Challenger Tour Round-Up: 16-year-old Zakaria Downs World No.48 Faraz Khan in LA, El Rihany Defeats Top Seed in Uster

Local World LA Open 

16-year-old Egyptian Mohamed Zakaria produced an incredible performance to defeat LA Open top seed Faraz Khan on day two at the Jonathan Club. Zakaria took a tight opening game 12-10 before doubling his lead, winning 11-8. The teenager closed out the match by taking a convincing third game 11-4 to move into the quarter finals.

There were more upsets throughout the day as Sebastien Salazar, Mathias Knudsen and Omar ElKattan produced surprise wins to claim spots in the last eight.  

1er Open PSA Féminin de Couzeix/Limoges

The semi-finalists have been confirmed in Couzeix as the top two seeds Marta Dominguez Fernandez and Torrie Malik scored comfortable wins whilst unseeded Hana Ismail and Lauren Baltayan scored upsets to join the top two seeds in the final four.

Ismail was involved in the match of the day as she overcame No.3 seed Kaitlyn Watts to advance. The Egyptian found herself 2-1 up in the contest but after Watts equalised at 2-2 needed to regroup to claim the win. Ismail did that in style to take the fifth 11-6.

PVD Squash RI Open

There was only one upset on day two in Providence at the PVD Squash RI Open as Ecuador’s David Costales defeated Egypt’s Mohamed Nabil to claim a quarter final spot. The unseeded Ecuadorian needed just three games to defeat Nabil, winning 12-10, 11-4, 11-6.

Two home players will feature in the final wight as top seed Spencer Lovejoy and Chris Gordon both advanced. Top seeded Lovejoy wasted no time in beating wildcard Tate Harms 3-0. Tour veteran Gordon also converted his match in straight games against compatriot Jamie Ruggiero.

Logan City Queensland Open

There were several shocks and surprises on day three in Brisbane as spots in the semi-finals were up for grabs in both the men’s and women’s 6k events.

In the women’s draw, top seeded home players Jessica Turnbull and Sarah Cardwell will face surprise players Sehveetrraa Kumar and Mingyeong Heo in the final four after they overcame No.3 and 4 seeds Erisa Sano Herring and Sophie Fadaely respectively.

No.2 seed Rhys Dowling survived an early exit in his quarter final match after he was forced to recover from 2-0 down against compatriot Brendan MacDonald. After MacDonald established his 2-0 lead, Dowling was forced to bring his top game, which he did in style, winning 11-4, 11-2, 11-0 to complete the comeback.

Top seed Tomotaka Endo saw his pursuit of the title come to an end as he lost out to Malaysia’s Bryan Lim Tze Kang in four games. Kang lost the opening game to the top seed but recovered well to win the next four games in 35 minutes to advance.

Swiss Open

Both top seeds in the women’s Swiss Open were defeated yesterday in Uster as Nadia Pfister and Haya Ali fell in straight games to Amina El Rihany and Celine Walser. The pair both needed less than half an hour to complete their surprise wins and claim places in the quarter finals. The remaining top 8 seeds all safely progressed to the final eight after they all also produced 3-0 wins.

It was a straight forward day for the seeds in the men’s event as all the top four seeds moved through to the semi-finals with top seed Yannick Wilhelmi the only player to drop a game on route to claiming victory.

Burnt Squash Open

The Burnt Squash Open in Lakeville, Connecticut got underway yesterday with 14 matches taking place across a men’s and women’s event.

Four unseeded players made it through it through to the second round of the 6k event with Colombia’s Mateo Restrepo coming through the most entertaining match of the round as he overcame Canada’s Jayden Shortt in a five game thriller.

Elsie Kang and Vannessa Raj were the only players who managed to cause opening day upsets in the women’s draw as they overcame Connie Gonzalez Navarrine and Ava Lin to reach the second round.

You can stay up to date with all the results on the PSA Tour here.