Challenger Tour Player of the Month: Zakaria & Elhammamy Claim Awards

16-year-old Egyptian duo Mohamad Zakaria and Nadien Elhammamy have won the PSA Challenger Tour Player of the Month awards for November, as voted for on social media. 

Zakaria claimed the honour for the second month in a row, after scooping the award in October having become the youngest ever male winner of a PSA Tour event – the Local World LA Open. 

He followed that up with victory at The Northern Joe Cup in November, coming through two five-game thrillers to beat Finnlay Withington in the quarter-finals and Emyr Evans in the semis, before downing No.1 seed Toufik Mekhalfi in the final. 

Voters on Instagram rewarded him for that achievement by ensuring he won the Player of the Month award by a landslide margin, claiming more than 70% of the votes, with Evans in second following his victory at the 15k Oregon Open, and Canada’s Salah Eltorgman – who won two titles last month – in third. 

The women’s award went to Elhammamy in a much closer result, with the Egyptian teenager edging out Torrie Malik, claiming 34% of the vote to Malik’s 30%. 

Both players won titles in the month of November, with Malik earning her first 9k crown at The Nothern Joe Cup, while Elhammamy won the Les Elles de l’Est title in what was her first ever PSA Tour event, joining an illustrious group of players to achieve that feat. 

The 16-year-old had to earn her victory the hard way too, knocking out two seeded players en route to the final, where she overcame top seed and home favourite Lauren Baltayan to clinch glory. 

England’s Alicia Mead finished third in the voting, following her victory at the London Open.