U.S. Open RD1: Stefanoni on Song to Upset Metwally

USA’s Marina Stefanoni has reached the second round of a PSA World Tour Platinum event for just the second time in her career after she got the better of World No.35 Mariam Metwally in this afternoon’s opening round fixtures at the U.S. Open.

Stefanoni, the World No.57, reached the last 32 of the U.S. Open in 2021 and the 20-year-old looked full of confidence against Metwally as she dominated the match to claim an 11-2, 11-6, 12-10 victory after just 28 minutes of action at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center.

Metwally showed signs of bringing her best squash to the court in the third game, but squandered a game ball opportunity as Stefanoni sent the game to a tie-break and then went match ball up. Metwally was then punished by the referees for not playing the ball in the next point, with the Egyptian being given a no let, instead of the stroke she craved, to hand the win to Stefanoni.

“I wasn’t expecting anything, I don’t get to play many of the Platinum events, so I’ve been excited to play this,” Stefanoni said afterwards.

“I absolutely love that court as well. She put up a good fight towards the end, it was an unfortunate end on a no let call, but I’m very happy to win in three and save the body a bit.

“It’s our US national centre and I’ve had some good wins on there. It plays nicely and I always feel good on there.

“I don’t get that very often [fans waiting for autographs after the match]. The little kids are cute and I hope that they are inspired to play more and keep enjoying it. It’s nice that I can help out and make them smile.”

Stefanoni will take on 2017 U.S. Open champion Nour El Tayeb for a place in the third round.

Teenage Egyptian sensation Amina Orfi also got a win under her belt in the afternoon’s matches as she beat compatriot Fayrouz Abouelkheir by an 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9 scoreline.

The pair had contested a scrappy five-game at the QTerminals Qatar Classic last month, with all five games going to tie-breaks. The margins were narrow today too, with Abouelkheir failing to capitalise on a 10-7 lead in the third game as Orfi came back to win.

Like Metwally, Orfi was also punished for her movement at times by the referees, and the 16-year-old said afterwards: “When you’re playing you’re not really focused on your movement, you’re trying to scramble and get back to the ’T’ for your next shot. 

“She was blocking a bit and there was some contact, so this forces you to play that way.

“At the end when I was getting strokes [against her] I just tried to play my game and focused on putting the ball into the corners so there wasn’t a chance for a stroke.”

Orfi will take on Canada’s Hollie Naughton in the next round.

Over on Glass Court East, England’s Grace Gear scored her first Platinum win as she prevailed in a gruelling five-game battle with France’s Melissa Alves.

The World No.51 is appearing at her seventh Platinum tournament and had never before taken a game at this level, but she dug in after Alves had brought it back to 2-2 to secure an 11-7, 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7 win.

“I’m over the moon,” said Gear.

“I’ve been trying for about a year now [to reach the second round of a Platinum event]. I’ve been in the Platinums and to get my first win is special. It’s been a long time coming and I’ve had a few good performances recently. I’m just glad to get the win now. 

“I came out strong in the first, I was really happy with that. I took my foot off the gas in the second and the fourth. I think she [Melissa Alves] improved throughout the match as well and I’m glad I managed to knuckle down at the end of that fifth game and get the win. I think I pushed from 6-4 down to 10-6 so I’m really happy with that. 

“I tried to reset and think about my game plan and what my coach is telling me off the court. I was trying to settle the nerves as I won the first game and I didn’t want to get carried away with what could potentially happen, winning the match. I’m glad I settled the nerves. 

“There’s no pressure on me again [against Salma Hany in round two] so I’m going to go in, try to play some good squash and enjoy my time out there.”

In the men’s event, India’s Ramit Tandon will come up against defending champion Diego Elias in the last 32 after he saw off USA’s Faraz Khan by an 11-6, 11-3, 11-3 scoreline.

Tandon said: “I’m happy with the way I played, the first match at a tournament is always tricky and Faraz has been the man in form, he’s had a couple of big wins at the 20Ks and 30Ks in America coming into this.

