kind of on the way out and I was saying to myself, \u2018Come on, this isn\u2019t really enough of a fight that you\u2019re putting up. If you\u2019re going to lose, make it harder than it is now.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe points were going by too quickly, so I managed to reel a few points off in that fourth game, and that just gave me a lot of confidence physically. I was still in pretty good order, I came out at the start of the fifth with really good energy, and it just got so scrappy towards the end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James\u2019s quarter-final opponent will be top seed Mohamad Zakaria, who defeated Simon Herbert for a last eight berth, however the Englishman was forced to retire due to injury towards the end of the second game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, Mohamed Abouelghar fought back from 1-0 down to beat Patrick Rooney, while No.2 Joel Makin dispatched Nicolas Mueller with a 3-0 triumph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Results <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s Second Round: <\/strong> Women\u2019s Second Round: <\/strong> Rowan Elaraby produced a sensational comeback from 2-0 down to overcome Hollie Naughton at the Swedish Open to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-16190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-squash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
[1] Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) bt Simon Herbert (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 9-5 (Ret) (32m)
Declan James (JAM) bt [8] Kareem El Torkey (EGY) 3-2: 5-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 13-11 (74m
[6] Yahya Elnawasany (EGY) bt Balazs Farkas (HUN) 3-1: 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6 (43m)
[3] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Greg Lobban (SCO) 3-1: 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5 (47m)
[4] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt Patrick Rooney (ENG) 3-1: 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 (46m)
[5] Leonel Cardenas (MEX) bt Raphael Kandra (GER) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 (35m)
[7] Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt Ivan Perez (ESP) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-8 (47m)
[2] Joel Makin (WAL) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-0 (31m)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[1] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) bt Lauren Baltayan (FRA) 3-0: 11-7, 11-4, 11-9 (33m)
Nadien Elhammamy (EGY) bt [7] Mariam Metwally (EGY) 3-0: 11-2, 11-6, 11-3 (22m)
[6] Lucy Turmel (ENG) bt Habiba Hani (EGY) 3-0: 12-10, 11-3, 11-8 (33m)
[4] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Alicia Mead (ENG) 3-1: 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8 (43m)
[3] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt Menna Hamed (EGY) 3-0: 11-4,12-10, 11-3 (28m)
[8] Hana Ramadan (EGY) bt Nadine Shahin (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-8 (23m)
[5] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) bt Hollie Naughton (CAN) 3-2: 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 (54m)
[2] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt Saran Nghiem (ENG) 3-0: 12-10, 11-5, 11-3 (29m)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"