Challenger Tour Round-Up: Avila Outlasts Elsirty in Cali; Marshall & McApline Record Identical Wins

PSA Club Campestre De Cali 2024 

Alfredo Avila Vergara continued his eventful week at the PSA Club Campestre De Cali, kncoking out seventh seed Moustafa Elsirty in the quarter-finals. 

Avila Vergara needed all five games to beat Ronald Palomino on day one, in a match that lasted nearly three hours due to the glass back wall of the court shattering, meaning the players had to change courts midway through the match. 

He then spent only five minutes on court in round two, as Faraz Khan conceded the match just one point into game two, after being bagelled in game one, but it was back to a five-game duel for Avila Vergara in the last eight. 

Opening play on court five at the Club Campestre de Cali, Avila Vergara and Elsirty went toe-to-toe in a topsy-turvy 78-minute encounter, with the Mexican winning games one and three, while Elsirty took the second and fourth. 

Tensions grew as play headed into a decider, with Elsirty – sporting a notable size advantage – becoming frustrated with some decisions, as contact between the players continued. 

A broken racquet for Elsirty at 7-4 down caused a short delay in proceedings, but Avila Vergara kept his composure well, playing a low-risk game and keeping the rallies long in the points that followed. 

The Egyptian, searching for a route back into the match, hit three tins in a row to hand Avila Vergara six match balls, and while the first two came and went, the third did not, with another Elsirty forehand into the tin handing the 32-year-old a place in the semi-finals. 

Speaking after the match, Avila Vergara discussed the cooler conditions on court, after two very hot and humid days to start the competition. 

“It was a better feeling on the body because it wasn’t too hot,” he said. 

“Sometimes it’s a little hard to play when the weather is so hot, so today was a little bit better for me, I didn’t feel that tired, so it was good. 

“He was talking with the referee a little bit, sometimes with me, so I tried, all the time, to be relaxed and focused, and I think that was the main thing for me, to be able to be focused the whole match.” 

Avila Vergara’s win was the only result of the day to finish 3-2, with the other three matches all ending 3-0, including home favourite Miguel Rodriguez’s victory over Jeremias Azaña. 

Second seed Leonel Cardenas and third seed Yahya Elnawasany were the other two winners on quarter-finals day, beating Tom Walsh and Alejandro Enriquez respectively. 

Investimax Brussels Open 2024 

Top seed Kiera Marshall and seventh seed Robyn McAlpine will meet in the semi-finals of the Investimax Brussels Open, after both winning in remarkably similar fashion on quarter-finals day. 

Opening play against Ireland’s Breanne Flynn, top seed Marshall took a 2-0 lead, winning games one and two 11-7, 11-4, only for Flynn to fight back to force a decider, clinching both games four and five 11-9. 

Marshall ultimately came out on top, winning the fifth 11-7, before McApline stepped on court with Spanish third seed Sofía Mateos. 

Extraordinarily, that encounter proceeded to follow the exact same scoreline in each and every game. McAlpine took the first two 11-7, 11-4, Mateos then won games three and four 11-9, only for the young Scot to take the decider 11-7, with the only difference being the 45-minute match time, two minutes shorter than Marshall against Flynn. 

Unsurprisingly, the remaining two quarter-finals did not follow the same pattern, nor did they even go to five, but there was another impressive win for France’s Kara Lincou, who continued her fine form by knocking out fourth seed Polly Clark. 

Lincou will now face second seed Hayley Ward, who beat England’s Olivia Beasant, with the South African looking to reach her first ever PSA Tour final.

You can stay up to date with results on the Challenger Tour here.