“I had to be really alert and sharp from the very first point. I’ve been working with DP [David Palmer] since the summer and it was good to have his support here. We’ve been working on a few things and he was happy with the way I executed them.

“I’m happy to have a relatively strong performance in the first round before my match tomorrow.

“Diego is the second best player in the world right now and he won this event last year. His movement and his shots are strong, so I know it’s going to be tough. But the US is a second home for me and it will be fun to play him here on the glass court.”

2015 runner-up Omar Mosaad snuck through to the second round after narrowly beating England’s Curtis Malik 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6 in 79 minutes.

The evening session from today’s U.S. Open round one matches begins at 16:30. Action from both glass courts will be streamed live on SQUASHTV, while matches on Court 7 & Court 15 will be broadcast on the PSA Live Streams YouTube channel.

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Results – Men’s First Round (Afternoon Session): 2023 U.S. Open

Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Curtis Malik (ENG) 3-2: 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6 (79m)

Rory Stewart (SCO) bt [17/32] Yahya Elnawasany (EGY) 3-1: 11-5, 11-6, 4-11, 11-4 (43m)

[17/32] Greg Lobban (SCO) bt [WC] Zane Patel (USA) 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 11-5 (28m)

Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt Auguste Dussourd (FRA) 3-1: 7-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-8 (49m)

[17/32] Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt David Baillargeon (CAN) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 (38m)

[17/32] Cesar Salazar (MEX) bt Andrew Douglas (USA) 3-1: 12-10, 4-11, 14-12, 11-6 (49m)

[17/32] Nathan Lake (ENG) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-6, 11-8 (38m)

[17/32] Ramit Tandon (IND) bt Faraz Khan (USA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-3, 11-3 (33m)

Results – Women’s First Round (Afternoon Session): 2023 U.S. Open

[17/32] Hana Ramadan (EGY) bt Salma Eltayeb (EGY) 3-1: 12-14, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5 (36m)

[17/32] Lucy Turmel (ENG) bt Kenzy Ayman (EGY) 3-1: 11-1, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5 (38m)

Amina Orfi (EGY) bt [17/32] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) 3-1: 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9 (54m)

Marina Stefanoni (USA) bt [17/32] Mariam Metwally (EGY) 3-0: 11-2, 11-6, 12-10 (28m)

Hana Moataz (EGY) bt [WC] Lucie Stefanoni (USA) 3-0: 11-5, 12-10, 11-5 (21m)

Grace Gear (ENG) bt [17/32] Melissa Alves (FRA) 3-2: 11-7, 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7 (60m)

[17/32] Nada Abbas (EGY) bt Emilia Soini (FIN) 3-0: 11-1, 11-2, 12-10 (24m)

[17/32] Sana Ibrahim (EGY) bt Marie Stephan (FRA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-5 (22m)

Tonight’s Schedule

(All times are local GMT-4)

Glass Court West

16:30 Katie Malliff (ENG) v Zeina Zein (EGY)

17:15 [WC] Spencer Lovejoy (USA) v Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY)

18:00 Zeina Mickawy (EGY) v Ineta Mackevica (LAT)

18:45 Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) v Timothy Brownell (USA)

Glass Court East

17:00 Karim El Hammamy (EGY) v Shahjahan Khan (USA)

17:45 Lucy Beecroft (ENG) v Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY)

18:30 Todd Harrity (USA) v Adrian Waller (ENG)

19:15 Alexandra Fuller (RSA) v Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)

Court 7

16:30 Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v Nicole Bunyan (CAN)

17:15 Patrick Rooney (ENG) v Balazs Farkas (HUN)

18:00 Millie Tomlinson (ENG) v Jana Shiha (EGY)

18:45 Leandro Romiglio (ARG) v Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)

Court 15

17:00 Leonel Cardenas (MEX) v Bernat Jaume (ESP)

17:45 Emily Whitlock (WAL) v Enora Villard (FRA)

18:30 Nick Wall (ENG) v Raphael Kandra (GER)

19:15 Georgia Adderley (SCO) v Nadine Shahin (EGY)