Challenger Tour Round-Up: Lincou & Farneti Lead Gibraltar Upsets; Hawal Wins Again in NZ

Gibraltar Open 2024 

Unseeded Kara Lincou caused a huge upset on day two of the Gibraltar Open, knocking out top seed Kiera Marshall 3-1. 

Marshall was coming into this event having reached the final of the Investimax Brussels Open a few days ago, and took game one 11-5 in the day’s first women’s match on court 1. 

But the young Frenchwoman turned the tide from there, clinching the second 11-8 before winning the third for the loss of just four points. 

She then took command of game four midway through, bringing up four match balls at 10-6 in somewhat fortuitous fashion, with her backhand return of serve hitting the front wall just above the tin, despite her catching the back wall with her racket in her swing.

Marshall dropped her own racket in a mixture of frustration and disbelief as Lincou offered an apology, but the 20-year-old kept her focus to close out the match, hitting a perfectly-weighted forehand drive down the right-hand wall beyond Marshall’s reach. 

Marshall was far from the only seed to go out in round two, with women’s third seed Hana Ismail suffering a 3-1 defeat to fellow Egyptian Barb Sameh, while men’s second seed Robert Downer lost to unseeded Italian Yuri Farneti. 

Rising English star Amelie Haworth and Spanish junior champion Ona Blasco also knocked out seeded players, with Haworth beating France’s fifth seed Lea Barbeau and Blasco easing past Wales’ Ali Loke in 25 minutes. 

Men’s fourth seed Laouenan Loaëc also went out, losing a nailbiting fifth-game tiebreak to David Maier of Liechtenstein, but top seed Moustafa Elsirty and third seed Rhys Evans both progressed. 

The quarter-finals of the Gibraltar Open kick off at 2:30pm local time (1:30pm BST) on Friday, streaming live on the SQUASHTV Live Streaming YouTube channel.  

Open International Vendée Squash 2024 

Both semi-finals will be France versus Egypt at the Open International Vendée Squash, after both the second and third seeds went out in the last eight. 

Fifth seed Joshua Phinera had staged an impressive fightback to beat Robertino Pezzota in five on day two, and he followed that up with victory in the quarter-finals, this time in more comfortable fashion over No.2 seed Macéo Levy, beating the lefty 3-1. 

Phinera will now play Egyptian eighth seed Mohamed Gohar – brother of women’s World No.2 Nouran Gohar – who fought back from 2-0 down to end the hopes of third seed Baptiste Bouin, winning 9-11, 3-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9. 

The other semi-final will see Laszlo Godde play top seed Mohamed Nasser, who kept his hopes alive of winning a second straight title, after beating Yusuf Elsherif in an all-Egyptian clash. 

Skillzea Open 2024 

15-year-old Adam Hawal continued his quest for a maiden PSA Tour title at the Skillzea Open, winning a five-game epic for the second day in a row. 

The Egyptian talent stunned top seed Rowan Damming 3-2 in round two and followed that up with another hard-fought win over another Dutchman, this time eighth seed Sam Gerrits. 

Both of the first two games went to tiebreaks, with Hawal winning the first 13-11 and Gerrits the second 16-14, before the pair split the next two games to force a decider. 

In line with the first four games, there was little to split the two players across game five, with the match hung delicately in the balance at 9-9. 

But just as he did from the same position 24 hours earlier, Hawal came up clutch when it mattered, hitting a backhand winner down the line to bring up match ball and then watching Gerrits find the tin on an awkward backhand boast. 

Hawal will be joined in the semi-finals by three New Zealand players, including brothers Temwa and Lwamba Chileshe, who will face off for a place in the final.

Life Time Mississauga Cafe de Khan Challenger 2024 presented by Jilani Place 

Home favourite Wasey Maqsood upset second seed Taylor Carrick to reach the quarter-finals of the Life Time Mississauga Cafe de Khan Challenger presented by Jilani Place. 

18-year-old Maqsood – playing at his home club – saw off fellow Canadian Will Harris in round two, and backed that up with an even better performance on day two, beating the 22-year-old Bermudan 3-1 in 38 minutes. 

Carrick was not the only seed to go out on day two, though, as both Maximilien Godbout and Jayden Shortt suffered defeat. 

Short was comfortably beaten by Mohammadreza Jafarzadeh, but there was no shortage of drama in the match between Godbout and Hong Kong’s Akifumi Murakami. 

After losing the first two games, Muakami fought his way back into the contest to send the match to a decider, which went deep into a tiebreak before eventually ending 16-14, with the Hong Kong player setting up a quarter-finals matchup with third seed Mohamed Nabil. 

The University Of Warwick Open 

The top eight seeds are all through to The University Of Warwick Open quarter-finals after day one of competition in Coventry. 

Four of the eight matches ended 3-0, with Sam Buckley, Samuel Osborne–Wylde, Miles Jenkins and Heston Malik all recording comfortable wins, while Anthony Rogal progressed after his opponent Rob Thirst retired, with the score sitting at 11-0, 2-0. 

Things were not quite so straightforward, however, for Scotland’s Rory Richmond, who needed all five games to see off the threat of Amaad Fareed, eventually winning 10-12, 11-8, 13-15, 11-8, 11-3 in just over an hour. 

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