Challenger Tour Player of the Month: Zakaria and El Rihany Win October Awards

Egyptian duo Mohamad Zakaria and Amina El Rihani have won the PSA Challenger Tour Player of the Month awards for October, as voted for by fans on social media. 

16-year-old Zakaria became the youngest ever male player to win a PSA Tour event when he captured the Local World LA Open, producing a stunning comeback to beat No.2 seed Andrew Douglas in the final. 

Even more impressive is the fact that Zakaria was not only unseeded in the event, but beat top seed Faraz Khan 3-0 in the second round, before seeing off Sebastian Salazar and Matias Knudsen to reach the final. 

He then fought back from two games down to claim the title, winning two of the last three games by a scoreline of 11-1. 

Victory capped an impressive month for the young Egyptian, who had reached the semi-finals of the St Louis Open presented by The King Family a week earlier, in what was his first PSA Tour event since finishing as runner-up in the WSF World Junior Championship. 

El Rihani claimed the women’s award following her victory at the Swiss Open, her first title on the PSA Tour. 

The 20-year-old’s path to success was remarkably similar to that of Zakaria in LA, as she entered the tournament unseeded and knocked out the No.1 seed in round two. 

She then saw off the No.7 and No.3 seeds to reach the final, where she overcame England’s No.4 seed Asia Harris on four games. 

Not only was it El Rihany’s first tour title, but also moved her up more than 20 places in the world rankings to World No.114.