Challenger Tour Round-Up: Walid Leads Seeds into Edmonton Semis, El Torkey Causes Hinckley Upset

The Bee-Clean Edmonton Squash Club Women’s Open 2024 

The top four seeds all booked their spots in The Bee-Clean Edmonton Squash Club Women’s Open semi-finals, with only Menna Walid needing more than three games. 

The No.1 seed was opening play against Hong Kong’s Toby Tse in what was their first ever meeting on the PSA Tour. 

She was quickly into a 2-0 lead after winning the first two games 11-8, but was denied a straight-games win when Tse took the third by the same 11-8 scoreline. 

Walid, though, closed out game four 11-7 to reach the semi-finals of a tournament for the eighth time this season. 

Her victory was swiftly followed comfortable wins for Hannah Craig, Kiera Marshall and Nour Heikal. 

Third seed Craig was taking on the dangerous Michaela Cepová, who had already knocked out No.7 seed Lea Barbeau, but she was no match for the Irish No.1, who ran out an 11-5, 11-3, 11-7 winner in 32 minutes. 

Marshall and Heikal, the No.4 and 2 seeds respectively, then completed even quicker wins in the last two quarter-finals, taking less than half an hour to see off the respective threats of Elise Romba and Salma Elalfy. 

The Aldi Hinckley Challenger 2024 

Omar El Torkey upset No.2 seed Joel Arscott at The Aldi Hinckley Challenger, reaching his first Challenger Tour semi-final since 2021 in the process. 

The Egyptian player – currently studying at the University of Nottingham – knocked out seventh seed Paul Broadberry in round two and followed that up with another impressive scalp in the last eight, sinking New Zealander Arscott 3-0 in just 34 minutes. 

That result completed the semi-finals line-up and set up a meeting for El Torkey with Wales’ Rhys Evans. 

Evans has enjoyed a successful start to 2024, winning his first Tour title a few weeks ago, and will now have his sights set on another after beating Lewis Doughty in four games. 

The other semi-final will see top seed Hafiz Zhafri take on another in-form player, Jared Carter. 

The 22-year-old Englishman is up to a career-high ranking of No.174 in the world after reaching three finals and a semi-final in his last four events, and continued his impressive run by knocking out former World No.70 Ronald Palomino in the quarter-finals here. 

The semi-finals of The Aldi Hinckley Challenger begin at 6pm GMT today, with both matches streaming live on the SQUASHTV Live Streaming YouTube channel.