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NASH Cup 2024 – NASH Family Wealth Management: Zakaria Sinks No.1 Seed as Brits Dominate Women’s QFs
World junior champion Mohamad Zakaria produced a sensational performance to knock out No.1 seed Yahya Elnawasany on quarter-finals day at the NASH Cup 2024 – NASH Family Wealth Management.
The 16-year-old has been making waves throughout the squash world across the last 12 months, becoming the youngest ever male winner of a PSA Tour event and the youngest ever male winner of the WSF World Junior Squash Championships.
He followed that up with a run through qualifying and into round two of the recent CIB Egyptian Open, and he is now just two wins away from a maiden World events title after an outstanding display against Elnawasany in Canada.
It was actually the No.1 seed who made the better start, winning the first three points of game one, but Zakaria reeled off seven of the next eight to take command of the game, and closed it out 11-8 on a stroke decision.
Despite being almost 10,000km from his home in Alexandria, Zakaria had the support of the small but vocal group of fans sitting upstairs in the gallery on court two at the London Squash & Fitness Centre, with their cheers reverberating around the club after every point he won.
Such was their admiration for Zakaria’s impressive play that some fans even coined a nickname for him, dubbing him ‘The Phoenix’, and the rising star used their support to his advantage to open up a 10-4 lead in game two, pumping his fist to the gallery as he closed in on a 2-0 lead.
Elnawasany threatened an impressive fightback by winning the next three points, but Zakaria clinched the game in style, crunching a vicious backhand kill into the nick at 10-7, once again turning to his new-found fan club in celebration.
At 8-4 up in game three the teenager appeared to be cruising into the semi-finals, but Elnawasany fought back to 10-8, as tension grew on the balcony.
But those tensions would soon be relieved, as Zakaria was blocked on a backhand drop from Elnawasany, handing him a stroke, sparking wild celebrations between Zakaria and the fans watching on above.
Zakaria’s reward for his performance is a semi-final matchup with Sanjay Jeeva, who ended home hopes with an impressive performance of his own, beating defending champion David Baillargeon in a five-game tussle.
As the only Canadian left standing in either draw on quarter-finals day, Baillargeon had the home crowd behind him, albeit primarily in the more mild-mannered seating area downstairs than those cheering on Zakaria.
He was unable to keep his title defence alive, though, as Jeeva continued to display the remarkable athleticism he’d shown all week to win in five, wrapping up victory after 58 minutes of play.
The other men’s semi-final will see Henry Leung and Curtis Malik go head-to-head, with Curtis’ sister Torrie also through.
Facing rising US star Caroline Fouts – who had upset No.3 seed Salma Eltayeb in round two – Torrie was made to work hard for her win, spending 43 minutes on court.
Having taken game one 11-7, the No.7 seed had four game balls at 10-6 in the second, but saw them all saved by Fouts, before eventually closing it out 13-11.
She then had a match ball at 12-11 up in game three but was unable to convert, going on to lose a lengthy tiebreak 16-14.
But any sense that the momentum might have shifted towards Fouts’ favour was quickly dispelled in game four, as Malik raced into a 5-0 lead and wrapped up victory a few moments later, hitting a sharp forehand winner on match ball at 10-3.
Malik will now face top seed Georgia Adderley, who beat Saran Nghiem 3-0 in the last women’s match of the day, while the other semi-final will be an all-English affair between Katie Malliff and Grace Gear.
Malliff opened quarter-finals day with a back-and-forth five-game win over Marina Stefanoni, winning games one, three and five to deny the American a comeback win.
Gear, meanwhile, put in an accomplished performance to sink Spain’s Marta Dominguez, coming from a game down to win 3-1.
The 26-year-old will now have her sights set on continuing an impressive week so far and on gaining revenge against Malliff, after losing 2-0 to the 21-year-old at last season’s London Squash Classic.
The semi-finals of the NASH Cup 2024 – NASH Family Wealth Management get underway at 5pm local time (10pm BST) on Friday, September 20th, streaming live on the SQUASHTV Live Streaming YouTube channel.
Results: Men’s Quarter-Finals
[8] Mohamad Zakaria (EGY) bt [1] Yahya Elnawasany (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 (43m)
Sanjay Jeeva (MAS) bt [3] David Baillargeon (CAN) 3-2: 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 11-4 (58m)
[4] Leung Chi Hin Henry (HKG) bt Joseph White (AUS) 3-0: 11-2, 11-5, 11-8 (34m)
[2] Curtis Malik (ENG) bt [6] Cesar Salazar (MEX) 3-0: 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 (35m)
Results: Women’s Quarter-Finals
[3] Katie Malliff (ENG) bt Marina Stefanoni (USA): 3-2: 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 3-11, 11-7 (56m)
[5] Grace Gear (ENG) bt Marta Dominguez (ESP) 3-1: 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-5 (40m)
[8] Torrie Malik (ENG) bt Caroline Fouts (USA) 3-1: 11-7, 13-11, 14-16, 11-3 (43m)
[2] Georgia Adderley (SCO) bt Saran Nghiem (ENG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 (34m)
