Optasia Championships 2024 – Day Two Afternoon Session

The afternoon session of the Optasia Championships saw all four seeds win, with Egypt’s Nada Abbas overcoming England’s Millie Tomlinson for the first time while Baptiste Masotti, Tesni Murphy and Poll Coll all book their places in the quarter-finals.

Abbas first through to quarters

The first player through to the quarter-finals was World No.18 Nada Abbas, the No.3 seed putting in a dominant performance over England’s Millie Tomlinson, who produced a dramatic comeback in the first round but had no answer to Abbas’ precision and deception today.

On the attack from the start, Abbas was quickly ahead and stayed in control for the duration of the three games, completing the win in just 26 minutes to register an emphatic first victory over Tomlinson after five attempts.

“I’m really happy with my performance today,” said the Egyptian after the match. “I’ve played Millie three or four times before and never got the win, plus I think she’s the only player who’s bageled me so very happy to win.

“I wasn’t in the best of places for a while, but I’ve been working with Jessie from SquashMind and I’m getting there, it’s making me realise that the mental side of the game is as important as the physical or tactical.”

Masotti marches on

In a match described as “High-Tempo” by the SquashTV commentary team, France’s Baptiste Masotti, a semi-finalist here last year, opened his campaign with a four-game win over training partner Leandro Romiglio, the World No.35 from Argentina who had an easy opening match against Shahjahan Khan yesterday.

The Frenchman opened up a lead in the first game and took a 11-6 lead after 12 minutes, the Argentinian came out firing in the second, taking an 8-0 lead in just two minutes. Masotti reduced the deficit with some winners of his own but Romiglio levelled on his third game ball.

There was never much between the two players in next two games, but Masotti managed to eke out and maintain leads, finishing both games strongly and closing out the match 11-7, 11-7 in 44 minutes.

“Leandro is one of my friends on and off tour,” said Masotti after the match. “We train together and it’s always difficult playing a friend. I had a good run here last year and a lot of points to defend so there was a lot to lose for me and nothing to lose for him.

“It’s been a tough time for me, but I’m happy to be back playing and happy to be back here, I have some good memories of last year and friends here.

Murphy grinds out the win

Wales’ Tesni Murphy set up a quarter-final against Nada Abbas, but was made to work extremely hard for the four-game win over Hong Kong’s Chan Sin Yuk.

Murphy, currently World No.29, looked in control in the first game as she took the lead, and then led 8-5 in the second before a number of errors let Chan back in to reel off six points in a row and level the match.

With Murphy seemingly off the boil, Chan led 7-4 in the third but this time it was Evans who fought back, levelling at 7-7 and regaining the lead on her second game ball.

With the momentum and her game seemingly back, Murphy took an early advantage in the fourth and held on to close out the match.

“Oh that was so tough at the end,” said Murphy after the match. “She had me running all over, just trying to get one more back and hoping that she’d tin it or something! I’ve had two or three close matches like that in the last few months that haven’t gone my way, so I was determined not to let this one go.

“I had a bit of luck at times yes, but it’s not all luck sometimes you just work for it and deserve it.”

Coll cruises into Quarters

No.2 seed Paul Coll cruised into the quarter-finals to conclude the afternoon session with a 3-0 win over USA’s Todd Harrity who came from two games down to beat Nicolas Mueller in one of yesterday’s upsets.

The American made a solid start as the opening eight points were shared, but Coll started to get on top, opening up a lead and then racing through the final three points to lead 11-6. The second game was a quick affair as Coll doubled his advantage 11-2, and he was always ahead in the third.

Harrity saved the first match ball as he got the better of a long, entertaining rally, and although he took the next point as well, the inevitable end came as Coll completed the win 11-6 on the half hour mark.

“That was a good tester,” said Coll after the match. “Todd takes it early and volleys a lot so you have to be sharp.

“It was a good workout to get used to the court, which behaved differently than I expected so I’ll take something from that.”

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Results: Optasia Championships 2024 RD2
[3] Nada Abbas (EGY) bt Millie Tomlinson (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-3, 11-2 (26m)
[8] Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bt Leandro Romiglio (ARG) 3-1: 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7 (44m)
[5] Tesni Murphy (WAL) bt Chan Sin Yuk (HKG) 3-1: 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8 (42m)
[2] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Todd Harrity (USA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-2, 11-6 (30m)