Challenger Tour Round-Up: Swaify and Hani Impress in Hong Kong, Top Seeds Crash Out in Brno

Hong Kong Squash PSA Challenge Cup 2024 – 2nd Leg 

16-year-old Egyptian Jana Swaify continued her impressive run at the Hong Kong Squash PSA Challenge Cup – 2nd Leg, beating in-form No.7 seed Toby Tse to reach the semi-finals. 

Tse had won the Hong Kong Squash PSA Challenge Cup – 1st leg a fortnight ago, but her hopes of back-to-back titles were ended by the talented young star, who won 11-7, 11-8, 14-16, 11-8 in 46 minutes. 

Swaify’s win also ended hopes of a home winner in the women’s draw, with her exit following defeat for No.1 seed Cheng Nga Ching in the opening match of the day. 

Cheng was beaten by another Egyptian, Habiba Hani, who kept her hopes alive of reaching a third final in as many Challenger Tour events by coming from a game down to win 3-1. 

To reach another final here, though, Hani will need to get past compatriot and No.4 seed Amina El Rihany. 

The 21-year-old – who won has two of her last three Challenger Tour events – produced a ruthless display to see off Malta’s Colette Sultana in just 23 minutes, winning 11-4, 11-9, 11-4. 

The men’s draw will feature at least one home favourite in the final, with unseeded Andes Ling and No.5 seed Matthew Lai set to face off in the second semi-final. 

Ling dropped game one on a tie break to Ong Sai Hung, but controlled proceedings from there, winning 10-12, 11-4, 11-7, 11-4, while Lai upset second seed Tang Ming Hong 3-1. 

The other men’s semi-final will see Egyptian No.1 seed Yassin Elshafei take on third seed Noor Naman of Pakistan. 

Both players have had to come through five-game battles to reach this stage, with Elshafei needing a decider to beat Duncan Lee in round two, while Zaman went the distance in his semi-final win over Japan’s Tomo Endo. 

Brno Open 

The top two seeds went crashing out of the women’s draw on day two of the Brno Open, both losing 3-0 in the quarter-finals. 

The women’s schedule featured both the first round and quarter-finals on day two, with seven of the eight seeds making it through to the last eight, but that would be where the titles hopes ended for Tamara Holzbauerová and Jelena Dutina. 

Top seed Holzbauerová was beaten 3-0 by Karolína Šrámková in just 26 minutes, winning only 12 points in the match, while Dutina’s defeat was even quicker, lasting just 17 minutes. 

Those results leave Ukraine’s Anastasiia Kostiukova as the highest-remaining seed in the draw, with home hopes now resting primarily on the shoulders of 16-year-old Karolína Šrámková, a recent winner at the Czech Junior Open.

The men’s draw was less dramatic, with the top four seeds all through to the semi-finals.

No.1 seed Martin Svec was made to work hard for his place, though, needing all five games to see off Martin Štepán.

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