The Northern Joe Cup: Malik and Zakaria Claim Titles

Mohamad Zakaria and Torrie Malik claimed the 2023 Northern Joe Cup titles on finals day in Manchester. 

Zakaria came into this event having made history by becoming the youngest ever male winner on the PSA Tour at the Local World LA Open, while Malik was hoping to go one better than last year, when she finished as runner-up. 

The winner that day was local favourite Saran Nghiem, who was once again standing between Malik and the trophy as the pair went head-to-head in a rematch. 

By her own admission, Malik had not been at her best in her semi-final win over Nour Megahed, but saved her best performance for last, winning 3-0 in 32 minutes. 

Game one was nip-and-tuck in the opening stages, before Malik took control midway through, winning six points on the bounce to move from 5-4 up to 11-4 and into a one-game lead. 

The second game followed a similar pattern as Malik pulled clear in the closing stages to win 11-7 and move within one game of victory. 

One game from victory was exactly where she was last year too, having taken a 2-0 lead in that final only for Nghiem to stage an impressive comeback, but there would be no repeat here. 

Crucially, Malik won the first three points of game three to settle any nerves there might have been, and held onto her lead until the end, clinching glory with a backhand volley boast which sent Nghiem the wrong way. 

The title represents the eighth of Malik’s PSA Tour career and her sixth in 2023 alone, as well as being her biggest to date, and speaking after the match, she said revealed how much it meant, especially after falling at the final hurdle one year ago. 

“It means a lot to me to be honest because it’s my biggest title yet,” she said. 

“Obviously I lost out 3-2 to Saran last year in the final after being 2-0 up, so I’m happy to win in three. I feel like today I was so patient, executed the game plan properly.” 

Speaking on whether she was thinking about last year’s outcome at 2-0 up, she added: “I said to myself, ‘oh no what if she creeps back and gets it to 2-2 again’, but I’ve been working so hard on my mental strength in my matches.  

“I’ve had so many matches recently so I feel like you just need to ignore those thoughts and just focus on each point, and I think I did that really well today. 

“I think I saved the best match for last and it’s great.” 

Malik’s triumph was followed in the men’s competition by a second consecutive PSA Tour title for 16-year-old Zakaria, who beat France’s Toufik Mekhalfi 3-1. 

Zakaria had already beaten No.2 seed and hometown favourite Finnlay Withington, and locally-based player Emyr Evans to reach the final, and followed that up with another impressive performance to get his hands on the trophy. 

The young Egyptian had it far from all his own way though, finding himself 10-5 down in game one, only to save all five game balls, plus another in the tie break, to take it 14-12 on a stroke decision. 

He led the second game 4-0 but this time it was the Frenchman who made the comeback, turning the tides with some acrobatic efforts to give himself another game ball at 10-9 up. 

Once again, though, Zakaria came up trumps when it mattered most, reeling off three points in a row to put himself two games in front. 

Game three was another tight affair, with the tension mounting and Mekhalfi appearing to tire as Zakaria closed in on victory. 

He would be made to wait for his moment of glory as the No.1 seed found the strength and resolve to win a tie break himself, but he perhaps paid the price in game four. 

Zakaria surged into a 4-0 lead and never truly gave Mekhalfi a look-in, wrapping up the game 11-4 to seal his second tour title. 

“It means a lot, I’m so happy to win this tournament,” he said after collecting the trophy. 

“I would like to thank my coach for this tournament and my team back in Egypt. I worked so hard to win these last two events. Two-for-two and we keep going on. 

“In the first game I was 10-5 down and I still don’t know how I won that, but I kept thinking, ‘I’m not far, I’m going to win this’ and then I got one after the other and I said, ‘this is my game’. Then the second was a tiebreak and the third was going to be a tiebreak but I lost that one. 

“So I said, ‘back at it again in the fourth, I’m not going to give him any easy chances in the beginning’, and I went for it, and I’m very, very happy that it turned my way today.”

Result: Men’s Final 

Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) bt [1] Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) 3-1: 14-12, 12-10, 10-12, 11-4 (67m) 

Result: Women’s Final 

[1] Torrie Malik (ENG) bt [3] Saran Nghiem (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-7, 11-6 (32m)