Challenger Tour Round-Up: Nicolas Joins El Sirty and James in Lille Semis, Bahadar Through in Islamabad

PSA Des Hauts De France – Wam 

Unseeded 20-year-old Brice Nicolas kept French hopes alive on day three of the PSA Des Hauts De France – Wam. 

Playing Germany’s No.3 seed Yannick Omlor, Nicolas battled through four, hard-fought games to book his spot in the last four, eventually winning a fourth-game tie break to end the match after 67 minutes. 

The home crowd were later denied an all-French semi-final when No.2 seed Bernat Jaume beat rising star Melvil Scianimanico 3-0 in the day’s last quarter-finals. 

The top half of the draw will see two former top-30 players go head-to-head for a place in the final, as Declan James and Moustafa El Sirty face off. 

Both players have missed the majority of 2023 for different reasons, but El Sirty is coming off the back of winning the International Tournament Madeira Island last week, while James is into his first semi-final since having surgery on a torn achilles. 

Neither player will have a significant advantage in terms of fatigue, with both having spent less than 45 minutes on court in the quarter-finals, recording straight-game wins over Juan Camilo Vargas and Valentin Rapp respectively. 

CAS-Serena Hotels International Squash Championship 

17-year-old Sana Bahadar is into the quarter-finals of the CAS-Serena Hotels International Squash Championship after beating fellow Pakistani player Anam Mustafa Aziz 3-1. 

Bahadar – who can neither hear nor speak – has not played a PSA Tour match for more than a year, but is into the last eight on home soil, where she will face No.3 seed Nour Ramy of Egypt. 

In the men’s draw, Malaysia’s Wee Ming Hock was one of two seeded players to miss out on a quarter-final berth. 

The 22-year-old was beaten by Pakistan’s Amaad Fareed – a former top-100 player – who will now play compatriot Nasir Iqbal, conqueror of the other seeded player to go out. 

Iqbal took just 16 minutes to see off Seif El-Shenawy in a ruthless performance, dropping just seven points in the match, guaranteeing at least one home player in the semis. 

Noor Zaman and Muhammad Asim Khan are also into the last eight in opposite halves of the draw, meaning there could be as many as three Pakistani players in the final four. 

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