German Open 2024 – Day Two: Evening Roundup

In an action-packed evening session to round off the second round of the inaugural German Open, home favourites Raphael Kandra and Saskia Beinhard book their spots in the quarter-finals, and India’s Velavan Senthilkumar defeats No.8 seed George Parker.

In an intense final match of the second round, home favourite Raphael Kandra produced a sensational performance to defeat Switzerland’s Yannick Wilhelmi.

Wilhelmi had a fast start, quickly pushing to a 4-0 lead, but the No.5 seed fought back, and in front of a packed Hamburg crowd, and used a mixture of accuracy and physicality to battle back to 9-8.

At 9-9, Kandra earned a first game ball with a tight squeeze on the left wall, but after the German hit the tin, the Swiss No.3 took the tie-break to take 1-0 lead in the match.

Kandra looked more convincing at the start of the second game, taking a quick 4-1 lead. Wilhelmi played some quality squash, but the German comfortably converted his lead 11-6 to restore parity in the match.

The match livened up as most rallies saw one of the players diving across the court to retrieve accurate shot after accurate shot. The spectacle kept the entire Sportwerk centre on the edge of their seats as the pair traded games to a decisive fifth game. The physical, diving squash seemed to have worn the Swiss player down, and Kandra took a 4-1 lead with lightning fast reactions to score a forehand drop from a shot into his body.

Kandra pushed on and claimed victory in the dramatic five-setter, encapsulated with a pin-point backhand drop shot on match ball. The home favourite will face No.3 seed Mohamed ElSherbini.

“I have still have a lot of energy left in the tank,” said Kandra after the match. “It was a hard brutal five-setter, but the pace suited my game and I’m glad I got through.”

The only other German to reach the second round was World No.64 Saskia Beinhard, who claimed revenge over Switzerland’s Cindy Merlo after a first round defeat just 23 days before at the Optasia Championships in England.

Beinhard carried the momentum from her first round comeback against Egypt’s Rana Ismail into the match, and looked to be retrieving well from the back corners. The No.8 seed had the first chance taking the first game at 10-8, but the Swiss player levelled the match with a straight drive, followed by an ace to make it 10-10. After a close-fought tie-break, Beinhard took the advantage with a tight squeeze on the left wall.

From there, the German controlled the match, dispatching Merlo with quick-fire 11-5, 11-4 games to take her place in the quarter-finals to face No.4 seed Salma Hany.

India’s Velavan Senthilkumar upset No.8 seed George Parker in a tense match on the traditional courts. Senthilkumar started the match in good form, surging into the lead, with the Englishman struggling to keep up with the pace of the Indian as Senthilkumar took the first game 11-5. Parker came closer in the second, fighting on every point, and scoring some pin-point accurate drops, but it was the Indian who took a two-game advantage 11-9 from maintaining consistent throughout the first two games.

Parker looked focussed on the court for the third game, and showed his quality as he pushed the Indian to another close phase of play, this time edging the game to halve the deficit. In the end Senthilkumar held his nerve and converted his 2-1 lead, maintaining a narrow lead over the Englishman and claiming a spot in the quarter-finals where he faces No.4 seed Eain Yow Ng.

For more information on the German Open 2024 Presented by Sportwerk, visit the PSA website or follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can also keep track of all of the live scores from the event by clicking here.

Results: German Open 2024 – Presented by Sportwerk Women’s RD2
[6] Tesni Murphy (WAL) bt Nardine Garas (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-3 (21m)
[1] Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Torrie Malik (ENG) 3-0 11-7, 14-12, 12-10 (39m)
[5] Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) bt Ineta Hopton (LAT) 3-0: 11-6, 11-2, 11-5 (19m)
[7] Malak Khafagy (EGY) bt Yasshmita Jadish Kumar (MAS) 3-0: 15-13, 11-7, 11-5 (26m)
[4] Salma Hany (EGY) bt Asia Harris (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 13-11 (30m)
Saskia Beinhard (GER) bt [8] Cindy Merlo (SUI) 3-0: 13-11, 11-6, 11-9 (29m)

Results: German Open 2024 – Presented by Sportwerk Men’s RD2
Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) bt [8] George Parker (ENG) 3-1: 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9 (61m)
[6] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) bt Rui Soares (POR) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 (40m)
[1] Joel Makin (WAL) bt Tom Walsh (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7 (58m)
[7] Timothy Brownell (USA) bt [WC] Marek Panacek (CZE) 3-1: 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6 (40m)
[3] Mohamed ElSherbini (EGY) bt Spencer Lovejoy (USA): 3-1: 6-11, 11-9, 14-12, 11-5 (56m)
[5] Raphael Kandra (GER) bt Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI) 3-2: 10-12, 11-6, 11-8, 6-11, 11-4 (61m)